Hello and welcome to a brand new season of Issues and Answers. 00:00:31.22\00:00:35.54 My name is Melissa Summers. This season this is your 00:00:35.57\00:00:39.00 emotional outlet to whatever issues you have. You may have 00:00:39.04\00:00:42.86 issues but you know what? God has all the answers. 00:00:42.89\00:00:45.46 We are blessed to have a committee of Christian 00:00:45.49\00:00:47.99 counselors to address those issues. So at any point, 00:00:48.03\00:00:52.47 feel free to e-mail me at melissa.summers@3abn.org 00:00:52.50\00:00:56.87 Now today's discussion and our issue, we'll be talking about 00:00:56.91\00:01:01.30 divorce, heading it off before it happens and hold on, 00:01:01.33\00:01:04.38 I don't plan to cry but just in case. 00:01:04.41\00:01:07.41 Our guest is the best selling author of 28 books on family 00:01:07.45\00:01:11.27 relationships which have been translated into about 30 00:01:11.30\00:01:15.06 languages. She is a certified family life educator and has 00:01:15.09\00:01:18.82 conducted thousands of seminars around the world. 00:01:18.85\00:01:22.31 This blessing to the world is none other than Nancy Van Pelt. 00:01:22.35\00:01:27.99 Nancy, okay I have my tissue here. Thank you so much 00:01:28.02\00:01:33.93 for coming. It's my privilege to be here. 00:01:33.96\00:01:36.41 All right. Let's just dive into it because we only have 30 00:01:36.45\00:01:39.19 minutes. All right. We're trying to head off divorce before it 00:01:39.22\00:01:41.93 happens. What are the signs. 00:01:41.96\00:01:44.02 The signs can be long and complicated, but when I first 00:01:44.06\00:01:49.28 see it is when people come and ask for help. They recognize 00:01:49.31\00:01:53.84 that there are problems in their relationship that they cannot 00:01:53.88\00:01:59.34 solve. If you keep meeting the same problem over and over again 00:01:59.37\00:02:04.80 without a solution this is definitely a problem that... 00:02:04.83\00:02:10.24 it's a sign that you need further help. 00:02:10.27\00:02:13.17 But what about those that say I was clueless. All of a sudden 00:02:13.21\00:02:16.56 he or she just asked me for a divorce? I didn't know anything 00:02:16.60\00:02:19.92 was wrong. Sometimes I think that they're 00:02:19.95\00:02:22.60 not very much in touch with what's going on in their 00:02:22.64\00:02:25.52 relationship. In fact, I just dealt with that very recently. 00:02:25.56\00:02:29.68 My husband told me that a man had called him and said that his 00:02:29.71\00:02:33.80 wife was acting shall we say "weird. " I said when a woman 00:02:33.83\00:02:38.56 acts weird it's a big sign that something is very wrong in their 00:02:38.60\00:02:43.47 relationship. So I called this man and I said, Harry just told 00:02:43.51\00:02:48.47 me that your wife is acting "weird. " Do you recognize that 00:02:48.50\00:02:54.22 she is about to leave you. He just kind of blew all of this 00:02:54.25\00:02:59.23 off. Within two weeks she was gone. I talked to him again. 00:02:59.27\00:03:04.11 He said, I was clueless. I never saw it coming. I said how can 00:03:04.14\00:03:08.95 you say that to me when I told you that when a woman acts 00:03:08.98\00:03:12.95 "weird" that it's about to happen. 00:03:12.98\00:03:15.89 So did he elaborate on what weird was? 00:03:15.93\00:03:18.77 This is kind of hard to define but I call it an emotional 00:03:18.81\00:03:23.27 divorce that occurs before the actual separation. The person 00:03:23.30\00:03:28.98 will withdraw, not talk so much. It's the hurt and the distance, 00:03:29.02\00:03:33.76 particularly a woman will start putting distance between her 00:03:33.79\00:03:38.87 and her husband. He recognizes that there is distance between 00:03:38.91\00:03:43.96 them but he still remains clueless because he may think 00:03:43.99\00:03:47.37 it's that time of the month, it's just a mood that she's in 00:03:47.41\00:03:50.89 or whatever and he thinks that she'll get over it. But there's 00:03:50.92\00:03:54.37 a definite distance there. 