Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode - YMM #060 40 Days of Prayer Week 4 ... Jesus Teaches Us How To Pray (For Our Marriages)!

We are in Week 4 of Rick Warren's 40 Days of Prayer and we are going to take a very close look at 10 key things we can take away from The Lord's Prayer. Because there is so much ground to cover we are going to dig into the first 5 this week and the second 5 next week. 

Here is what we will tackle in this episode ...

1. How much God loves us ... 
2. How God is worthy of praise ... 
3. We want his kingdom to come here on earth ... 
4. We want his will to be done ...
5. Give us today just what we need for today ... 

If you want access to ...

• Rick Warren's videos
• A copy of the teaching powerpoint file 
• A link to buy the 40 Days of Prayer workbook 

Then go to www.yourmarriagematterz.com/episode60

Let us know how we can pray for you and your marriage! 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #059 "How To Pray For YOUR Marriage With Confidence"! We are in week 2 of our 40 Days of Prayer study led by Rick Warren. 

In this lesson we learn that God is our Father in heaven and that he:

• Cares for us ... 
• Is consistent in his nature ... 
• Is as close to us as can be ...
• And is Competent to handle any and everything we need!

If you want to watch the Rick Warren video or take advantage of a number of resources available for this study then go to our website at www.yourmarriagematterz.com/episode59 !

Also, please let us know if there is anything we can pray for you and your marriage!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #058! This week we start an 8 week series from Rick Warrens "40 Days Of Prayer" and this week, Week 1, we are learning about the "Purpose of Prayer! 

This series is full of awesome resources for us to use in our study. To grab those resources go to our website at ... www.yourmarriagematterz.com/episode58!

We are so excited about this series, what it can do for our marriages and what it can do in our homes! Be sure and go to the website and download all of the resources! 

Jim & Christie Jacobus

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode YMM #057 ... 3 Lessons Team Jacobus Learned From A Major Decision We Made!

In this episode you are going to learn 3 important things that can be really important to success when it comes to decision making in your relationship! As a bonus you will also find out what dorks Team Jacobus can be from time to time!

Want to sign up for our brand new newsletter ... Click Here!

So tune in and take notes! 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode YMM #056 ... How To Straighten Out Your Spouse - In the "BIG" Stuff!

Last week we discussed How To Straighten Out Your Spouse ... In the Small Stuff! and as we promised, this week we are going to tackle the strategies, tactics, skills and mindset needed when we have to straighten out our spouse and it is something that truly threatens themselves and/or the marriage. 

We are going to walk through a "continuum of care" from the easiest thing to do to the most invasive of options. If, after listening to this podcast you feel like you need help please feel free to reach out to us viw DM on Facebook or by e-mail info@teamjacobus.com.

We would be glad to help ... 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #055 where we tackle the strategies, tactics, skills and mindset needed to "straighten out your spouse" ... in the small day to day stuff that is just a part of marriage!

The Jacobus' are going to give us some very practical ideas to help us navigate what can be some tricky waters as we share these minor, but important, pieces of information in our relationships!

Next week we will tackle how to do it in the BIG stuff! Learning how to do it in the small stuff is a great primer for when the difficult comes our way!

We trust you will enjoy this podcast ... 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #05 where we tackle the question ... What Does It Take To Build A More Vibrant Healthy Marriage? Last week we heard Jim's version and this week we get to hear what Christie has to say!

Grab a notebook and a pen. You are going to want to take notes on this one! 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to Your Marriage Matterz podcast episode #053 where Jim tackles what he believes are the keys to building the marriage we dreamed of when we said "I do"!

We will get Christie's version next week so we can get an alternative perspective. But for today ... let's see what Jim has to say!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #052 and yes, that means we have been at this podcasting for exactly one year. 

In this episode we look back over our favorite and most impactful episodes from year one as well as we preview what we see coming for the podcast in the year that lies ahead!

We trust you will enjoy this quick walk down memory lane as well as you will enjoy the previews of what is to come!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #051 Marriage Power Skill #2 ... Learning To Effectively Resolve Conflict! Successful couples learn how to navigate the tricky waters around how they solve problems together whether they are "conflict avoiders" like Christie or "conflict engagers" like Jim!

Learning to solve our conflicts effectively allows us to gain trust in each other and in the marriage. Nothing makes a couple more confident than knowing no matter what the world throws their way they are going to deal with it and deal with it effectively!

