Power & Compassion Christian Marriage Retreat is the work of Dale Lee [Ed.S. LCPC] & Adi Lee [M.A.], a husband and wife counseling team w/a love for Christ and a passion for helping people.

The God Kind Of Love

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

heartBy the time most people arrive at the point where they feel it’s time to attend a Christian marriage retreat, they are often times already in a state of war with their spouse. That is to say, they have reached a point where they feel like their spouse has become “the enemy.” They find themselves arguing all the time, disagreeing on most everything, and finding it hard even to love their spouse.

It is sad that people allow their relationships to reach this point before they decide to take action. But, positive action taken late is better than never taking any positive steps at all to repair your marriage. So let’s take a look at what it takes to get a marriage back on track, even if it is at, or near the point of no return.

In a Marriage, Battles Are Never Won…

In a marriage battles are never won, there is no such thing as a single victor. The only way that a battle can end successfully in a marriage, is if it ends with a truce, a peace treaty and a reconciliation.

Arriving at a peaceful conclusion might seem like a difficult or impossible feat to you right now if you are in the middle of a difficult battle with your spouse. But a truce is the beginning of a healthy reconciliation, and a truce can only come about if one person is willing to swallow their pride, accept responsibility for their part in the disagreement and take action to initiate that truce.

Love With Agape Love…

In the heat of the battle taking this bold step towards peace and reconciliation might seem as if you are giving up and giving in, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The Bible makes it clear in Matthew 5:44 when Jesus tells his followers that they are not just love those who love them, but that they are also to love even their enemies.

The kind of love that Jesus is talking about here is called agape love. The term “Agape Love” is a Greek term which refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God. Practicing agape love doesn’t always mean that you have warm fuzzy feelings. Agape love is not the love given because someone has done something nice for you and you naturally want to reciprocate. It is not a love based on attraction, desire, or even sympathy. Agape love is a love given in mercy, it is a love given through grace. It is an act of benevolence. Agape love requires a mindset that is willing to forgive wrongs that have been committed against you, and leave all vengeance and retribution to God.

Agape love requires us to not return evil for evil, hate for hate and insult for insult. But rather when someone offends us, we respond with blessings, forgiveness and love.

This does not mean that we give up all our rights in a relationship. It doesn’t mean that we never allow our voice and our opinion to be heard. And it does not mean that we need to become a push-over.

Practicing agape love simply means we continue to engage as the giver, and continue to reach out in love over and over again even if we receive little in return.

Before you think that practicing such a love is impossible, remember that God loved us even while we were yet sinners, and he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us, even when we hated him.

That is agape love. That is the God kind of love. And that is how we are to love everyone… even our enemies.

To learn more about how you can restore true love, friendship and intimacy in your marriage, visit our main website at http://www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net or call us at 406-253-6427

04.04.2013 christian marriage counseling, intensive marriage counseling, tips for a happy marriage No Comments

Choosing The Right Counselor For Your Christian Marriage Retreat

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

There are a lot of things that you must consider when it comes time to seeking out the best Christian marriage retreat. For example, consider some of the following questions:

christian marriage1) Do my counselors agree with what the Bible teaches about marriage?

  • Marriage is a committed partnership between a man and a woman.
  • Marriage is a mystical union of a man and woman. Passionate love is a spiritual union created and ordained by God. This mystical union of oneness is reflected in counseling that strives toward spiritual, physical, and emotional oneness.
  • Marriage is a cooperative effort between equal partners. One sex was not created superior to the other.
  • Marriage was designed by God intended to be received as a gift.
  • Marriage is intended to enrich our lives through emotional vulnerability and openness. Even as Adam & Eve were not aware of their nakedness marriage allows a relationship of growing openness through physical, emotional and spiritual intimacy.
  • Marriage requires submission of both partners to God. Each spouse honors and follows the Christ-centered example of humility and obedience to God. This kind of mutual submission in an atmosphere of love increases respect and harmony.
  • Oneness in marriage means caring for your spouse as you care for yourself. Helping your spouse to be all that God created them to be.
  • The creation story says God plans that husband and wife shall become one. For this to truly take place divine help will be necessary. Two people become one as each defers to God and trusts in Him to empower their love for each other.

2) Are the counselors sincerely vested in your success as a couple? Your most cherished relationship deserves a marriage retreat that has a pro-marriage stance.

