Week 43: Marriages and Broken Communication
Join us this week in praying for
marriages in which communication has broken down. By all accounts the
lack of effective communication is a frequent and devastating dysfunction in
marriages. The break down in communication can occur for a wide range of
reasons. Communication can grind to a halt if one’s words or body
language suggests disinterest in or contempt for a spouse’s input.
Sometimes the desire to communicate can dry up if a spouse feels the other’s
words are never followed up with action, in other words, if lightly made
promises are never kept. Nagging can also cause communication cease.
When effective communication
stops, all sorts of misunderstandings and false assumptions are likely to
spring up. The resulting cascade of trouble and stress will then be
difficult to reverse since the very tool needed to effect this change, good
communication, is already impaired.
Pray with us this week that
couples having communication issues will
- Understand that respect for their spouse is one of the most important building blocks of effective communication
- Forgive and seek forgiveness for past hurts and not allow those hurts to stop their willingness to communicate
- Understand that individuals communicate differently and seek to understand their spouse’s particular communication style
- Allow a break in a conversation headed in the wrong direction; in other words, know when to be quiet and bring a subject back up at a calmer, more appropriate time
- For husbands: pray they will understand communication does not always have a precise point; not every conversation is problem solving; sometimes a wife just wants her husband to listen without trying to “fix” her or her expressed issue
- For wives: pray they will understand their husbands often communicate most openly and honestly when the conversation happens side-by-side as they are doing something together, instead of face-to-face in a static environment
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