Many couples believe in the power of prayer, but they struggle to practice it consistently—us included! In fact, 95% of Christian couples do not pray together.

There are times when we struggle to make prayer a priority like it needs to be. Whether it’s because of busy schedules, not knowing how to begin, or feeling uncomfortable praying with another person, there are so many factors that can keep husbands and wives from sharing a regular practice of prayer.

However, prayer is one of God’s most powerful tools for strengthening your marriage. Our guests for this conversation understand this well, and they are here to share practical tools that will help you and your spouse kickstart your prayer journey together.

Brad and Heidi Mitchell are the co-founders of Build Your Marriage, a ministry dedicated to helping couples create Christ-centered marriages. Out of a season of deep brokenness and God’s powerful restoration, their marriage was rebuilt. That experience became the heart of their ministry. Brad and Heidi have been married for 42 years, and they bring honest, hard-earned wisdom to the journey of developing a lasting marriage.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Some of the factors that break down marriages
• Obstacles that prevent people from praying together
• How to practice “popcorn” prayer
• And more!

If you’ve never prayed with your spouse before, we hope this conversation has provided some useful tools that will help you start!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: jillsavage.org/brad-heidi-mitchell-296

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms

Vulnerability is very important to us. We share the dirt and the difficulties of our own marriage openly when telling our story.

So when we had the opportunity to read the book, Still Here, by Steven Curtis Chapman and Mary Beth Chapman, we resonated with their honesty about the challenges of marriage. This intimate memoir takes you inside the Chapmans’ real-life marriage, spanning four decades of beautiful, broken, and restored moments.

This book means so much to us, and we are thrilled to share the heart behind it with you as the Chapmans join us for this conversation.

Steven Curtis Chapman is the most awarded artist in Christian music history with 60 Dove Awards, five GRAMMY® Awards, 10 certified Gold or Platinum albums, and an unprecedented 50 No. 1 singles. His wife, Mary Beth Chapman, is the co-founder and chairman of the board of Show Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing barriers to adoption.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Some of the what-not-to-dos of marriage
• Where true happiness can be found
• What it takes to be Still Here through every hurdle of marriage
• And more!

We thoroughly enjoyed having the Chapmans share their wisdom with us!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: jillsavage.org/steven-curtis-chapman-295

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms

We had a record number of Marriage Intensives at the beginning of this year! For each intensive, we host a couple at our home for a whole weekend so that we can give them our undivided attention and really dive deep. As we worked with these couples, we were reminded of some of the themes that pop up over and over in relationships.

One of the biggest ones? Anger. Anger is a normal part of life, but how we handle this emotion makes all the difference. Anger protects us, helps us guard against danger, and empowers us, but too often, anger is misused. This issue is at the core of so many of the marriage conflicts we see.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• The consequences of anger being misused
• Practical steps to understand anger
• How to take our feelings to God
• And more!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: jillsavage.org/untangling-anger-294

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms

In the business world, the ones who make it to the top are often high-achieving, ruthless, and confident. They’re calculated risk-takers. All of these characteristics can help professionals move up the ladder—but they don’t always translate well in those same people’s personal lives. In fact, when people try to take the strategies that bring them workplace success and apply them at home, they can end up harming their marriages.

On the inside, high achievers often fear rejection and shy away from vulnerability—which can make it hard to achieve the close, loving relationships they desire.

This was the experience of today’s guest. Lantz Howard is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and a trained marriage therapist who helps leaders live in their true identity so they can experience more intimacy, more sex, and more connection with their spouse.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why business strategies don’t apply at home
• The importance of uncovering your needs
• Practical tips for escaping a performance mindset in marriage
• And more!

If you or your spouse is a high-achieving type, you won’t want to miss out on this conversation!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: jillsavage.org/lantz-howard-293

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms

A mother’s job is to teach her children to not need her anymore. The hardest part of that job is accepting success.