3) Are the counselors well trained and licensed to be doing this type of work?

4) Are they an experienced and capable counseling team? Do they understand the patterns of marital discord to discern and render intervention quickly and effectively? What experience do they have assisting conflicted couples in the midst of discord?

5) Do they guide their counseling and advice on sound Biblical principles?

6) Do they have a good track record of success helping married couples to overcome their struggles and rejuvenate their marriage?

7) Are they a husband-wife counseling team that offer a personalized couple-to-couple retreat that is individualized for your needs?

8) Do they know how to bring you into God’s presence? Changing our heart toward our spouse begins with honoring our spiritual relationship to God.

These are all important questions to answer. So how does one go about choosing the right counselors to trust your marriage recovery plan to?

Remember, you are looking for someone who is equally strong in their counseling knowledge and their faith in the word of God. Just because a person claims to be a Christian counselor, does not necessarily mean that it is true, or that they have the type, level, and strength of faith that you are looking for and need in your marriage right now. Find out if your counselor incorporates prayer and scripture into their counseling practice. Does he know how to take you into the presence of God. These topics might not seem like a big deal, at first, but they are really important if you are honestly searching for a counselor who will guide you according to sound biblical principles in your marriage. If you want to get the most from your couples retreat and experience a real positive change in your life together with your spouse in your marriage, then it is important that you choose a Christian retreat where these questions are answered in a manner that empowers you to flourish successfully as a couple.

Power and Compassion Christian Counseling centers on the Holy Bible, and allows God’s Word to be incorporated as a foundational cornerstone that every marriage can build upon.

Dale and Adi are faith-filled believers who promote a faith-filled counseling atmosphere where the miraculous becomes possible. Dale and Adi Lee are both licensed counseling practitioners in the state of Montana. They have had the opportunity to help restore the marriages of couples in their retreat center for the past seven years, and together they bring a combined experience of  over 40 years of counseling to their Christian Marriage Retreats. Their advanced graduate degrees and years of experience afford you the opportunity to restore your marriage without trial and error approaches. Over 90% of the couples attending the marriage retreat leave with a restored marriage along with communication and conflict resolution tools necessary to maintain their relationship.

Power & Compassion Counseling offers a unique team approach which provides a personalized, one-on-one approach to counseling. As a married counseling team Dale and Adi naturally promote gender-balanced validation of your needs whether male or female. Together, Dale and Adi relate to both you and your spouse in a very deep and profound way, ensuring that both of your voices get heard, ensuring that your hopes and aspirations are not only accomplished but superseded during your marriage retreat.

Power & Compassion Counseling is exclusively focused on your needs during your weekend retreat. You do not have to compete with other couples. The intensive format means time is on your side. You and your spouse are not limited to one hour weekly counseling sessions. The counseling sessions are open-ended, typically 2 to 3 hours per session. Timing for the counseling sessions are governed by your needs and the requirement of emotional closure and allowing your voice to be fully heard. The intensive format of Power & Compassion counseling allows you to compress the equivalent of five and one half months of one hour weekly sessions into a systematic counseling intervention that leverages maximum gains.

Please feel free to give Dale and Adi a call at (406)-253-6427 to talk with them about the unique benefits and services that they can provide. Ask them what they can do to help restore your marriage relationship.

13.02.2013 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreats, intensive marriage counseling No Comments

Four Advantages That Set Power & Compassion Christian Marriage Retreats Apart From The Crowd.

Monday, December 10th, 2012

Power & Compassion Christian Marriage Retreats is the dedicated ministry of Dale and Adi Lee, a married couple counseling team based out of Kalispell, Montana.  Dale and Adi bring years of experience in counseling and couples therapy, along with a sound biblical approach to marital healing which is founded on their love and faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God.

Power & Compassion Counseling and Christian Marriage Retreats is the realization of a lifelong dream of Dale and Adi to provide healing and restoration to hurting couples and to see marriages transformed through the healing power of sound counseling and Christ-centered principles.  Below are a few of the highlights which set Power & Compassion Christian Marriage Retreats apart from the other marriage retreat options that are out there.