00:03:54.40\00:03:56.44 So the partner emotionally detaches themselves from the 00:03:56.48\00:04:01.23 relationship. Yes and if the couple doesn't do 00:04:01.26\00:04:03.52 something right then... Of course you really should see 00:04:03.56\00:04:07.68 a counselor prior to that time but that is definitely the time 00:04:07.72\00:04:12.24 when they need to get into counseling to see if there's any 00:04:12.27\00:04:16.76 chance for salvaging the relationship before they head 00:04:16.79\00:04:19.89 for the divorce court. 00:04:19.92\00:04:20.89 Okay. What about this comment? Honey, what's wrong. Oh nothing. 00:04:20.90\00:04:24.63 Whenever a woman says, Oh nothing, a man needs to listen 00:04:24.66\00:04:30.63 to that carefully and recognize that there is more than nothing 00:04:30.67\00:04:35.20 wrong. He needs to pursue it. Maybe not right then, but he 00:04:35.23\00:04:38.63 needs to pursue it at the right time and in the right way. 00:04:38.66\00:04:41.99 Okay. Now let's switch gears to the man. You know men have this 00:04:42.03\00:04:46.71 cushion excuse that oh he's gone into his cave; oh give him 00:04:46.74\00:04:51.39 some time. Or give her, but... 00:04:51.42\00:04:54.27 Yes men will go into their caves but they are more likely to 00:04:54.31\00:04:59.61 come out. But God just created women to be more into 00:04:59.64\00:05:07.04 relationships, to have a deeper understanding of relationships, 00:05:07.08\00:05:11.01 to be the nurturer of relationships. 00:05:11.04\00:05:13.64 I do kind of an interesting thing when couples come to see 00:05:13.68\00:05:17.52 me one on one. I ask them to grade their marriage on a scale 00:05:17.55\00:05:21.36 of one to ten, ten being high and one being low. 00:05:21.39\00:05:26.13 It helps give me a read on where they think they are. 00:05:26.17\00:05:29.73 Now I almost invariably ask the man to grade the relationship 00:05:29.77\00:05:34.37 first. He will generally grade the relationship around a seven 00:05:34.40\00:05:38.97 or an eight. Seven is sometimes even low for a man. 00:05:39.00\00:05:43.23 Now where will the woman grade the relationship? A three or a 00:05:43.27\00:05:47.82 four. But one woman said minus two and this was a man who had 00:05:47.86\00:05:52.96 graded his relationship at a 10. He didn't have a clue, he simply 00:05:52.99\00:05:58.21 did not understand where she was emotionally in this relationship 00:05:58.24\00:06:03.43 Okay. So what do we do before we get to the D word, divorce, 00:06:03.46\00:06:08.36 to be in touch with one another? How can we be on such different 00:06:08.40\00:06:13.27 planes? Well that's because I think 00:06:13.30\00:06:16.02 especially during the young years couples get so involved 00:06:16.06\00:06:20.69 with their children. The babies come along so fast. 00:06:20.72\00:06:25.20 Maybe she's working full time and she has one or two children 00:06:25.24\00:06:29.85 at home, so her energy is going so much into her own work and 00:06:29.89\00:06:34.70 energy she has left over then she directs to the children and 00:06:34.73\00:06:38.94 maintaining the home and any other activities that she's got. 00:06:38.98\00:06:43.37 He's building his career. He is expending so much of his energy 00:06:43.41\00:06:47.77 pursuing his life work that they are giving their marriage 00:06:47.80\00:06:52.54 the least amount of energy. So they simply are not spending 00:06:52.57\00:06:57.17 enought time together. I believe that a couple needs to start 00:06:57.21\00:07:01.36 nurturing their relationship. Let's face it. We get married 00:07:01.39\00:07:05.76 with absolutely no marriage education. Even for a driver's 00:07:05.80\00:07:10.08 license you have to study a little booklet and pass a test. 00:07:10.11\00:07:14.36 But there isn't any kind of education for marriage. 