The Family Compass

It is easy in marriage to drift in different directions, instead, we encourage couples to decide together the direction they want their marriage and family to go. In this way, everyone is pulling in the same direction. For all couples, this is a smart idea, but for couples and families carrying leadership roles, it is imperative we all are working together as one team from the same play book!

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Why Your Marriage Needs a Mentor

Look around and see who holds hands, who acts kind to one another, who opens the door, who prays for one another or for other couples.

by PAM FARREL in Leading Hearts magazine

LIFE IS MUCH EASIER WHEN YOU HAVE SOME HELP FROM THOSE WHO ARE FURTHER ALONG THE
TRAIL.

Their wisdom and insight will prove to be invaluable in your own journey together. Mentoring is becoming even more important as much of the population today comes from homes that experienced some kind of fractured family.

You may have never lived with both a mother and a father. How are you supposed to know what an intact family looks like? Who is going to model for you how to work through conflict if your own parents decided to abandon their marriage?

How do you find a mentor?

Look for a couple who has the love that you’d like to have. We have experienced many mentors: Bill and Tina, who equipped us while we were dating and engaged; Tom and Barbara, a couple we lived with to save to go to seminary and who simply modeled the daily habits that build a long-lasting love; Jim and Sally Conway, professors and authors who equipped us to balance marriage and ministry.

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Summer Issue Sneak Peek: Pam Farrel Shares the Secret to Loving Well

by Pam Farrel @PamFarrel in Leading Hearts Magazine

Philippians is a book about joy — and it is also a book about practices that bring joy to relationships. In my book 7 Simple Skills for Every Woman, I share:

“If your vertical relationship with God is healthy, your horizontal relationships with people will be healthier too.”

To make sure this happens, I spend time with God’s Word in fresh ways so that it washes through me and into all my relationships. In our newest book, Discovering Joy in Philippians: A Creative Bible Study Experience, three authors (Jean E Jones, artist Karla Dornacher and I) offer numerous creative ways to explore and experience God’s Word.

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