Clinical Counseling With A Faith-Based Foundation

One of the powerful aspects of Power & Compassion’s counseling services and   Christian Marriage Retreats is that they bring together the power of the today’s latest proven clinical counseling and therapy practices as well as Godly foundational principles based on solid biblical doctrine.   Dale & Adi Lee are both certified counselors who are highly educated in providing the latest clinical methods for counseling, relationship therapies and communication techniques.    Dale & Adi  bring a wealth of knowledge and education to your counseling sessions.  You can rest assured that you are in good and capable hands with a counseling team that has the knowledge and experience to help you and your spouse work through even the most difficult situations with love and understanding.  But what is even more assuring is that the therapy and counseling advice that you receive at a Power & Compassion marriage retreat will be rooted in the unfailing Word of God!  Dale and Adi take special care to make certain that all of the advice that they provide and all of the therapy that they minister is based on scriptural doctrine and solid principles of faith.

A Personalized One-On-One Approach to Counseling

Because Dale and Adi are a husband-wife counseling team, they have the unique ability to relate with and provide insightful perspective to both you and your spouse.  At a Power & Compassion marriage retreat you will benefit from a couple-to-couple approach to counseling where you will receive a balanced gender perspective allowing each of your voices to be heard and understood.

Every marriage retreat that is conducted by Power & Compassion is a focused, and highly-personalized encounter limited to just you and your spouse and your counselors – no one else.  Dale and Adi believe that the process of dealing with and working through marital problems and relationship struggles is a very  personal matter.  As such, it should be dealt with in an atmosphere of safety, comfort, and privacy where you will be able to open up to each other in new and unexpected ways.

A Beautiful And Relaxing Environment, Conducive To Romance, Healing And Restoration

Power and Compassion Christian Marriage Retreats are held at a private cabin tucked away in a quiet meadow at the foot of Glacier National Park in northwest Montana.  Part of the healing power of a marriage retreat comes from the rejuvenation that you experience from simply stepping out of your everyday environment for a little while and turning your entire focus toward your spouse, your own internal issues and your relationship with your creator. Nowhere is your connection to your creator more apparent than in this “heaven on earth” destination that has come to be known as “Gods Country.”  A big piece of the puzzle when it comes to restoring intimacy to a relationship is creating those ‘magical’ moments that stand out as special memories and harbors of romance that you carry with you and reflect back upon for years to come.  You couldn’t ask for a better place to create such memories than this private getaway in northwest Montana.  This private cabin retreat will become your own personal oasis shared only by you and your spouse during your retreat.  Your counselors will come and meet you at the private cabin retreat for the daily counseling sessions, but after the sessions are completed each day, the cabin retreat becomes your private home-away from home where you and your spouse can enjoy quiet and romantic evenings together relaxing by the cozy fireplace, or watching the sunset in Montana’s legendary ‘big sky!”

An Interactive, Fast-Track Method Geared Toward Conflict Resolution and Restoring Emotional Intimacy

Dale and Adi have adapted their many years of counseling experience into a very powerful, fast-track counseling intensive that will allow you to experience more than five-and-a-half months of transformational counseling in just a few short days, through an in-depth synergistic approach to martial healing. Through Power and Compassion’s intensive marriage retreats, you will learn many practical skills,  strategies and techniques for overcoming conflicts in your relationship, and to reestablish emotional intimacy and heart-felt communication.  You will come to understand each other in ways you never imagined possible and you will become aware of new relationship dynamics that will empower you to utilize both your strengths and your weaknesses in dealing with marital issues as you move forward in your relationship together.

Power and Compassion Christian marriage counseling is the realization of a dream for Dale and Adi Lee, and their love and their passion shines bright in the way that they conduct each of their private/personalized marriage retreats.  Join the dozens of other happy couples whose marriages have been restored and renewed through the healing power of these life-changing encounters.  Learn more about Power and Compassion’s marriage retreats by visiting the informational website at http://www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net or call 1-406-253-6427

10.12.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreats, marriage retreat No Comments

Marriage Retreats: An opportunity for restoration and renewal…

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

Marriage can be the source of abundant blessings and ultimate joy in life, but it can also bring much pain and stress into the life of a couple that has lost its way.  When a marriage  becomes unbalanced in this way, one of the best things for your relationship is to get away from your normal surroundings to spend some quality one-on-one time with your spouse in a new environment where you can receive some professional help.