And, we think you will love learning how to fight N A K E D! Trust us on this one ... 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to this week's YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode YMM #050 Marriage Power Skill #1 ... Learning To Effectively Communicate!

At the root of the vast majority of marital challenges lies the same 2 culprits ... 

• The inability to effectively communicate
• The inability to effectively solve problems together

When a couple makes a decision to tackle and master these two key "Power Skills" then everything else from there on can be handled! Money, parenting, sex, family and every other marital challenge is a subset of communication and conflict resolution. 

This week we are tackling communication and are giving us all a very powerful and immediately applicable set of skills to assist us all in becoming better communicators! Next week we will tackle conflict resolution with one of our favorite skill sets! 

If you want to download the handout for this week's episode Click Here! 

To register for The Cupid Challenge go to www.thecupidchallenge.com ! It is going to be a blast ... 

Until next week ... 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #049! We have a special treat for you in this one as Team Jacobus interviews Wedding Industry Expert Amanda Meeker Vela ... and boy does she have some incredible insights for us all!

We recommend getting out your notepads and you might want to grab a box of Kleenex as well! This is some really good stuff Amanda shares with us as she reflects on her own marriage, her parents marriage and her work in the wedding industry both on the photography and video perspective as well as being a co-owner and Director of Business Development for The Meekermark wedding venue. To learn more about the venue or their amazing wedding photography go to www.themeekermark.com !

Also, if you haven't signed up for The Cupid Challenge we encourage you to do so! We are just a few days away from launching this 14 day fun event on February 1st! Each day you will receive an e-mail with a short video giving us all a fun, easy to do challenge designed to help develop a more vibrant healthy marriage!

We trust you will enjoy this awesome interview with Amanda Meeker Vela! 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ...

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #048 where this week Team Jacobus Answers "What Are The Biggest Threats To YOUR Marriage In 2019?"

We are regularly asked this questions in the workshops that we do and were just asked it again the other day so we thought why not tackle it right from the get go here at the beginning of 2019! Our answers about what to do about them may surprise you!

Also, we are well under way in getting people signed up for "The Cupid Challenge"! This 14 day challenge will begin on February 1st and will end on February 14th which is, of course, Valentine's Day!

This is going to be a fun filled time of doing simple things each day to be more intentional about building more vibrant healthy marriages! Every day you will receive an e-mail from us with a short video describing our challenge for the day. We are excited to hear what you come up with each day!

To sign up you can ... 

1. Go to the website www.thecupidchallenge.com and register there!
2. You can go to our Facebook Group "Your Marriage Matterz" and sign up there and join the FB group if you haven't already. To go to the FB Group Click Here!

Again, this is going to be a lot of fun so we invite you to join us!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #047 ... Team Jacobus Answers 2 Great Questions About Conflict! 

Day in and day out we regularly receive questions that have to do with conflict in marriage. Those questions consistently revolve around people who avoid conflict and people that always seem to be in conflict. The truth is conflict is healthy in a marriage when dealt with appropriately!

In this episode we tackle 2 very common questions:

1. What do you do when your spouse won't engage in conflict and consequently nothing ever gets resolved. 
2. What do you do when it seems like we argue about everything?

You are going to hear some great ideas regarding what to do about both in this podcast!

Also, we introduced "The Cupid Challenge" in this episode. Simply put it is going to be 14 days of focus on being intentional about building more vibrant healthy marriages and it is going to be a lot of fun!

To sign up Click Here to go to our Facebook Group or go wo www.thecupidchallenge.com and you can sign up there. Join us for this cool event and have some fun learning some new ways to grow your marriage!

We trust you will enjoy and learn a lot from this week's podcast ... 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #046 What Are YOUR Word(s) To Drive Success In 2019? 

As we have turned the page on 2018 and moved into 2019 there has been a lot of discussion on Social Media regarding what word, or words, will you lock in on to drive success in 2019. 

We share with you what our words are but really want to hear what will be the focus for building your own vibrant healthy marriage in 2019? Take a moment to fo to our Facebook Group - YOUR Marriage Matterz and share your thoughts!

Also, we announced The Cupid Challenge a 14 day event we will launch on February 1st that will run through Valentine's Day. Each day we will send you an e-mail with a video that will put a fun, simple and exciting challenge in front of you for that day. Each challenge will help us all, Christie and I included, to build a more vibrant healthy marriage. 

