Many of you are going to be with family over the next few weeks to celebrate.  But for some of you, it won’t feel like celebrating.  It will feel painful, difficult or frustrating.

These get-togethers aren’t pleasant experiences for you.  You won’t want to go.  You’ll want to hide. You may even have thoughts of becoming sick rather than being around certain people.  Or, maybe you have already started thinking up all the excuses you can use to leave early or not go at all.

Don’t do it.  Don’t give into the temptation.

I challenge you my friends.

Relationships are tough.  But they are tough because we feel like we have no control over them.  We feel that other people have act in certain ways for our relationships to be better. 

None of this is true.

Consider this.  Just because your mom comments on your weight doesn’t mean that you are fat.  You are the...

The other day I came across a Facebook post where a woman was complaining about how she believed friends where hard to come by and keep.  Especially Christian ones.  At the end she was asking for other women's thoughts and advice.

After reading, I had this "ah ha" moment.  I knew I had to write a comment back along with expand on this topic more with you.

First, let me share what shocked me. 

At any other time in my past I would have agreed with this woman. BUT I DON’T AGREE ANYMORE!

This was an absolutely joyous moment for me.

You see, I never had good friends growing up.  I wasn’t necessarily “disliked”, but I was not “liked” either.  I would say, I was the girl who was forgotten about. Of course, this is just my thoughts about my past.  Someone else might disagree.  But the point is, that is how I identified myself for the longest time.  

Since I identified...

We all have them.  You know…

• The sister-in-law that one-ups you all the time.
• The mother that never helps out.
• The friend that gets drunk and embarrassing every time you spend time together.
• The husband that never has anything nice to say.
• The child that is strong willed and never obeys.

Those tough relationships.

They are draining.  Mostly mentally, but sometimes physically also. Most of that energy is spent wishing they were some how different.  We just want them to be easier to get along with.

But they’re not.  They probably won’t change.  And all that energy you’re spending wishing, wanting, hoping, is just wasted.

Do you wish you could just feel better about these relationships?

You can. 

This is what you’re signing up for if you want to feel better; you don't get to change the other person.  You can only change yourself and do the hard work of managing your thoughts.

...

**If you would like to listen to this blog post, scroll to the bottom for the audio version.

Want to know something I'm not proud of? 

I complain about my spouse. 

Yep.  I try not do it too much with other people (i.e. mainly my girlfriends).  My head on the other hand, that’s a different story.

A month ago I created a post on Facebook that seemed to grab people’s attention.  You can find it here.

Today, I want to expand on that post.  Since Valentine ’s Day is just around the corner, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to remind you (and myself) of a few things about marriage.

I'm going to give you a shocker here..... You can’t control your spouse. 

Nope. 

He’s his own being.  He makes his own decisions.  No matter how much you hint, remind, pester and blatantly ask, he gets to decide his own actions.

I know this is a hard pill to swallow.

Oh, I get it ladies.  This...