Get away from the distractions of everyday life and focus on rebuilding your emotional, physical, and spiritual connection.  Seek help and guidance from licensed professional counselors with the knowledge and perspective to help you and your spouse move past the difficulties that you are struggling with.  Your decision can make all the difference in a rocky marriage or unfulfilled relationship.  A Power & Compassion Christian Marriage Retreat could be just the miracle that you are looking for. One of the best ways to experience this miracle in your life is to attend a marriage retreat.

Marriage retreats can have a profound impact on not only your relationship, but on your own mental and physical health as well. In the same way that premarital counseling can play such a vital role in preparing a young couple for their new life together in matrimony, a marriage retreat can play a crucial role in helping a struggling couple who has been together in a relationship for some time to get their marriage back on track and to restore love and intimacy back into their lives.

Perhaps your marriage has fallen into a period where the romance has taken a backseat to the hardships of everyday life, or worse yet, the trust in your relationship has been compromised through unfaithfulness. These are serious situations that will eat away at a marriage like a cancer. It is important that you recognize them and the danger they present, and take preemptive measures to right your course and get back on track. Whatever kind of difficult situation that you find yourself in, seeking counseling and relationship healing from a Christian marriage retreat could be just what is needed to get your marriage back on the right path.

At a Power & Compassion Christian Marriage Retreats you will receive…

Intensive One-on-One Counseling

Often times marriage retreats, do a great job of fostering an environment of love and discovery, but they fall short when it comes to counselors who are licensed and experienced in the art of marital and relationship healing. In-depth counseling is prerequisite to healing and restoring a broken or bruised marriage.

Dale & Adi Lee are a married couple and licensed counseling team who started Power & Compassion Counseling with the goal of restoring one couple at a time.

Dale and Adi take a personalized one-on-one approach to counseling, and your can be certain that when you attend their marriage retreat you will receive exceptional counseling, and the personalized attention and care that you deserve.

Quality Time With your Spouse

In addition to the healing and helpful advice that you will receive from the counseling sessions at Power & Compassion retreats, you will also benefit from spending quality time with your spouse enjoying the peaceful and all-natural healing power of Montana’s Glacier Country. Power & Compassion’s marriage retreats are conducted at a private cabin retreat located just minutes from the western gateway to Glacier National Park. The amazing beauty and peaceful tranquility of this part of the country has a healing power all on its own. You and your spouse will have a lot of time in between counseling sessions to relax and enjoy the beauty and power of this remarkable rocky mountain retreat. A quality, romantic Montana getaway with your spouse could be just what is needed in your relationship right now. We combine two experienced licensed counselors with a personalized one-on-one approach.  Counseling is guided by Biblical principles.  Add to this the peaceful, romantic beauty of Montana’s Glacier Country, and you have a winning combination that cannot be matched.

Call Power & Compassion at 406-253-6427 to learn more, or visit www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net

31.10.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreat, emotional health, intensive marriage counseling No Comments

Four Ways That a Christian Marriage Retreat Can Help Save Your Marriage

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

The problem with some marriages is that they don’t have a religious and spiritual component that ties them together. In fact, a lot of people just get married in a church but don’t live out what their faith really tells them to. Marriage is the union of two people and it extends far beyond just physically being with someone. This is the reason why going to a Christian marriage retreat may be a good idea if you have issues with your marriage or simply want to ensure that you stay strong through the years.

But if you don’t have a problem, why fix it, right? This is the common argument that couples have against marriage retreats. They feel that the introspection called for in a Christian marriage retreat is only needed if you have major issues plaguing your marriage. The truth is that all couples will benefit from Christian marriage advice because the Christian marriage counseling they get helps put things in the right perspective, whether or not there is a major problem at hand. In the same way that you regularly maintain your house to preserve structural integrity and aesthetics, your marriage requires regular upkeep as well to ensure its bonds remain strong.

