The Marriage To The Max Podcast

EPISODE 12 – A MARRIAGE OF GRACE

We’re so glad for your continued listening of our marriage podcast, “Marriage to the Max”, hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. And we greatly appreciate your ongoing feedback and comments!

We have entitled this week’s conversation, “A Marriage of Grace”. When we are in ongoing dialogue with struggling couples, or even couples in critical crisis, we very frequently hear the desire from so many of these couples to have more peace in their relationship. These spouses want to be free of the escalation of tension in their everyday experience. We hear these couples desperately crying out for more grace in their marriage. Fortunately, we believe that also God wants married couples to enjoy grace within marriage and that He can tremendously assist in that process.

The word “grace” is a beautiful word with many historical definitions. Our favorite definition of grace is “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification”. In other words, grace is a holy word, a holy concept. Without divine assistance with God, none of us could even know Him, let alone enjoy the blessings that He offers us. Receiving God’s blessings of love is truly the most important definition of grace. However, grace can also be defined as having a charming or attractive trait or characteristic. Going even further, grace could also be defined as having “a disposition toward an act of kindness or courtesy.” In marriage, dispositions toward acts of kindness can go a long way! But how does one get a disposition or attitude toward kindness?

We believe one of the greatest roadblocks to the way of marital health and strength is our own selfishness. Right behind that reality would be our own blindness regarding that selfishness. It’s truly remarkable how we can forget how strong our wills can be. When we are reading Scripture, it doesn’t take long for us to be reminded of how quickly we can drift each day toward rationalizing our own designs, our own ways of behaving or looking at life. This wayward “drift” causes us to miss out the fullness of life that God intended and desires for us to experience….in all of our relationships. We do know that a better plan is available to couples, if they’re both willing. We hope that today’s episode will encourage each of us to look to the Lord, our Creator, for our ultimate satisfaction. This will allow us to extend grace, understanding and forgiveness to our spouses when they don’t live up to our own expectations or standards.

Thank you for listening so far. We greatly appreciate it. Feel free to contact us anytime at thehursts@homeencouragement.org if we can be of assistance to your family in any way. And we are also grateful to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications as well as our engineer Zach Alkire for their invaluable assistance in getting this podcast to you. Opening and closing theme songs by Loopsound.

EPISODE 11 – PROTECTING AGAINST AFFAIRS

Welcome back to “Marriage to the Max”, a marriage podcast hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. We’re always grateful that you join us for these podcast episodes. We hope you’ll continue to make it part of your weekly routine. We will continue to shoot for releasing a new episode every Tuesday.

This week’s topic is “Affair Proofing Your Marriage”. Actually, we had some debate about this title after we recorded this conversation. To be technically accurate, there is no surefire way to affair-proof your marriage. Affairs can happen to the best of couples and families can get quickly blindsided when they least expect it. Fortunately, we at Home Encouragement have seen miraculous marriage healings in many, many of these hurting situations. Because of the tendencies that all human beings have toward brokenness, weakness, and even self-centeredness, no one is completely immune from the things that might sneak in and compromise a marriage relationship. However, we believe there are practical steps that can be put in place that will greatly minimize the chances of an affair destroying a marriage. We hope to be able to provide some of those tips in this week’s episode.

Make no mistake about it, an affair is usually devastating to a marriage and the recovery process is quite difficult and takes time. But there is great hope available for couples. If you are struggling in any way with an affair-related issue in your marriage, we advocate that you seek out prayer and professional help. One good recommendation is to contact The Affair Recovery Center in Austin, Texas at www.affairrecovery.com. The folks there are world-renowned in this field and may possibly have the best tools and resources available for recovering from affairs and other forms of infidelity.

As always, props to Zach Alkire (engineer) and Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for helping us get this week’s MTTM episode up and running. Week in and week out, we couldn’t do it without you!
And thanks to our listeners (you know who you are)! We’d love to hear from you. Either comment here or email us at thehursts@homeencouragement.org.

God bless you through the Christmas season.

EPISODE 10 – CONFLICT 101

Thanks for listening again to “Marriage to the Max”, a marriage podcast hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. We hope you have been enjoying each weekly episode. We continue to release a new installment of these conversations every Tuesday. Please feel free to leave your comments regarding these episodes. Give us your feedback. It helps us to know what types of podcasts to create in the future.

This week, our topic is “Conflict 101”. The subject of conflict is one that MTTM will visit and revisit throughout this podcast series. All married couples have some level of conflict—and that’s certainly okay. Not only is conflict not a bad thing, we believe that it’s even necessary for the continued growth of intimacy between spouses. In fact, one way to define having “conflict” is simply “to differ”. Since you didn’t marry someone exactly like you, conflict is certainly inevitable for your relationship together.