Click Here to sign up for The Cupid Challenge!

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to Your Marriage Matterz podcast episode #044 4 Questions To Ask Yourself To Make 2019 YOUR Best Year Ever! This is Week 4 in the series ... the last week of the series and the last week of 2018!

We wrap up the series and the year with a great question - "what do you want to do that is BIG in 2019"? This question is a lot like last week's question but focuses on something that would be a game changer for you! Remember we are asking ourselves this question:

• Individually
• Collectively as a couple or family
• Personally
• And, professionally

So much of what we have done in this series is tied to us being "intentional" about our lives and specifically our marriages! In this episode we discuss some things we have done through the years that have been game changers for us and our marriage. And, we give you some ideas for what you could do that might be "BIG" in your marriage.

To download your cheat sheet for this week Click Here. We trust you will enjoy the wrap up question for this awesome series!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz podcast episode #044 "4 Questions To Ask Yourself To Make 2019 YOUR Best Year Ever"! We are in week 3 of this 4 week series and our question this week is ... "What do you want to do in 2019 that is NEW"!

We love this question for a lot of reasons including ... 

1. It allows us to plan for exciting new things in 2019
2. It gives us the opportunity to enlist the blessing and support of our spouse for what we want to do new. 
3. It gives us great insights into ways we can grow individually and collectively!

So, download the handout by Clicking Here or by going to our Facebook Group at Your Marriage Matterz and let's get started!

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YMM episode #044 ... 4 Questions To Ask Yourself To Make 2019 YOUR Best Year Ever! In Week 3 of this 4 week series our question of the week is "What do we want to do that's NEW in 2019"? 

This question helps us in a couple of ways ... 

1. It allows us to plan for exciting things we may want to do together!
2. It allows us to be able to plan things we want to do individually but want or need our partners blessing or help to make it successful!
3. It gets us on the same page!
4. It gives us a ton of stuff to look forward to in 2019

We are going to ask ourselves this question in the following ways as will our spouse. Then we will compare notes. 

• Personally as an individual
• Professionally as an individual
• Personally as a collective or couple (Team Jacobus)
• Professionally as a collective or couple (Team Jacobus)

Be sure and download the handout we have for you before listening to the podcast. You can download the handout at Click Here!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YMM episode #043 ... 4 Questions To Ask Yourself To Make 2019 YOUR Best Year Ever! In Week 2 of this 4 week series our question of the week is "What's not working in your life and how do you get rid of it, or make it work"? 

This question helps us in a couple of ways ... 

1. It allows us to get rid of the things in our life that no longer bring us value or don't bring us enough value to justify the time we are investing.
2. It allows us to examine how to male these things work so that we are maximizing the value they bring.
3. Most important ... it creates margin in our lives so we can add new and more valuable things into our lives and our marriages!
4. A new level of intentionality is added to our marriages!

We are going to ask ourselves this question in the following ways as will our spouse. Then we will compare notes. 

• Personally as an individual
• Professionally as an individual
• Personally as a collective or couple (Team Jacobus)
• Professionally as a collective or couple (Team Jacobus)

Be sure and download the handout we have for you before listening to the podcast. You can download the handout at Click Here!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YMM episode #042 ... 4 Questions To Ask Yourself To Make 2019 YOUR Best Year Ever! In Week 1 of this 4 week series our question of the week is "What's working in your life and how can you do more of it"? 

This question helps us in a couple of ways ... 

1. It assists us in looking for patterns of things that are working because we will see some commonalities in the good!
2. It assists us in increasing our satisfaction in life that we can do more of or add to! 

We are going to ask ourselves this question in the following ways as will our spouse. Then we will compare notes. 

• Personally as an individual
• Professionally as an individual
• Personally as a collective or couple (Team Jacobus)
• Professionally as a collective or couple (Team Jacobus)

Be sure and download the handout we have for you before listening to the podcast. You can download the handout at Click Here!

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to Your Marriage Matterz with Jim & Christie Jacobus! This week's episode is titled The Power Of Personality Styles and How They Impact YOUR Marriage!