Still thinking twice about joining a Christian marriage retreat? Here are some reasons why a marriage intensive retreat may just be what you and your spouse need:

  • Power & Compassion Christian Marriage Retreats offer a couple-to-couple approach that allows for a balanced gender perspective that lets spouses hear exactly what each other have to say so they can better understand each other. It’s easy for gender biases to get in the way of proper communication so a balanced perspective is a great way to connect your spouse. When you understand exactly what your spouse has to say, you can respond better so issues are resolved more quickly.
  • Christian marriage retreat sessions are held in a quiet, secluded spot in the mountains, providing you with the right kind of environment to clearly think about concerns your marriage may have. If you luckily don’t have a lot of issues, the tranquil environment is still a great backdrop for being thankful for what you have in your life right now.
  • Since Christian marriage retreats are not simply for those with problems, it is a great avenue for couples to assess their marriage and zero in on small issues before they turn into major concerns, nipping them in the bud and clearing up misunderstandings between spouses.
  • While a Christian marriage retreat will require you to take a weekend away with your spouse mainly to give the two of you enough time to address issues, this is also a great excuse for you to spend time with your spouse. People live such busy lives and so it’s not unusual for relationships to suffer because people spend less and less time together. A stay in a delightful cabin surrounded by meadows located just a few minutes away by car from the Glacier National Park is a good way for you squeeze in that much-needed time together. You never know. A weekend together might just be what you need to rejuvenate the passion in your marriage.

Learn more about Power & Compassion’s Christian Marriage Retreats by visiting http://www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net

 

29.07.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreat, marriage retreats, weekend marriage retreat No Comments

Marriage: A Reflection of Gods Love for His Church

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

Falling in love is easy, keeping a marriage strong year after year takes work and commitment. The key to making a marriage work is more about being the right mate, rather than finding the right mate. Equally as important is keeping the right perspective on marriage, faith, and life.

Christian Marriage

The Bible tells us that in order to have a strong and successful marriage, we need to keep the right perspective on what is most important in our lives. That means making sure that God is always the most important thing in our lives, followed by our spouse, followed by our children, and then, our careers and everything else comes after that. When you read a statement like that in print, and think about it, it only makes sense that that is the order that we should keep things. However living out that philosophy in our everyday lives can be a much more difficult thing.

The Correct Role of Women in Marriage

Ephesians the fifth chapter gives us a snapshot of what a healthy family relationship should look like. Chapter 22 tells us, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; and He is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”

Women often cringe when they hear the Bible’s command for wives to “submit” to their husbands. But the Bible is not suggesting that women are supposed to act as slaves to their husbands, by mindlessly doing everything that he says all the time like mindless robots. I prefer the way the Message Bible states it… It says “Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ.”  This much more clearly conveys the idea that the Bible is trying to get across. It is important for wives to understand the role and position, and even more than that, the heavy responsibility that the Bible has placed on husbands as head of the household. The weight and responsibility of every decision that affects that family has been placed on the shoulders of the husband, and every choice and decision that affects the health and happiness of that family, the husband will be held accountable for.

That’s a lot of weight to carry as a husband and head of the household. That is why it is so important for husbands to have the support and understanding of their wives, and for wives to recognize the kind of stress and responsibility that their husbands are under, and to graciously support them and submit to them when it comes to making those tough decisions.

The Correct Roll For Men in Marriage

Now obviously God does not want wives to submit to their husbands if the decisions and choices that the husband is making are choices and decisions that would lead their wives and children away from a closer relationship with God. So in order for God’s ultimate plan for success in marriage to work, we read the next couple verses in Ephesians, which instructs the husbands how to live and conduct themselves in marriage. Verse 25 states, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

What this verse is telling us first and foremost, is that husbands are to love their wives. That little word love means a lot of things in this passage of scripture. It means that we as husbands are to give of ourselves, everything we have to ensure that our wives are comfortable and happy, having everything that they need and require to live satisfying lives. It means that we are supposed to have compassion towards our wives and deal tenderly with them, their emotions and their needs. It means that if it comes down to it, we are even to give our lives for their safety and protection, even as Christ gave his life as a ransom for us. If husbands are living their lives according to that commandment, it make it easy for wives to willingly submit to their husbands as the authority and head of the household.

Ephesians goes on to say, “Husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.”

If men and women in marriage read these verses in Ephesians, understood them, and live their lives according to the instructions given herein, there would be no marital problems in this world, there’d be no divorce or separation or broken homes. Sadly, the world has skewed what these passages of Scripture are trying to say, and most men and women do not take the time to research what the Bible is truly telling us about how we should live our lives and conduct ourselves in marriage.

