The last time we were with you, you discovered the role of employee and how that may be the most important role we learn when it comes to conflict resolution. On today’s show, you are going to learn how to be a great customer. You’ll want to listen today, because we are going to show you a way you can share the most important things in your life to your significant other and actually have them respond in a loving manner!

• LOVE is the essence of LOVE Talk! (Listen, Own, Validate, and Express)
• Share only feelings and needs
• Never use the word YOU…

Previously on Smalley Marriage Radio you discovered the most powerful way to stop STUPID conflict by using a time-out. Today, you get to learn the role of employee, that if I’m honest, is possibly the most important role you can learn when it comes to resolving conflict.

• LOVE is the essence of LOVE Talk! (Listen, Own, Validate, and Express)
• The employee only worries about Listening and Validating.

How timeouts help you stop stupid conflict:

1. Stop escalating,
2. Get away from each other, this allows you to calm down
3. Pray, this allows you to gain perspective
4. Own your part, this allows your partner to hear you and not be so defensive

Last show we talked about the importance of having structure in how you resolve conflict. So you can’t just go all willy-nilly during conflict and think you’re going to get anything solved.

SHOW NOTES

Today is about the most powerful word picture in the history of the world when it comes to resolving conflict!  If you’re going to resolve conflict, then you are trying to replicate the experience you get when going through the drive-through at a Chick-fil-a.

I just received this question and it jumped right off the page at me!

We have just ordered over $400 worth of books, workbooks, cd’s and dvd’s from you and your family……..we are desperate……I just have to ask one question………I have to have an answer to this question before I can get past some issues……….it is this………..

“Is oral sex something that is OK with the Lord, and, is it ok to dress up in a little nurse costume, or such.

I know this sounds so crazy, but I am about to go out of my mind needing to know the answers to this question! We have two boys coming up and I want them to have the best life possible in the Lord………these questions are just not talked about enough!

Thank you for your time and answer. May God richly bless you and all of your family!

MICHAEL: I hate couples who miss out on the joy of sex with each other because they think there are...

Do you ever get into conflict? I’m in conflict every other day with my wife! And we help couples for a living! Today you are going to discover, possibly, the most important thing about resolving conflict…and you don’t know about it! But no longer, we are going to reveal this truth as we unpack resolving conflict as a couple.

SHOW NOTES

• If you are going to resolve conflict, you have to have structure!
• LOVE Talk stands for Listen-Own-Validate-Express

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This show was brought to you by the Smalley Institute. If your relationship is on life support, Smalley Marriage Intensive your marriage in two days. Call us at 800-975-8748 or click here for more information on our private, 1-on-1 program for couples.

What a show today! I get to interview Rhonda Jolliffe, the founder of rhondanp.com.  What's so great about the show today? We have one of the most honest and frank conversations about menopause ever!  Rhonda has great insight for women who might be experiencing menopause but we also address how menopause impacts a relationship and what to do about it.

• About 20 years helping women through menopause
• The creator of rhondanp.com
• Get a free course, just visit rhondanp.com/smalley
• Understand the positives of menopause.
• Does menopause help creativity for women?
• What are some of the best things women can do for menopause?
• Tips for husbands with wives going through menopause.
• Andropause, it’s menopause for men!

Today Seth Johnson is taking over the show. So everything we talk about is something he wanted, and he got.

• Seth wants to talk about ending well.
• Every good thing sometimes comes to an end
  • Dating, marriage, business, etc.
• How to end well
  • “Ending well means intentionally setting aside time for reflection and acknowledgment, time to name the cost, the enormity of the work and everything that has gone into it, and name the moments of grace and beauty that helped carry us through.” The Allender Center
  • Don’t dismiss it or avoid it
  • Embrace the awkwardness
  • Don’t lie
• What are your favorite memories?

Intimacy is more than just hanging out with each other or sharing your deepest emotions.  It is also important to get to know each other.  These questions can help you learn a little bit more about each other's inner child:

1. What's your earliest childhood memory?
2. Who was your best friend growing up?  What was your favorite thing about this friend?
3. Who was your biggest influence growing up and why?
4. If you could go back and change one thing about your childhood, what would it be?
5. What was your favorite TV show growing up as a kid?

A single guy asked a question for the show that hit some serious buttons for me. I wouldn’t say I’m angry, because I’m not, but I am definitely worked up because I feel like single Christian people get themselves into the most ridiculous situations because...well, I’ll save the rest for the show.

“My ex girlfriend and I have been in and out of a relationship for the last two years. we recently started talking again. The reason for the in and out is because she went on a missions trip and started to feel like God may be calling her to full time ministry in another country. We both want to get married but everything that she feels God has been doing in her life over the past two years doesn't allow us to grow in our relationship because of the lack of security of not knowing if she will even be around for much longer if God "calls her" to the mission field. She has been unsure of her calling and doesn't know for sure if God is calling her so she's been...