00:07:14.39\00:07:19.13 So the minute the I dos are said then the couple is left on 00:07:19.17\00:07:23.04 their own drifting out there. So I believe in education for 00:07:23.07\00:07:26.70 marriage, both before a couple gets married, after they get 00:07:26.74\00:07:30.06 married and yet when I come to town with my Highly Effective 00:07:30.09\00:07:33.72 Marriage Seminar, there are many people that say well what do I 00:07:33.76\00:07:37.36 need to go to a marriage seminar? There's nothing wrong 00:07:37.39\00:07:40.37 here. Yet that would be their time of education, their time to 00:07:40.41\00:07:46.30 nuture their relationship, to take a careful look on the 00:07:46.33\00:07:50.17 inside. Are there any issues that need to be dealt with? 00:07:50.21\00:07:54.02 That would be their opportunity. 00:07:54.05\00:07:55.61 So what are some very tragic mistakes that a husband and a 00:07:55.65\00:08:00.45 wife do each of themselves within that marriage to lead 00:08:00.49\00:08:05.26 it down the road to divorce? 00:08:05.29\00:08:07.99 Well the list could actually be endless, but one of the first 00:08:08.03\00:08:12.83 things that comes to my mind right now is rather than 00:08:12.86\00:08:17.30 discussing it, talking about it, rather than saying oh nothing 00:08:17.34\00:08:21.17 when you're asked if something is wrong, the person will close 00:08:21.20\00:08:26.37 down and withdraw into this wall of silence and not discuss it. 00:08:26.41\00:08:31.55 Then it seems like once they start withdrawing and they 00:08:31.58\00:08:35.29 close down, we can't get any place. 00:08:35.32\00:08:38.49 It's been said that adultery kills by the thousands but that 00:08:38.53\00:08:42.00 silence kills by the 10s of thousands. 00:08:42.03\00:08:45.49 So the silent treatment is a real marriage killer. 00:08:45.53\00:08:53.27 You know in our marriage vows we vow to honor, to work 00:08:53.30\00:09:00.97 together and there's nothing in those vows that says that we 00:09:01.01\00:09:05.54 can shut down. The marriage vows imply that we will work together 00:09:05.58\00:09:11.04 to solve any problem that we encounter. So when a couple 00:09:11.07\00:09:15.70 reaches that point where they can't talk about something, that 00:09:15.74\00:09:19.39 is a point where they really need to seek outside help. 00:09:19.42\00:09:23.45 So shutting down, going in opposite directions in your 00:09:23.49\00:09:27.08 life as far as career and children... Because a lot of 00:09:27.12\00:09:31.28 times is it true that women basically shut the spouse or 00:09:31.32\00:09:35.78 the husband off when children come into play and they take 00:09:35.81\00:09:40.29 that part that the husband is used to, the nuturing, loving... 00:09:40.33\00:09:44.77 Yes, that can happen. Women sometimes will forget what 00:09:46.03\00:09:51.54 their priorities are and maybe I'm treading on some thin ice 00:09:51.57\00:09:56.40 here when I say this but I really see that a woman needs 00:09:56.43\00:10:01.73 to put her husband first in a relationship because when the 00:10:01.77\00:10:07.06 children see a secure marriage they are going to feel more 00:10:07.10\00:10:12.22 secure. But when a husband is neglected and he sees his wife 00:10:12.26\00:10:17.03 directing the major portion of her energy, her time, her 00:10:17.07\00:10:21.29 attention to the children, he's going to feel neglected and 00:10:21.32\00:10:25.51 neglected men do not make good husbands. 