Keeping It Young

In the final part of the mini-series Overcoming a Struggling Marriage, Dave and Bethlie bring the five-step series to a close. They show how to stop dividing and start doing life together. That means family dinners at the table instead of in front of the TV, walks after supper, date traditions, and even peeling potatoes side by side.
Dave and Bethlie discuss the last two steps in this last mini-series episode. Affirm your commitment through words, vows, and simple texts that say "I'm here for you." And forgive, both by asking for forgiveness and by offering it before you're asked.
 
Overcoming a Struggling Marriage (Part 3): Do Life Together, Affirm, and Forgive
Help for marriages is everywhere: books, podcasts, and resources right on your phone. But as Dave and Bethlie warn, it's easy to heap up knowledge and never take it to heart. In Episode 336, the Youngs wrap up their mini-series with practical steps to put into practice this week, whether your marriage is truly struggling, a little stale, or just too busy.
Episode Overview
The five steps for overcoming a struggling marriage are Speak, Seek, Abandon, Affirm, and Forgive.
Quick Review: Speak, Seek, Abandon
Speak words of affection, affirmation, gratitude, and prayer.
Seek to do things together, serve each other, solve problems, and seek God together.
Abandon criticism, negative statements, and division. That does not mean abandoning your spouse.
Abandon Division: Do Life Together
Eat Together
Aim for at least one meal a day together, ideally supper. For the Youngs, family table time was one of the most looked-forward-to parts of the day. Even with children at the table, husband and wife connect by hearing the same stories and caring for the kids as a team. Eating side by side in front of the TV isn't the same as eating together.
Exercise Together
Most of us live sedentary lives, so take a walk after dinner or work out together. Dave set up a small garage gym that the family still uses.
Enjoy Entertainment Together, Wisely
Ball games, plays, musicals, and traditions all count. For years, the Youngs' annual tradition was seeing A Christmas Carol at the Ohio Theatre. It was entertaining, and it was an investment in their marriage.
Do the Extra Things Together
Bethlie connected with each of their children in the kitchen, where light conversations often turned into teaching moments (what the kids call "mom mode").
As newly empty nesters, they found new connection when Dave asked, "What can I do?" and started peeling potatoes and carrots for Sunday dinner.
Is your spouse a golfer? Ride along. One couple at their church turned his golf outings into time together, with her serving as the cart chauffeur.
Step 4: Affirm
Reaffirm your commitment and your vows, especially when things are hard: "I meant it when I said for better, for worse."
Affirmation can be lighthearted, too:
"I'd marry you all over again."
"You're still my favorite person in the world."
"You're still the most attractive person I've ever seen."
Affirm With a Simple Text
Bethlie suggests a quick message on a hard day, such as "I'm praying for you" or "You're going to do great."
Step 5: Forgive
Ask for Forgiveness and Give It Freely
Ask: "I know this was wrong. Will you forgive me?" But you can also forgive without being asked, simply because you love your spouse and the offense isn't worth holding on to.
When a Hidden Hurt Turns Into Bitterness
Dave shares a recent counseling session with a couple who had already seen several counselors. The wife listed everything her husband wouldn't change. Then the husband quietly said that during the hardest time of his life, she wasn't there for him. She didn't seem to even hear it. Whether or not his hurt was justified, it had turned to bitterness, and that bitterness was dividing them.
Satan uses held-on hurts to undo every other step. He silences our speaking, makes us stop seeking, and encourages division.
Forgive in God's Power, Not Your Own
Bethlie reminds believers that Scripture commands us to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, just as Christ forgave us. If you feel you can't forgive, get alone with God and ask for His forgiving power. Remembering how much He has forgiven you can be overwhelming. And ask the Lord whether the thing you're holding on to is really a big deal at all. Deal with unforgiveness quickly, before it grows.
Coming Up Next Week
Overcoming the Lies of Our Culture