Marriage is supposed to be a reflection of God’s relationship with the church. God came down to earth in the form of Jesus Christ, and gave everything he had for the life and liberty of the church. He gave of himself endlessly and selflessly, and loved so much that he gave his own life to save the church from sin and condemnation. We as the church must recognize that, and in turn give everything we have back to Christ, and live our lives in respect and support and love of him. If we do that our life will be long and our way will be prosperous. And if men and women take this example as how their marriage is supposed to look, Jesus being the example for the husband, and the church being the example for the wife, then their marriages will be long and prosperous as well.

Visit our website at www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net for more insights into how to build a strong and lasting marriage with your spouse, and also learn more about our powerful Christian Marriage Intensive counseling

29.05.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreat, intensive marriage counseling, tips for a happy marriage No Comments

Choosing Marriage Retreats

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

They do say that the first step towards finding a solution lies in admitting that there is a problem. If marriage retreats were to be part of the solution then, you would have to be open to admitting that your marriage could be so much better than it is now. This isn’t to say really that your marriage is falling apart though because even blissful marriages would surely learn a thing or two from Christian counseling marriage retreats. A marriage retreat is not just something that mends, after all. It is also a tool that can enrich so that good marriages can become better or even the best they can be.

Marriage Retreats: A healthy choice for your marriage

Retreat programs for marriages will vary depending on who’s offering them. For instance, ChristanMarriageRetreats.net or Power & Compassion Christian Counseling take on a couple-to-couple approach to ensure that both parties will be given the chance to speak up about issues, be heard, and in turn understood. You can only really understand someone anyway by talking to them. Power & Compassion Christian Counseling retreat programs make the most out of the time couples spend on the retreat by giving them the best avenue for sorting out whatever issues they might have.  Many  couples have reported great results through this type of approach to marriage retreat counseling.  The personalized one-on-one counseling provided by Power & Compassion coupled with a clear focus on faith and seeking the will and counsel of God a for your marriage sets Power & Compassion’s Christian marriage retreats apart from many of the other offerings that are available.

The simple act of getting away with your spouse to a new location for a few days and focusing all of your time and attention solely on one another can have a powerful healing effect as well. Consider how taking time off from your busy schedule and surroundings helps you to clear your mind and focus more effectively on the important things in life.  The same is true with taking time to get away on a marriage retreat and focusing your attention on your spouse for a few days.  It can play a vital role in the healing and strengthening of your marriage.  When deciding on the marriage retreat that is right for you, look for a marriage retreat that is held in a peaceful location so you can shed all of your stresses away and simply focus on the task at hand of improving your marriage. To get both you and your partner in the mood, find a marriage retreat that is held in a place that you both love. For example, if you both appreciate the great outdoors and share a love for being active, a retreat venue surrounded by greens and blues of nature could be just the ticket. Different couples have different issues they need to sort through so go for marriage retreats that cover a lot of areas. You may have a specific area in mind that you and your spouse have to work on but you can also contribute a lot to your relationship by improving on other areas as well.

Some things to consider about your marriage retreat

Christian marriage counseling may offer a different approach than other marriage retreats out there so make sure to consider as many options as possible first before choosing one. You are, after all, interested in a solution to your marriage problems. Since you’re looking for a solution anyway, might as well go for a marriage retreat you feel will be best for you and your spouse. Take into consideration what your beliefs are about marriage, for instance. People with differing backgrounds and beliefs may have different notions of marriage but everything will boil down to making a commitment to your spouse and sticking with that commitment no matter what. Attending a marriage retreat that sheds the right kind of light on the subject of marriage, love and devotion may be the best way to go for you. There are a lot of marriage retreats out there and as with anything, it is always better to have multiple options than none. Make the most out of this by comparing what different retreats offer to you, and whether you feel you can fit the cost into your budget. Your decision may mean you will have to pull back on some of the other spending that you were planning on doing over the coming months, but don’t worry because where it matters, you’re sure to have enough, and honestly, what price tag can you put on the health and happiness of your marital relationship.

To learn more about the christian marriage counseling services provided by Power & Compassion’s Christian Marriage Retreats visit our marriage retreats page at http://www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net/marriageretreats.html

17.05.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreat, marriage retreat, marriage retreats No Comments

Love Is A Choice, Not A Feeling

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

Often times couples, after having been married for several years, start to allow the romance and passion of their marriage to fade. They get caught up in the mundane monotony of everyday life… working hard to pay the bills… taking care of the kids… keeping a clean house… caring for aging parents… all of these things and so much more can easily crowd in and distract us from taking the time to love and appreciate our spouse they way we need to in order to keep the romance alive in our marriage.