00:10:25.54\00:10:28.27 And what agout the neglected wife? 00:10:28.30\00:10:30.66 The neglected wife is one of the big problems that I deal with. 00:10:30.70\00:10:35.02 In fact, I had an interesting experience in the last seminar 00:10:35.06\00:10:39.35 that I was teaching. It was a Highly Effective Marriage 00:10:39.38\00:10:42.52 Seminar and after the first session... All I talk 00:10:42.55\00:10:45.77 about in the first session of the marriage seminar is how 00:10:45.81\00:10:48.99 to meet his needs and how to meet her needs. 00:10:49.03\00:10:51.80 Now we're talking about emotional needs. 00:10:51.84\00:10:54.54 The male has four basic emotional need and the female 00:10:54.58\00:10:59.95 has four basic emotional needs. 00:10:59.98\00:11:01.84 Okay, hold on. What are the four basic needs for the male? 00:11:01.88\00:11:05.43 Okay. The four basic emotional needs for the male: Number one 00:11:05.46\00:11:08.98 is for admiration and appreciation. Is he being 00:11:09.02\00:11:14.44 appreciated? Is she remembering to say thank you and just to 00:11:14.47\00:11:18.70 brag on him a little bit. 00:11:18.73\00:11:20.18 Those are the ego kind of things? 00:11:20.22\00:11:22.38 Yes. Yes. Secondly does she respect him? You know there's 00:11:23.38\00:11:28.33 a clear biblical principle on this respect. Wives are to 00:11:28.36\00:11:32.82 respect their husbands. The third is emotional support. 00:11:32.86\00:11:37.25 Is she supporting him emotionally? 00:11:37.28\00:11:39.80 The fourth emotional need for a 00:11:40.81\00:11:43.29 male is for sexual fulfillment. Some people say well I think 00:11:43.32\00:11:48.02 that that is a physical need. But there's an emotional 00:11:48.06\00:11:51.84 dimension to it that women need to understand. 00:11:51.88\00:11:55.04 That's even biblical. Lord forgive me, I can't think of 00:11:55.07\00:11:58.08 where to find it, but doesn't it say basically we're not to 00:11:58.11\00:12:01.08 deny our spouse. Yes, the Bible does say that. 00:12:01.12\00:12:04.63 So many of these basic emotional needs that I'm talking about 00:12:04.67\00:12:09.25 are rooted deeply in biblical principles. 00:12:09.29\00:12:13.55 Now let me go down the four again and right now we're 00:12:13.58\00:12:16.30 dealing with the four towards the man. 00:12:16.33\00:12:20.09 Admiration and appreciation. What are some things? 00:12:20.12\00:12:22.71 Because women are so caught up in our careers and this and that 00:12:22.75\00:12:27.41 What do you mean, admiration? What do you mean. 00:12:27.45\00:12:29.57 Some times women just forget to tell their husband how 00:12:29.60\00:12:35.65 handsome he is, how good he looks and they forget to thank 00:12:35.68\00:12:39.91 him for the little things. One thing that Harry does for me 00:12:39.95\00:12:43.81 is put gas in the gas tank. There is one thing in life I 00:12:43.84\00:12:47.65 hate to do and that is fill the gas tank. It ruins my nails, 00:12:47.69\00:12:51.87 It stinks. It get's my hands dirty and it eats my credit 00:12:51.91\00:12:56.02 cards. I just hate that. So he does that for me, I need to be 00:12:56.06\00:13:01.48 appreciative of him; just the little things that he does. 00:13:01.51\00:13:06.90 I talk a lot about the five- second compliments. 00:13:06.93\00:13:11.09 If we had this flowing back and forth from husband to wife 00:13:11.12\00:13:15.90 in five-second bites constantly throughout the day, this could 00:13:15.94\00:13:20.68 save many marriages right there. 00:13:20.72\00:13:22.58 Because doesn't that say that honey you're always on my mind. 00:13:22.62\00:13:25.54 I'm thinking of you. 00:13:25.58\00:13:26.55 Yes, and not only am I thinking of you, I appreciate you. 00:13:26.56\00:13:31.05 Wow. What agout respect? 00:13:31.09\00:13:32.58 Respect. If you ask women if they respect their husbands, 00:13:32.62\00:13:38.94 most of them say oh sure I respect my husband. 