Encore: What Do I Want From My Marriage? [172]

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In this episode, Matt & Jenn share an encore episode about reassessing your expectations for your marriage and moving the trajectory of your relationship through personal investment.

1. Mature past the selfish motivations of relationship and begin to see the true fulfillment of covenant love built on self-sacrifice — in your marriage and in your relationship to God.
2. Instead of asking "What do I want FROM my marriage?", change your perspective with a new question: “What do I want FOR my marriage?” Consider what more you can offer toward your covenant?
3. Begin the assessment of your relationship with humility and self-reflection. Then, have a conversation with your spouse to determine what you can do for them and for your marriage.

 
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  Cherishing,
  Matt & Jenn

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Intimate Covenant | Matt & Jenn Schmidt

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Episode Transcript

Matt (00:00):
Hey, jen, wanna start the year with emergency surgery.

Jenn (00:03):
This was not on my New Year's resolution list.

Matt (00:06):
Yeah, me neither.
What a start to our year Inspite of that hurdle.
Today we wanted to share somethoughts about starting the year
off with renewed perspectivetowards growing your marriage
and your relationship.
Let's do it.
Welcome, friends.

Jenn (00:25):
Welcome.
We're Matt and Jen, and this isthe Intimate Covenant Podcast.

Matt (00:29):
Where we believe the Bible and Great Mary's sex.
Both belong on your kitchentable.
That's right.
We are talking about godlymarriage, where we come to you
every month on this podcastGodly marriage with hot sex,
with emotionally fulfillingoneness.
Godly Marriage with Hot Sex,with Emotionally Fulfilling
Oneness.
We're trying to start theconversation in your marriage
towards more fulfillingrelationship.

Jenn (00:53):
Thank you for joining us, and if you'd like to learn more
about us, you can look at ourwebsite IntimateCovenantcom, and
we would always love to hearfrom you, so feel free to email
us at podcast at intimatecovenant dot com.

Matt (01:06):
Appreciate you joining us today.
As we alluded to in the open,we reached our health insurance
deductible in the very firstweek of the new year.

Jenn (01:16):
Yeah, when I required emergency abdominal surgery,
which was not fun in any way.
Shape or form, I am doing fine.
Recovery is very slow and, ifyou know me, I do not like to
slow down, so this was not how Iintended to spend the month of

(01:37):
January.

Matt (01:38):
Jen has had some new lessons in patience and
gratitude, watching myself andsome good friends and her
children take care of her andall of her other typical
responsibilities.
That has not been going great,but good enough.

Jenn (01:57):
They have been doing a phenomenal job at taking care of
me, spoiling me, and I get introuble if I try to get up and
do anything.
So I will recover.
I will recover fully.
It's not anything that I'mexpected to have any long-term
lasting effects from.
It's just a slow recovery, butI'm getting there.

(02:17):
I'm getting there.

Matt (02:18):
That's right, slow and steady.
Part of that means that we areunable to record in our upstairs
recording studio, our typicalrecording spot.

Jenn (02:27):
The stairs have been forbidden for me to climb for
several more weeks, and so ourchildren that are still at home
are enjoying the fact that momcannot come check whether or not
their rooms and their bathroomis clean or not.

Matt (02:40):
So the podcast technology is back to the very basics,
meaning our new studio is alaptop in our bedroom.

Jenn (02:48):
So please forgive us if the audio does not sound as you
are as you expect.
Nothing in my life right now isas I would have expected or
what I'm used to, but we willcarry on.
We are just so incrediblythankful, incredibly thankful
for the medical care I was ableto receive very quickly and took

(03:13):
care of the problem very, veryquickly.
We're deeply, deeply touchedand incredibly thankful for good
friends and family.
Sorry, now I'm going to cry.

Matt (03:24):
And that's probably not good for your abdominal recovery
, but for sure, good friends andfamily who have really taken
good care of us.
Yeah, and we're so thankful forthe so many of you who, even
hearing about it, have reachedout with concern with your
prayers.
Thankful to you for that.

(03:46):
That's just so meaningful whenfolks that you just don't always
hear from reach out with wordsof concern, certainly with
prayers, and so we're verygrateful.

Jenn (03:56):
I kept thinking about Psalm 23 and when you walk
through the valley, and it justwas so comforting knowing, even
in those moments of walkingthrough those valleys, we were
not alone at all and our phonesexploded in that testimony to
just the love of good friendsand God's people.

(04:19):
And if you don't have a tribeabout you that will be there for
you in times like that, thenyou're missing out, and that is
the beauty of God's people andgood friends and family.
So all that to say, thank you.

Matt (04:33):
Yes, thank you.
So, in light of all of that, wewanted to share today an encore
episode.
We're reaching all the way backin our archives to episode 24.
I think today is 172.
So it's been a little while.
I think this is one that isfrom early 2021.
The episode is called what Doyou Want From your Marriage, and

(04:59):
this is I think it's anunderrated episode in that it
didn't really get all of thehype as, oh you know, like the
sex positions episodes or youknow those episodes.

Jenn (05:09):
And in 2021, I think we had 10 people listening to the
podcast.

Matt (05:13):
That could be I have to go back and look at those numbers
but this episode is all aboutsetting expectations for your
relationship and moving past theselfish motivations that we
often come into a relationshipwith.
So we think, we hope, we expectthat you'll find some
encouragement to start off theday.