Overcoming a Struggling Marriage (Part 2): Abandon Criticism, Negativity, and Division
Ask most couples if their marriage is struggling and they'll say, "No… but we're really busy." Jobs, church, and a calendar full of the kids' sports, music lessons, and fine arts can leave husbands and wives passing in the hallway. Some couples simply land in a stagnant season.
In Episode 335, Dave and Bethlie Young continue their mini-series within the Overcoming series. They remind couples that it takes two to overcome a struggling marriage, and that the Christian's victory over the world comes through faith.
Episode Overview
After a quick review of last week's first two steps, the Youngs introduce the third step for overcoming a struggling marriage: Abandon. They're quick to clarify that this does not mean abandoning your spouse. It means letting go of three habits that quietly erode a Christian marriage.
A Struggling Marriage Takes Two
In counseling, the Youngs often find that each spouse wants to be closer but sees the fault only in the other person. Dave points to the Lord's message to the lukewarm church of Laodicea. Things weren't well, though they thought they were, yet the Lord loved them and promised to help them overcome.
Review: Step 1 — Speak
Husbands speak words of affection, and wives speak words of affirmation.
Both spouses speak gratitude, praise, and prayer.
Dave recalls the Youngs' interview with Dr. Gary Thomas about making good marriages great.
In a recent counseling session, a wife immediately attacked her husband's account instead of sharing her own. Dave's response: Stop that.
Check-in question: What words of affection or affirmation did you speak on purpose this week?
Review: Step 2 — Seek
Seek to serve each other. Ask "What can I do for you?" instead of "What will my spouse do for me?"
Seek to solve problems together. Be swift to hear and slow to speak, and learn to identify the real problem.
Seek God together. Go to church, small groups, and Bible studies together, and above all, pray together to reconnect when you feel distant.
Step 3 — Abandon
Abandon All Criticism
Scripture teaches that as a person thinks in their heart, so are they. When a husband constantly criticizes his wife, she begins to see herself that way and live that way. The same is true when a wife criticizes her husband. The Youngs note they see this same pattern in children raised by negative parents.
Bethlie adds that a husband who is constantly corrected for how he bathes or diapers the baby or shops for groceries will often just stop trying. That leaves the wife even more frustrated.
How to Address Real Issues Without Criticism
Ask a favor. Try "Would you do this for me?" instead of sarcasm or eye-rolling.
Accept that different isn't wrong. If the baby gets changed, go with it.
Talk with curiosity. Ask, "Is that how your family did it?"
Save corrections for things that truly matter, and let the rest go.
Wives, watch the perfectionism. As Bethlie puts it, get off your "control girl high horse."
Abandon All Negative Statements
Sitcom-style sarcasm, like "You're such an idiot, ha ha," trained a generation to laugh at put-downs. In a real marriage, those words weaken and demolish.
Abandon Division
Anything that pulls you apart has to go. Dave points to Peter's call to "add to your faith." God works through addition and multiplication. Add to your marriage, and multiply your efforts: if your kind words didn't land last week, say them ten times more. Text them, email them, write them on the calendar, or tuck them in a lunchbox.
How Technology and Busyness Divide the Christian Family
Picking up from the Overcoming Technology series, the Youngs warn that couples can sit on the same couch or lie in the same bed on separate devices and still be divided. Children's activities can divide families too.
Try this: Take your family out to eat, leave every phone in the car, and notice how hard conversation feels at first.
This Week's Homework
Sit down together and ask:
Do you feel like we are divided in any way?
What do you think we could do to improve that?
Part 3 continues next week with more on doing life together.

A struggling marriage doesn't have to become a doomed marriage. In Part 1 of Overcoming a Struggling Marriage, Dave and Bethlie share the first two of five biblical steps for turning a Christian marriage around, even in the busy years of raising children.
Step one is SPEAK. Husbands give words of affection, wives give words of affirmation, and both spouses offer gratitude, praise, and prayer. Step two is SEEK. That means seeking each other out, serving each other, solving problems together, and seeking God together, including a simple church-pew habit that protects your marriage.
The episode is practical, and a little funny (yes, the bedroom pillows come up). It's for every Christian family that wants more than "just hanging on."
Why a Struggling Marriage Isn't a Doomed Marriage
Marriages struggle for many reasons:
Busy seasons of work and raising young children
Empty-nest adjustments after years centered on the kids
Phones and screens pulling spouses into separate corners
Deeper hurts, such as dishonesty or feeling uncared for
The first move is refusing the lie that struggle means the end.
Step 1: Speak
Speech is one of God's greatest gifts to people. In a struggling marriage, couples tend to go silent, or they let loose unkind and unhelpful words. Dave points to Scripture's call to avoid corrupt communication and to build each other up. He also cites Solomon's warning in Proverbs that careless words can pierce like a sword.
Husbands: Speak Words of Affection
A wife needs to hear "I love you," and Dave suggests adding the word because: "I love you because…" That meets her heart's question: Am I loved enough?
Wives: Speak Words of Affirmation
A husband's heart asks: Do you respect me? Am I good enough? Bethlie challenges wives to resist the cultural habit of picking men apart, both at home, among friends, and on social media. She shares a testimony from the Seeking Him Bible study by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Tim Grissom. In it, a wife repented of being controlling and critical, and her husband said her new encouragement let him thrive.
Both Spouses: Speak Gratitude, Praise, and Prayer
Gratitude: Don't take a hardworking husband or a devoted wife for granted. Say thank you often.
Praise: The praise you need should come from inside your home, not from strangers at the grocery store.
Prayer: Pray for your spouse instead of growing bitter. Send a text that says, "I prayed for you today."
Bethlie shares a helpful principle attributed to Mrs. Graham: Take your praise to your husband, and take your complaints to the Lord.
Step 2: Seek
Seek Each Other Out and Do Things Together
Put the phones down. Don't settle into separate rooms. Play board or card games, watch a movie, and laugh together. Don't let the world separate you.
Seek to Serve Each Other
Get the snack. Run the errand. Wipe down the sink. Learn how your spouse likes things done, even the order of the bed pillows, and turn small irritations into acts of service.
Seek to Solve Problems Together
Listen well, identify the real problem, give grace, and learn to let things go. (The Youngs' earlier conflict resolution series goes deeper on this.)
Seek God Together
Worship together, sit together in church, attend small groups and Sunday school together, and pray together. Bethlie shares advice from Pat and Susie Del Porto: don't let your children sit between you in church. Sitting shoulder to shoulder under the Word of God softens hearts and sweetens a marriage.