00:13:38.97\00:13:42.44 But if you could be a little bird on a window seal peeking 00:13:42.48\00:13:47.55 inside that home taking a look, how much respect would you 00:13:47.58\00:13:52.58 actually see. Because some women treat their husbands like their 00:13:52.61\00:13:56.32 children. You know. How many times do I have to ask you to 00:13:56.35\00:14:00.15 come to the table. Oh don't forget, it looks like it's going 00:14:00.18\00:14:03.54 rain today, you better take your umbrella. Here's a hanky so 00:14:03.58\00:14:06.91 you can blow your nose. 00:14:06.94\00:14:08.01 So we become mother symbols and not... Wow! 00:14:08.05\00:14:11.96 Okay to show the husband respect it's like honey I've asked you 00:14:12.00\00:14:16.67 thirty times to change the light bulb and they get furious. 00:14:16.71\00:14:21.16 Sometimes you have to let these things go or do them yourself. 00:14:21.20\00:14:25.28 Doesn't that add a thing with them like okay I should have 00:14:25.31\00:14:29.36 done that. Okay emotional support. 00:14:29.39\00:14:34.60 All right. The emotional support is particularly necessary for 00:14:34.64\00:14:39.42 men of all ages, but for example with the man that is young, 00:14:39.46\00:14:43.99 building his career. No matter what field he enters, there 00:14:44.03\00:14:48.47 will be a lot of men in that field before him trying to tear 00:14:48.51\00:14:53.98 him down, put him aside and make him earn his pay just the way 00:14:54.01\00:14:58.49 they had to fight their way up the ladder. So while this is 00:14:58.53\00:15:02.59 happening, he needs somebody that he can talk to, somebody 00:15:02.63\00:15:06.66 to give him a pat on the back when he's down. 00:15:06.69\00:15:09.89 Somehow men are drawn to women when they're dating who know 00:15:10.83\00:15:14.70 how to do this and some women just forget this after they are 00:15:14.74\00:15:18.57 married that their husband still needs this pat on the back, 00:15:18.61\00:15:22.76 this little bit of encouragement this somebody that they feel is 00:15:22.79\00:15:27.48 on their side, on their team, we're in this together, you 00:15:27.52\00:15:31.92 can count on me. I'm going to be there for you when you need 00:15:31.95\00:15:36.32 me. That type of an attitude. 00:15:36.35\00:15:37.56 So on their team and not on their back. 00:15:37.60\00:15:39.93 Right. On their team not on their back. 00:15:39.97\00:15:42.27 Good way to put it. 00:15:42.31\00:15:45.05 Sexual fulfillment. Yes. A lot of women think that 00:15:45.09\00:15:49.15 that is a physical need for a man, but there is an emotional 00:15:49.19\00:15:54.18 dimension to it. Some men do not know how to communicate their 00:15:54.22\00:16:00.26 love for their wives except sexually. But it also is comfort 00:16:00.29\00:16:06.04 for a man. Men can put into words... through sex they can 00:16:06.07\00:16:11.00 put another dimension of their emotional feelings, the bond 00:16:11.03\00:16:16.79 between them through sex. When a man has sex it's almost like 00:16:16.82\00:16:22.55 patting him on the back and saying, you're okay boy. 00:16:22.58\00:16:25.67 He can go out and he can fight the world, he's reenergized. 00:16:25.70\00:16:30.27 So if you look at sex that way, it is a wonderful way of 00:16:30.30\00:16:34.80 strengthening the bond between husbands and wives. So it's more 00:16:34.84\00:16:38.52 that just a physical relief to a man. 00:16:38.55\00:16:41.74 One quick thing. Because a lot of times with the Bible saying 00:16:41.78\00:16:44.67 be temperant in all things including in the bedroom 00:16:44.71\00:16:47.91 sometimes they can go beyond temperant. 