Always remember that conflict is an opportunity for God to work in your marriage, as well as for you to take real time to examine what might be the source of those different points of view. These are chances to learn even more about yourselves and each other. But don’t be discouraged by some ongoing conflict in your marriage. If you draw closer to God and learn how He might want you to manage that conflict more effectively together, you’ll be able to see your disagreements in a completely new light.

As always, we are grateful to Zach Alkire (engineer/musician) and Grant Peterson (South Hill Communications) for all that they do each week to allow to continue to release new podcasts. They make doing these so much more effective…and fun. Opening and closing theme songs by Loopsound.

EPISODE 9 – MARRIAGE QUOTES

We’re grateful for your continued investment into our marriage podcast, “Marriage to the Max”, hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. We enjoy bringing you this podcast with a new episode every week.

During this week’s installment, we bring you our first “marriage quotes” conversation. We thought it would be a fun idea for the two of us to gather some quotes by famous and not-so-famous people about marriage….and then react spontaneously to those quotes. We’ll see if this concept works out okay. Yes, it might be one of those seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time kind of ideas. Either way, we would love your comments.

As always, if you would like to contact us about anything marriage related, that’s why we’re here. You may email us at thehursts@homeencouragement.org and we will respond as soon as we can. Our ongoing hope is to encourage as many couples as possible toward healthy marriage. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you in that process.

Special thanks to our podcast engineer, Zach Alkire, who makes recording these episodes a much easier task—we also enjoy his homegrown musical tracks. We’re also always grateful to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for his ongoing assistance each week in getting our communications out into cyberworld. Opening and closing theme songs by Loopsound.

EPISODE 8 – INTERVIEW WITH ADAM MASON (PART II)

Welcome back to Marriage to the Max, the weekly podcast hosted by Brett and Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. In this week’s episode, we conclude with “Part 2” our in-depth conversation with gifted counselor Adam Mason of Houston’s First Baptist Church. We received so much from listening to Adam in these sessions together. Adam’s vast wisdom and experience offers much to all married couples. We hope you get a chance to listen to this entire interview and benefit as well from his insights.

Also, we would like to wish you and your family a very blessed Thanksgiving season. As a family, the Hursts are so very grateful to God and all He has done for us. We pray that you will also experience the richest blessings imaginable from truly knowing Him and abiding in Him.

EPISODE 7 – INTERVIEW WITH ADAM MASON (PART I)

Thank you for your continued listening of our marriage podcast, “Marriage to the Max”, hosted by Brett and Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement.

In this new episode, we are honored to feature our very first interview guest. Adam Mason is the Minister of Counseling Services at Houston’s First Baptist Church, one of the pioneer church counseling organizations in the country. Adam is an ordained minister of Christian counseling and a licensed professional counselor and supervisor in Texas. He has a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling, a Master of Arts in Religious Education, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Social Service. Adam has specialized training in the area of Spiritual Direction, and has been working in this area for over 25 years.

Adam brings a great amount of wisdom as well as tremendous insights into the spiritual foundation of marriage. We encourage you and your spouse to listen to this interview critically as could will help realign your understanding about how marriage was designed to work.

Thanks again to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for his ongoing consultation as well as our talented engineer Zach Alkire.

EPISODE 6 – COMMUNICATION 101

Welcome back to “Marriage to the Max”, the weekly marriage podcast hosted by Brett and Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. This week, we discuss “Communication 101”. This is a vital topic for most couples. Are you aware that the average amount of quality conversation per day for married couples is 3 minutes? Wow! Really? That staggers the mind, frankly. However, we’re willing to bet that, with just a little bit of effort, most couples can improve dramatically on increasing that amount of conversation.

You should know that communication struggles are extremely common among married couples. This is why this subject of more effective communication will be a topic that “Marriage to the Max” will visit and revisit frequently. Fortunately, effective communication skills can be learned and applied fairly easily that will typically make things smoother for couples. We hope to encourage you with helpful insights to remind spouses how important it is to pray and work consistently for better and clearer communication between one another.

As always, we invite you to share your insights and further questions with us. Our hope is that these podcasts might help you enjoy your marriage experience more and more. Your feedback is always appreciated. Contact us at thehursts@homeencouragement.org and let us know how we’re doing!

Thanks again to Zach Alkire for his engineering prowess and musical deposits. Also, we’re thankful for Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for his invaluable contributions to OUR communication! We are grateful for both of these guys, as well as their friendship and gifts.

EPISODE 5 – DIVINE ROMANCE

This week, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement discuss “Divine Romance” on the Marriage to the Max podcast.

