Week 270: 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 by corresponding action, in other words, if lightly made promises are never kept. Nagging can also cause communication to 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 then 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 return to the subject 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 spouses are doing something together, instead of face-to-face in a static environment