00:16:47.94\00:16:51.76 So if you could just elaborate on that just a bit. 00:16:51.80\00:16:55.76 Every woman needs to kind of evaluate if her husband is going 00:16:55.80\00:17:02.93 to far. Men need to take a close look at this. But read one of my 00:17:02.97\00:17:09.09 books and find out about healthy sexuality. You know, there is 00:17:09.12\00:17:15.21 so much out in the world that is not healthy today that 00:17:15.25\00:17:18.90 couples are getting very confused on what is healthy 00:17:18.93\00:17:22.51 sexuality, but I look at sex as kind of a salve to heal the 00:17:22.55\00:17:27.78 wounds between the couple. Maybe there have been some cross 00:17:27.82\00:17:32.55 words, maybe there has been some real stress between them, 00:17:32.59\00:17:37.25 but when they come together in the bedroom under holy matrimony 00:17:37.28\00:17:42.54 Say that one more time. UNDER HOLY MATRIMONY. 00:17:42.58\00:17:46.59 I don't want us to get e-mails and calls, what is this? 00:17:46.63\00:17:49.07 But this is a natural, biblical thing between a husband and wife 00:17:49.11\00:17:53.98 Yes and you can kind of release all of these hurts and at the 00:17:54.02\00:17:58.85 time... But it doesn't take the place of 00:17:58.89\00:17:59.93 communication, correct? No, no, no. It is another way 00:17:59.97\00:18:03.52 of communication for a couple, particularly for a man, but 00:18:03.55\00:18:08.02 temporarily you can heal all the little hurts and wounds and 00:18:08.06\00:18:12.50 the couple draws together again in real love. 00:18:12.53\00:18:15.73 Now, the list for the husband toward the wife. 00:18:15.77\00:18:18.90 All right. Now I wondered if you were going to forget that. 00:18:18.93\00:18:20.99 Oh, I'm not forgetting. 00:18:21.03\00:18:22.00 All right, there are four basic emotional needs for the woman 00:18:22.03\00:18:26.55 and the first is for love and appreciation. I mean, men are 00:18:26.59\00:18:31.28 really good at doing that before they are married. They pursue 00:18:31.32\00:18:35.98 the woman and they tell her how much they love her, but 00:18:36.01\00:18:40.06 they kind of forget that after they are married. 00:18:40.10\00:18:42.85 I show a little cartoon in my seminar of a woman saying 00:18:42.89\00:18:47.60 to her husband, do you love me? No response and she goes to 00:18:47.63\00:18:51.80 him and do you love me? No response. Finally she screams 00:18:51.83\00:18:55.81 at him do you love me? And he says I told you 29 years ago 00:18:55.84\00:18:59.75 on our wedding day that I loved you. I haven't changed my mind. 00:18:59.78\00:19:03.70 If I ever do, I'll let you know. This is not good enough for 00:19:03.74\00:19:08.08 a woman. She needs to feel every day of her life that she is 00:19:08.12\00:19:12.93 cherished by her husband as much today as she was five years 00:19:12.97\00:19:18.15 ago, 10, 20, whatever the time is. That never lessens with a 00:19:18.19\00:19:23.34 woman. Okay, number two. The second need is for an 00:19:23.37\00:19:30.12 emotional connection with her husband. She needs to feel 00:19:30.15\00:19:36.79 emotionally secure, that she comes first in his life at least 00:19:36.83\00:19:42.75 part of the time. One thing that is really bothersom to women 00:19:42.78\00:19:47.87 is when a man notices other women walking down the street. 00:19:47.90\00:19:53.17 Now I'm not suggesting that a man put blinders on. That is not 00:19:53.21\00:19:58.52 what I'm talking about. But a woman should never be aware, 00:19:58.56\00:20:03.80 a wife should never be aware of what it is her husband is seeing 00:20:03.83\00:20:08.64 Otherwise, it weakens her position. Some people might call 00:20:08.67\00:20:14.70 it jealousy. No, it's not that. In order to prove this point 00:20:14.74\00:20:19.76 many woman will ask a husband to do something for them that 00:20:19.79\00:20:24.78 they could easily do for themselves. It's a test. 00:20:24.81\00:20:28.36 How much do you really love me. It always goes back to 00:20:28.40\00:20:33.31 making her feel loved and emotionally secure in that 00:20:33.35\00:20:37.68 relationship. If she feels secure that sense of security 00:20:37.72\00:20:41.84 is going to pass down to the children. Okay, the next one. 00:20:41.88\00:20:46.71 The next one