 

When people find themselves in this type of situation their feelings of love and affection towards their spouse can often get pushed aside and begin to fade or be forgotten. But the truth is, love is not a feeling. Love is a promise. Love is a decision and a commitment that you made when you said your vows to one another at the altar of marriage before your family, your friends, and God. Love is a choice that you made “for better or for worse…til death do us part.”

 

Love is an action, not a feeling. It is something that you must control, not something that you are controlled by.

 

People who are having problems in their marriage often say things like “I just don’t feel like I am in love with her any more,” or “I’ve just fallen out of love with him.” But when you understand that love is a choice…a decision…a promise, not a feeling that you are controlled by, then you will understand that love is not something that you can “fall out of” or something that “fades away.” Passion and romance is something that we can easily let fade away, when we are not careful, but our commitment to love is something that you can never “fall out of” of give up on.

 

Because love is a choice and a promise it is something that you cannot give up on or choose not to do. It is something that you must fight for and something that you must take drastic measures in order to preserve and keep alive. It is something that you plan for and budget for and treat the same way as you would any other important thing in your life like your job or your hobby.

 

This might look like setting aside one night each week as a “date night” with your spouse where you go out for a nice dinner, or go to a movie or play, or simply take a quite and romantic walk together down town or in a park… anything that allows you guys to step out of the everyday mundane and focus your attention on one another.

 

It also means you should set aside some time every few months, or at least once or twice a year to do something really special together like a special holiday or romantic vacation. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive if your budget cannot afford it, but it does have to be something that shows your thoughtfulness and care for one another. An example of this could be planning a romantic getaway to a place you have never been before and creating an itinerary that focuses your time and attention during this holiday specifically on one another. Many people enjoy and receive great romantic and emotional benefits from planning a weekend getaway to Power & Compassion’s Marriage Retreat’s in northwest Montana for this very reason.

 

Whatever you decide to do, remember, that love is a choice and a promise that you made to your spouse. Love is not a feeling that you are controlled by or that you can loose or fall out of. It is something that you must harness and control yourself. It is an action and a promise. Fight for it!

17.03.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreats, tips for a happy marriage, weekend marriage retreat No Comments

Strengthen Your Marriage By Developing Your Own Mental and Emotional Health

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

A large part of having and maintaining a healthy marriage relationship is having and maintaining a good level of mental and emotional health in yourself.  One of the key areas that we focus on during our private, personalized christian marriage retreats is teaching you how to develop a healthy mental attitude in yourself so that you are better equipped to interact in a positive way with your spouse and family.

For some reason, being physically healthy in today’s society is the only thing looked at for being healthy. To be perfectly healthy, for the majority of people, means eating the right foods, and doing the right exercise program. While this is true of our physiques, it is not true for the rest of us. Emotions play a really big part in your health, and so does your mind, so you should be equally concerned with them as you are your physical health. Maybe not in every instance can you change how you feel, you can at least control your feelings. There are things that you can do to improve your mental and emotional health. There are many things to do, and these are a few of them.

Help improve yourself with personal willpower. Sometimes people indulge in behaviors they never thought that they would, simply because they slack off due to feeling down or depressed. You might think that you deserve to wallow, but all it does is make it tougher to climb out of the pit you are in. When inhibitions are lowered, we do things we normally wouldn’t do, because they seem okay because of our present circumstances. When you are depressed, if you wallow too long, it is going to be hard to ever get your life back, unless you can make yourself do what has to be done. The best thing you can do for your mental and emotional health is to take care of your responsibilities even if you need to force yourself to keep going. Don’t ever give up, no matter how bad you feel, and do this by finding a reason to tell your heart and head that your life is still going on. Start off everyday with something you like. You can lower your blood pressure and increase serotonin levels in the brain, by walking through a garden or a park, according to studies. You will feel better emotionally by doing something physical that allows you to relax. So, allow yourself to spend some time admiring beauty-whether it is through actual art and architecture or in the beauty of living things around you. Your mood can be elevated by the inspiration of beauty. You need to find the beauty in all situations. Everyone is an individual, so there is no reason to expect everyone to have the same reaction to all things. It is okay to like something different from others.