We pour our lives into our kids. We sacrifice, lose sleep, and make sure they have everything they need, only to have them one day leave to live on their own without us. My guest understands this feeling as a parent with one foot in and the other foot out of the launching phase.

Cristina Wright is an author, former homeschool mom, wife, and mother of two. Her first book, Launch Them Well, helps moms navigate the emotional rollercoaster of watching their children grow into young adults—while also empowering those kids to thrive in independence.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Guidance on how to launch your kids well
• Why your identity should involve more than your role as a parent
• How to process the grief that occurs after your child launches
• And more!

This is a topic I am passionate about, and I felt so blessed by the wisdom Cristina had to share!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: jillsavage.org/cristina-wright-292

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms

Talking about death can be a tender and uncomfortable subject, but our time on earth is temporary. Someday we will all leave this world, and many of us won’t get a warning of when that will occur.

While fear may want to push us away from this topic, conversations like this one help us begin to normalize talking about death. When we bring something hard like this into the light, it starts to feel less big and scary—and a little more manageable. When we face the reality of death, we empower ourselves to live in the present, knowing what we are leaving behind: a meaningful legacy.

Helping people broach the topic of death is something that my friend, Yvette Maher, is passionate about. Yvette is an end-of-life transition coach who supports individuals and families in this sacred, yet challenging space.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How preparing for death can help us live better today
• Practical tips for getting your affairs in order
• The importance of creating your legacy in advance
• And more!

I so appreciate Yvette’s willingness to approach this difficult topic with gentleness and understanding.

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: jillsavage.org/yvette-maher-291

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms

Roosters, candy canes, thermometers, and antifungal cream.

These are just a few of the ordinary items we saw God use in extraordinary ways during our time in Uganda this February.

This journey of our ministry in Africa, which began with an untied shoelace on an Alabama sidewalk, continues to unfold in ways Mark and I never could have imagined. To hear how it all began, you can listen to Episode 135 and 210. Today, Mark and I are grateful and excited to share this special episode where we recap some of the highlights and God stories from our third and most recent trip to Uganda. Best of all, you get to hear from three of the team members who made the journey with us.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Our team’s biggest takeaways from experiencing life in Uganda
• How the school we’ve been building blew our expectations away
• The God story of a big need met through a simple Amazon wishlist
• And more!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: https://jillsavage.org/god-stories-uganda-290/

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms

A dad is foundational in every person’s life, but not everyone has a solid, stable father figure to rely on.

When Mark and I work with couples and individuals in our coaching sessions, we are often able to trace a person’s current challenges back to father wounds. So many people are still being negatively affected by the difficult relationship they had with their father growing up—many of them without even realizing it.

As we help these people unpack the past, we can’t undo their experiences. But we can point to our Heavenly Father and remind them that there is incredible healing to be found in the unfailing, unconditional love that only God can provide.

My guest today sees the effect of father wounds in her everyday ministry work. Rachelle Starr is the founder of Scarlet Hope and Freedom Signa, a ministry that reaches and disciples exploited women. She’s the author of the book Outrageous Obedience, and is passionate about reaching women with hope wherever they are.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How God used a home-cooked meal to start an entire ministry
• Why it’s so important to understand that true healing takes time and patience
• How the love of the Heavenly Father can heal wounds we receive from our earthly father
• And more!

I appreciated Rachelle’s story of how God led her to show up in the lives of these precious women, and the healing that has come to so many as a result.

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: https://jillsavage.org/rachelle-starr-289/

Check out our other resources:

• Mark and Jill’s Marriage Story
• Marriage Coaching
• Marriage 2.0 Intensives
• Speaking Schedule
• Book Mark and Jill to Speak
• Online Courses
• Books

Marriage Resources:

• Infidelity Recovery
• For Happy Marriages
• For Hurting Marriages
• For Marriages Where You’re the Only One Wanting to Get Help

Mom Resources:

• New/Preschool Moms
• Moms with Gradeschoolers
• Moms with Teens and Tweens
• Moms with Kids Who Are Launching
• Empty Nest Moms