is she needs to feel pretty. She needs to have 00:20:46.74\00:20:51.64 compliments and again this can be done in a little five second 00:20:51.68\00:20:56.55 time. You know, the husband needs it, the wife needs it. 00:20:56.58\00:21:00.10 But when we get these things flowing back and forth how 00:21:00.13\00:21:03.58 precious this is because we have a lot of positive flowing in. 00:21:03.61\00:21:09.03 And the last one. The last one is for romantic 00:21:09.06\00:21:13.21 attention. This never dies within a woman and men 00:21:13.24\00:21:17.31 sometimes they just don't get it over time. But I had this man 00:21:17.35\00:21:22.18 in my seminar come to me at the end of the first lesson and 00:21:22.22\00:21:26.60 he said, Nancy, what you don't know is after this first lesson 00:21:26.63\00:21:31.04 I have already gotten my money's worth out of this seminar. Why? 00:21:31.08\00:21:35.46 Because he simply did not understand the emotional needs 00:21:35.49\00:21:39.14 of his wife. Okay, now help those men that 00:21:39.17\00:21:43.38 might need a little help to show love and appreciation. 00:21:43.42\00:21:47.11 Love and appreciation can be shown in many different ways. 00:21:47.14\00:21:52.49 But one way would be to pitch in and sense that she is tired. 00:21:52.52\00:21:57.69 Maybe she has been working all day. Let me put a child to bed 00:21:57.72\00:22:02.80 or can I set the table for you or honey come and let's take a 00:22:02.84\00:22:07.88 walk tonight and just talk with me for a few minutes. 00:22:07.92\00:22:12.14 For him to initiate a few minutes alone where they could 00:22:12.18\00:22:15.94 communicate is almost like asking her for a date all over 00:22:15.97\00:22:19.70 again. Initiate. That's the key word. 00:22:19.73\00:22:22.26 Initiate it. And yet some men will just stand up and say 00:22:22.29\00:22:27.37 Um, I think I'm goin' out for a walk. Baby let's go. 00:22:27.41\00:22:32.42 And she'll say, well why didn't you ask me. And he'll say, if 00:22:32.45\00:22:36.88 ya wanna go, let's go. But he doesn't understand if he would 00:22:36.91\00:22:41.25 ask her it would be like I'm thinking of you, I want you to 00:22:41.29\00:22:45.59 be with me, share this time with me. 00:22:45.63\00:22:48.67 Emotional connection, security. 00:22:48.70\00:22:51.29 Emotional security is this business that she feels that 00:22:51.32\00:22:56.18 she is number one. She has a place, a secure place in his 00:22:56.22\00:23:01.01 life that she never questions. She recognizes that his job has 00:23:01.04\00:23:06.95 to come first a lot of the time. You know what, this is even very 00:23:06.99\00:23:12.87 important for pastors' wives. Pastors' wives can be some of 00:23:12.90\00:23:17.27 the most neglected people on earth and the pastor has so much 00:23:17.31\00:23:21.74 opportunity because God is calling him, but if he lets his 00:23:21.78\00:23:27.05 marriage slip we're going to be in trouble. The loss of one 00:23:27.09\00:23:31.82 pastor's family can affect so many down through the ranks. 00:23:31.86\00:23:35.81 Because they can be the example and set the precidents. 00:23:35.84\00:23:39.76 They are the example. They are the shepherd, the shepherd of 00:23:39.80\00:23:41.40 the flock. Tell the husband how to make 00:23:41.44\00:23:44.40 her feel pretty. Just notice what she's got on. 00:23:44.43\00:23:49.81 Men need to make mental note of when his wife gets her hair 00:23:49.84\00:23:54.17 done, her nails done, a new dress. Even not a new dress, 00:23:54.20\00:23:58.46 take a second look at her. Maybe her waistline looks really nice 00:23:58.49\00:24:03.40 in that outfit. Compliment her on that waistline. The color, 00:24:03.43\00:24:08.19 what it does for her eyes. Any little thing, simple things. 00:24:08.22\00:24:11.74 Now he was good at doing this before they were married. 