This is a two part podcast and is the last in our series of 4 Ways To Be Intentional About YOUR Marriage! This is one of our favorite topics to teach on marriage. It is the source of a lot of marital conflict when couples fail to see how God made them and their spouse. It can become a great strength as we learn that God was wise beyond our understanding when he put us together. 

So after you listen to the podcast please download the Personality Styles Cheat Sheet for taking notes and then watch the video to learn what your basic style is. Next week's episode will be about debriefing the strengths and challenges of each style, looking at the natural conflicts that will arise because we are different and then giving you some ways to use the info to be intentional about growing your marriage! 

Please let us know if you have any questions or if we can help you in any way! Enjoy these two episodes on The Power Of Personality Styles and How They Impact YOUR Marriage!

Jim & Christie Jacobus

Hey gang ... 

Below you will find both the downloadable Cheat Sheet for Episodes 41 & 42 as well as a link to the video's for both 41 and 42. Note: The video for 42 will not be added until YMM #042 is published ... no jumping ahead!

If you have any questions or difficulty with the downloads or the videos reach out to us Jim@JJacobus.com. We trust you will enjoy this episode! 

• Here is the link to the downloadable Cheat Sheet - Click Here
• Here is the link to the Week 1 YMM #041 video - Click Here 

Have an awesome day! 

Jim & Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz episode YMM#040 The Power of Thanksgiving In Marriage ... and Life!

We feel so blessed to be able to do this work that we do and blessed that you would follow us. We are prayerful this Thanksgiving for all of the marriages out there and wanted to pass on a Thanksgiving 2018 podcast to encourage you!

As always, we do have a great exercise at the end of this podcast and encourage you to take some time to do it. And then, share it on the Facebook Group at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1017258051759978/

We look forward to seeing your responses!

Happy Thanksgiving from Team Jacobus ... 

Jim & Christie Jacobus

Hey gang ... 

Welcome to YOUR Marriage Matterz with Jim & Christie Jacobus. This episode is Introducing "The 5 Love Languages" And How You Can Use Them To Strengthen YOUR Marriage! We are going to plug everyone into this awesome work done by Dr Gary Chapman and the folks at www.5lovelanguages.com!

This is another in our series on how to be intentional about building your marriage! In this episode we talk about the 5 Love Languages:

• Gifts
• Quality Time
• Physical Touch
• Words of Affirmation
• And ... Acts of Service

To get the most from this podcast we recommend you download the 5 Love Languages assessment tool and take it before listening. You can access the survey at any of the following ... 

1. Our Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1017258051759978/
2. Our podcast blog page - http://marriagematters.libsyn.com/
3. 3. At the 5 Love Languages website - www.5lovelanguages.com 

Get ready to learn yet another way to intentionally build YOUR marriage!

Jim and Christie Jacobus 

Hey gang ...

With Thanksgiving just 2 weeks away we wanted to run one of our most popular podcasts ever on "How Will You Decide Where To Spend The Holidays"! We think you will enjoy how we, as Team Jacobus, go about making those tough decisions even after 31 years of marriage!

We trust you will enjoy ... 

Welcome!  Today’s episode is about Holidays.  Where will you spend them?  Have you and your spouse had this important conversation?  This topic involves the expectations you have of your marriage and ties to family beliefs and traditions.  There are several variables to consider:  stepfamilies, geographic location, travel, and children.  This topic is best addressed before marriage and is certainly one that requires couples to work together.  

Consider the following about your holiday plans:

• Assess what the different holidays and traditions mean to each of you.
• Try to begin new traditions with your partner.  Remember that your marriage relationship comes before any other family ties.
• Once you make decisions, “have each other’s backs” and don’t blame the other partner.
• Negotiate “win-win” situations for both of you.
• “Rate the debate” based on how important each element is to you: 1^st choice, 2^nd choice, and 3^rd choice.
• Establish communication and exercise your problem-solving skills.
• This is NOT the time to be selfish and demanding!

What can you expect if you handle this conversation well?  

• You achieve teamwork and unity with your spouse in the eyes of friends and family.
• You may end up enjoying the family traditions and the bonding opportunities with your spouse’s family.

Listener Question of the Week:  I am really frustrated.  My fiancé and I have been together for several years and have been through many birthdays and holidays.  He likes to give practical gifts, and I like fun, crazy gifts.  What are your recommendations as to what to do?

Fun Question of the Week:  What is your idea of a great gift?

Jim & Christie Jacobus