In part 3 of the Overcoming Technology mini-series, Dave and Bethlie quickly recap the first three steps (determine if you need to change, educate yourself, recognize the damage) before landing on the three that close out the series: find alternative activities, create tech-free zones, and discuss the changes needed — together, as a family. Technology itself isn't evil — it's a gift from God (1 Timothy 6:17) — but Christians are called to walk circumspectly (Ephesians 5) and redeem the time, which is hard to do when technology is running the show instead of being run by us.
Quick recap of steps 1–4 (from Parts 1 & 2):
Determine if you need to overcome technology
Educate yourself (books, podcasts, research)
Recognize the damage it can cause (sleep disruption, social isolation, eye strain, shorter attention spans, addiction, loss of privacy, cyberbullying)
Determine the changes needed (individual — time limits, habit changes, removing non-essential apps, silencing notifications)
The final three steps:
Find alternative activities — Step away on purpose through physical activity, hobbies, and face-to-face interaction. Suggestions: walks after dinner, biking, mountain biking, golf, tennis, painting, crafting, cooking. The point: if parents don't proactively offer alternatives, kids won't find them on their own.
Create tech-free zones — Specific zones discussed: Mealtime — TV off, phones away, actual conversation
The bedroom — phones stay out, use an analog/digital alarm clock instead; protects sleep and removes late-night temptation
Ballgames and kids' activities — be present, not on your phone
Family movie night — phone-free even during streaming ad breaks (use the break for a bathroom run, popcorn, or "a kissing break")
Alternative approach: designate the family room (or one area) as the only place tech is allowed, making the rest of the house tech-free by default

Discuss the changes needed — with your kids, not just for them — Ask questions rather than issue mandates: "Do you think you're on the internet too much?" "What would you do with your time if you weren't on TikTok?" Getting kids to buy in (rather than just enforcing rules) leads to better results. Consider one tech-free day a month as a family, agreed on together.

In part two of the Overcoming Technology series, Dave and Bethlie continue unpacking how smartphones and social media quietly reshape our habits, relationships, and spiritual life — and what to do about it. Building on Tony Reinke's 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, they walk through the specific ways technology damages attention, relationships, and reflection, then move into practical, doable changes.
Recap the 12 ways phones change us (from Tony Reinke's book), continued from Part 1:
-       Phones constantly pull our attention away from the present moment (and the "seven-minute foundation" needed for meaningful conversation)
-       Digital interaction often replaces physical presence with people around us
-       Online metrics drive an unhealthy desire for affirmation (likes, followers, influencer culture)
-       Skimming digital feeds reduces deep reading comprehension
-       Endless entertainment is available at any second (the disappearance of boredom)
-       Online personas mask true self-understanding
-       Digital connectivity frequently leads to isolated lifestyles rather than true community
-       Screens provide private access to harmful or distracting imagery
-       An overload of trivia crowds out deep reflection
-       Constant checking stems from anxiety over being disconnected
-       Impersonal digital spaces lower our patience and kindness in communication
-       Constant notifications eliminate the silent spaces needed for prayer and calm thought
 
The four-step framework for overcoming technology:
 
Determine if you need to overcome technology (are you controlled by it? better because of it? how is it affecting your kids?)
Educate yourself (read books, research — they recommend The Tech-Wise Family and 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You)
Recognize the damage it can cause (the list above)
Determine the changes needed — practical steps discussed:
-       Set time limits (using phone settings or a timer/Alexa)
-       Change habits (phones out of the bedroom, off the table at meals, a charging basket)
-       Replace with something better (a regular watch instead of a smart watch)
-       Silence notifications and check at scheduled times
-       Remove non-essential apps (or access certain platforms only on a computer)
-       Turn off notifications and keep the phone on silent