00:24:11.77\00:24:15.95 He got her to the altar. So that's something that needs to 00:24:15.98\00:24:20.12 to be continued after the wedding. 00:24:20.16\00:24:22.83 Romantic attention. Romantic attention are all the 00:24:22.86\00:24:27.06 little things. If I could hold my husband out as a shining 00:24:27.09\00:24:30.58 example of anything, he loves to romance me and he does that 00:24:30.61\00:24:34.07 even yet. Little things. Sometime he'll bring me a 00:24:34.10\00:24:37.71 flower. If he got me a whole huge boquet, it's almost 00:24:37.75\00:24:41.29 overwhelming, but sometimes he will just bring home a single 00:24:41.33\00:24:45.36 rose. That is so meaningful to me and he brings me all 00:24:45.39\00:24:50.56 kinds of little gifts and presents which show me that 00:24:50.59\00:24:55.69 he is thinking of me. Men need to think romantically. What can 00:24:55.72\00:25:02.81 I bring my wife today. Just writing a note back and forth 00:25:02.84\00:25:07.74 a card can be romantic. 00:25:07.77\00:25:09.83 Like you said, a little note on a scratch sheet of paper. 00:25:09.86\00:25:13.91 Nowadays it can be done via e- mail or leave a message on an 00:25:13.95\00:25:18.20 answering machine, text message each other. These are fun little 00:25:18.24\00:25:22.46 ways to say I'm thinking about you, I care about you. 00:25:22.50\00:25:27.58 So these are some steps or some ways especially when a marriage 00:25:27.62\00:25:31.50 is in trouble that you can head off divorce. 00:25:31.54\00:25:35.26 Yes. You can head off divorce by learning about the needs of 00:25:35.30\00:25:39.78 your partner and, of course, my second lesson is absolutely 00:25:39.82\00:25:43.84 fundamental and that is learning to accept one another at face 00:25:43.87\00:25:47.81 value. I had quite a lesson to learn in that myself because 00:25:47.84\00:25:52.15 after 15 years of marriage our marriage was headed down hill 00:25:52.19\00:25:56.08 and for 15 years I had been pointing the finger of blame at 00:25:56.11\00:25:59.76 Harry. But notice, whenever you point the finger of blame at 00:25:59.79\00:26:03.56 somebody else you've got three pointing back at you depending 00:26:03.60\00:26:07.33 on what you can do with your thumb. That was at the time 00:26:07.37\00:26:11.13 in my life when I had to take a very close self-examination, 00:26:11.17\00:26:14.90 a real close look at myself. What was I contributing to 00:26:14.93\00:26:21.07 this relationship and it was at this point that I recognized 00:26:21.10\00:26:24.91 that I was not responsible for my husband's behavior; that I 00:26:24.94\00:26:28.58 was responsible for my own behavior and that's when I did 00:26:28.61\00:26:32.18 a complete internal overhaul and I learned how to accept Harry 00:26:32.22\00:26:37.16 at face value without any thought of change. 00:26:37.19\00:26:40.18 That's pretty scary to some women, because they want to 00:26:40.22\00:26:43.72 change their husbands. Okay, now my next question is 00:26:43.75\00:26:47.18 after we've tried and done all these things, it did not work, 00:26:47.21\00:26:50.98 the realities of divorce. We don't have enough time so 00:26:51.02\00:26:55.57 you know you will be back on another show, right? 00:26:55.60\00:26:58.06 All right. You agree? I agree. Okay, thank you so much, Nancy. 00:26:58.09\00:27:01.89 I didn't cry, praise the Lord. Thank the Lord for that. 00:27:01.92\00:27:05.42 Thank you so much for joining us for Issues and Answers. 00:27:05.45\00:27:09.17 Remember, if you have issues, God has all the answers and 00:27:09.20\00:27:12.73 this is your emotional outlet to share them so feel free to 00:27:12.77\00:27:16.26 e- mail us. You can even write to us in care of: 00:27:16.30\00:27:19.30 I'm Melissa Summers and God bless you and keep you 00:27:27.98\00:27:29.83 until next time. Bye Bye. 00:27:29.87\00:27:35.56