Mothers have one of the most important and challenging jobs in the world. The daily duties of a Mom include: housekeeper and home manager, dietician and cook, laundry manager, inventory analyst and expert shopper, chauffeur and errand runner, educator and tutor, communications expert and problem solver, counselor, encourager, event planner and activities director, finance manager, and health care provider. Mothers raise the next generation of adults who will either be a credit to her and a positive contributor to society or a burden on society. Motherhood is a full time calling which requires God’s help.

Every mother needs support, encourage, and help in her effort to raise morally responsible and biblically responsive children. ...

You and I grew up hearing the axiom, “actions speak louder than words.” Its counterpart is also pretty familiar, “talk is cheap.” In counseling Elsie and I desire to go beyond words, beyond platitudes, beyond promises to see actions. Only when we see actions will we know that change has taken place. Change will not occur simply because a client says the right words. Actions speak louder than words.

How do we move beyond words to actions? Several things must take place:

1. Motivation

There must be sufficient motivation to move from words to action. We can be motivated by self, love, threat, fear, or pain. All of those will work to a greater or lesser degree but a powerful motivation for action is pain. Nothing ...

Men and women do NOT think alike neither do they have the same needs. Physiology and brain scans have documented the uniqueness of each gender and presented a good case for why we need each other. Husbands and wives are truly better when they work as a team. 

For husbands to love their wives, they must understand the unique needs that wives have. Listed below are four of the most important needs wives have. Yes, these are generalizations and not tailored to the specific needs some wives may have. They are, however, generalizations drawn from thirty years of counseling couples.

1. Relationship

Wives are the “relationship minders” in the family. They want to insure that everyone in the family is in a good relationship...

Growing up in Illinois, my parents often took vacations in Ludington, Michigan. Friends of theirs had a residence on Hamlin Lake just east of Lake Michigan. I have wonderful memories of those carefree days of learning to waterski, jumping down sand dunes the size of small mountains, eating ice cream at Barnhart’s Marina, and the garbage dump. Yes, the garbage dump. One of our favorite activities was to join the “townies” after dark at the town garbage dump. With cars ringing the dump all with headlights shining we would watch the bears pawing through the garbage looking for dinner or an after dinner snack. It was fascinating! Garbage dumps are favorite snack shacks for bears.

Garbage dumps have been around since the ...