Enjoy yourself in your spare time. Life will be nothing but drudgery and depression, unless you raise your levels of happiness by finding something you can enjoy during your leisure time, even though indulging in laziness is not a good thing. You can easily run your emotions into the ground, when you are only working, even doing housework, because the work needs to get done. Doing something just because you think it is fun helps you feel happy. When you have things you must do because they are your responsibility, times of happiness can make them easier to manage. Your emotional and mental health will be much better, as long as you can get your life to be less tedious. Any mental health problems that become too severe to handle will require a mental health expert to be consulted. Your mental health, as well as your emotional health can be made better, as long as you are willing to work for improvement. Sometimes our emotions might seem uncontrollable, but they can be managed. Just because something happens that make us sad, we don’t have to become depressed, and we can find ways to be happy. The tips in this article are just the tip of the iceberg. Anything that has to do with your life, unless you are being manipulated by someone else, is completely up to you and your choices, whether they are good or bad.

To learn more about how Power and Compassion christian marriage counseling retreats can help you to improve your marriage relationship through developing and strengthening your mental and emotional health, visit http://www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net

11.02.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreats, emotional health, tips for a happy marriage No Comments

The Importance of Attending a Christian Marriage Retreat

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Marriage retreats have been a significant help to millions of people across the globe today. In fact, personalized couples retreats have saved millions of hopeless marriages that were headed for failure and destruction. Marriage retreats require couples to invest time, effort, attention and money but the profit gained through this process is far more valuable not just for the couple but for their children as well.

In marriage, there comes a point where the couple’s interest towards each other tends to wear off and the passion begins to fade. This can be triggered by factors such as pressure in the family, career and personal development, financial obligations and poor sexual activities.

Through the years, marriage retreats have become increasingly important in renewing the passion and romance in the  married lives of couples. Christian Marriage Retreats offer an invaluable support to couples whose relationships are constantly struggling. They provide couples with a temporary yet valuable escape from daily routines which results in a renewal of love and devotion for one another and a more harmonious, exciting and enjoyable marriage life.

With the help of a professional marriage counselor, personal and family problems are tackled thoroughly and solutions are found and applied in a practical and effective manner. Basically, personalized marriage counseling is specially designed to provide long lasting and positive solutions to issues such as anger, stress, anxiety, depression, affair prevention and repair, interpersonal difficulties and spiritual, emotional and physical intimacies. When these problems are left unresolved, it can negatively affect the quality of relationship of the couple. In the long run, this can trigger the both parties to concur for a divorce or annulment. When this happens, children are left at the losing end of the equation.

More often than not, marriage retreats stimulate couples to create a conversation which can bring about a number of benefits to their relationship. In fact, it provides a good opportunity for them to talk about their marriage and problems. Furthermore, a retreat allows the couple to evaluate themselves and formulate concrete and long lasting solutions to their imperfections. With the help of a professional marriage counselor, the couple is able to open up, share their feelings and disclose their sentiments and emotion with one another more freely.  Keeping those feelings bottled up inside can result in frustration, mistrust and other destructive behavior, so it is important to open up and communicate about what is on your heart.

Marriage retreats also allow the couple to appreciate their relationships and rather than focusing on the negative, find reasons why they should make the marriage work. It serves as a good reminder about the vows that they made, towards each other during their wedding ceremony. Marriage retreats are also good opportunities for couples to express their commitment and lifelong relationship with each other.

There is a common misconception that marriage retreats are only for couples whose relationships are struggling. But this is not really the case. Marriage retreats are also beneficial to married couples whose relationships are going along smoothly. In fact, marriage retreats offer valuable opportunities for couples to transform a good marriage them into a great marriage.

Marriage retreats provide couples with a great deal of motivational forces to work with their marriage instead of letting it fall apart. And most importantly, a Christian marriage retreat with a professional counselor allows a couple to renew their bond of love for each other and establish God as the center of their marriage.

 

For more information on the Christian Marriage Retreats provided by Power & Compassion Christian Counseling, visit http://www.ChristianMarriageRetreats.net

02.02.2012 christian marriage counseling, christian marriage retreats, intensive marriage counseling No Comments

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