Is the idea of romance between a man and a woman a divine idea? Most certainly, it is! And, even more unequivocally, God is the utmost expert on a married couple’s need for romance. As a matter of fact, scripturally speaking, it’s crystal clear that the Lord desires married couples to experience the richness of a romantic lifestyle. There’s a reason why the fullness of healthy sex and enticing romance are beyond human description.

Obviously, the notion of deep, romantic expression between two lovers did not originate in Hollywood. Romance expression has been around since the beginning of time. But divine romance is more than just physical attraction. Don’t get the wrong idea…external sexual attraction to your spouse can be a fantastic thing–good for any marriage! But what if couples also nurtured a deeper internal intimacy within marriage?

What are we saying? We want married couples to not merely passively react to whatever turns them on in a given moment, but also to consistently initiate ongoing romance with one another…day or night. Think outside of the box. Talk and dream together about romance. Find out how to meet each other’s needs. When that occurs, a more mutually satisfying relationship grows. In other words, divine love is more than just getting one’s own needs met. True romance is selfless and limitless…and that’s exactly what can make it totally exciting. We hope that every married couple can carve out time away from ongoing daily stressors to focus more on cultivating deep romance within lifelong marriage. It is so worth it.

As always, we love hearing from you. Please feel free to share your ideas with us by contacting us at thehursts@homeencouragment.org anytime. We value your input, your suggestions, and your questions. And thanks for listening!

Special gratitude to our engineer Zach Alkire who always brings good vibes and creative incidental tracks. Also, props to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for his generous use of time in order to make our communication more effective. Opening and closing theme songs by Loopsound.

EPISODE 4 – SILVER ANNIVERSARY LESSONS

Thanks so much for listening to our new marriage podcast, “Marriage to the Max”, hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. Your positive emails are keeping us going and we’re glad that the content has seemed helpful to several couples. We also hope that you have been enjoying listening to us bumble through these conversations. At least we’re having fun doing this….not sure about anyone else!

This year marks the 25th wedding anniversary of the Hursts. In some ways, it seems like we’ve been married forever….in other ways, it seems like we’ve only just begun (with apologies to The Carpenters). Looking forward, we can’t wait to be married for twice this long! There is still so very much for us to learn together, and we get excited thinking about that. We certainly have so much respect for those that can stay married for 50 years or more. Those couples have tremendous wisdom to share with others. But, actually, every married couple has some wisdom to share with others. And many couples have been faithful to pour those insights into couples around them. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons we started Home Encouragement’s Marriage Hall of Fame!

In this episode, we speak candidly about a few of the important things that we’ve learned so far from our marriage, at least up to the point of this Silver Anniversary. Every marriage has its own personality. As we reflect on this milestone together, you’ll get a small bit of insight into what makes us work as a married couple. Actually, we have tried to be reflective about our marriage as we’ve celebrated every anniversary. But we are particularly aware to do so during the biggest milestones. We hope you’ll be encouraged to take opportune moments to do the same in your own marriage. What have you learned as a couple lately? After all, marriage is one great teacher!

No matter how long you’ve been married, even if it’s been just a couple of weeks, we’d love to hear from you about how you’ve benefitted from marriage so far. Feel free to contact us at thehursts@homeencouragement.org and tell us. We’re always looking for fresh insights of encouragement to share with other couples. And, as always, thanks for listening!

Special thanks to our engineer Zach Alkire who makes us sound tolerable! Also, we’re always grateful to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for all the nifty things he does to help our communications.

EPISODE 3 – DATE YOUR MATE

Thank you again for listening to our new podcast, “Marriage to the Max”, hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement! This week’s topic, “Date Your Mate”, is obviously focused on that very vital subject of marital dating. Even though we have worked with couples for many years now, it always surprises us how many married couples have stopped the fun and creative practice of dating altogether. For some reason, many spouses feel like once a couple has become married, the “dating” years officially end. Au contraire! Married couples need to be going out on dates most of all!

In this episode, we get the conversation started about the importance of dating as married couples. Not only that, but we’d love to hear from you about creative ways that you have kept romance alive through dating. Feel free to comment here or send us an email at thehursts@homeencouragement.org. We are always looking for fresh insights into the world of dating, whether it’s from young singles, engaged couples, newlyweds or veteran married couples. After all, few things help you connect and re-connect as couples as effectively as just enjoying one another’s company through dating.

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to tell others that we’re here and to “like” us on Facebook and Twitter. We appreciate it!

Special thanks to our engineer, Zach Alkire, as well as to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications, who recently designed our beautiful new Home Encouragement website. Thanks, guys! Opening and closing themes by Loopsound. Some incidental tunage from Zach.