My children are enjoying the first week of summer break. It's an exciting time for children. It usually means more family time, travel, and a break from getting up early in the mornings to go to school.

As much as I loved school, I also loved the break. My hardest subject was history. The experience I had was having to memorize a lot of facts, dates, etc. for a test, which I was really bad at. Have you ever had to take a True/False test where they take a bunch of information and it is either all true or all false? There would be trick questions where everything would be true but if they changed even the slightest detail, it makes the whole thing false.

The enemy tends to do something similar. He will sometimes feed us stories in our head about how something is completely false, but he sprinkles in a little bit of truth...enough that we accept it.

Take this example. You're struggling making new friends after a recent move and the thought comes to mind, "I'm all alone. I have no one....

I enjoy baking my daughters' birthday cakes and making homemade buttercream frosting. There was one time where I wasn't feeling good but I was determined to make the frosting but I wanted to get it done quickly...so what do you do when you are in a hurry, you toss the full 1 pound bag of powdered sugar with the rest of the ingredients all at once instead of incorporating it slowly....or at least that's what I did.

POOF! It was an unfortunate mess once I turned on my Kitchen-aid Mixer. I realized in this moment that delicate ingredients do not need to be carelessly tossed in a powerful mixer. Much like our words, we sometimes use them irresponsibly and end up with a big mess, just like my kitchen.

I think that we often forget, or don't even realize the significance behind the words that we use to communicate. There are actually 4 key principles behind words that we use.

1. Words reveal what's in the heart. (Luke 6:45) Especially under stress, the words we use communicate beliefs...

It can be discouraging to not be on the same page spiritually with your spouse.

Part of the joy of marriage is intimacy...into me you see. This is where you are able to share your hopes, dreams, goals, but also your vulnerabilities, fears, and concerns. Sometimes, when you're not on the same page, it feels as though some conversations are hands off and you lose this place of deeper connection and oneness. This is not to say that you must always agree in marriage to be satisfied, but that it can be a challenge for some individuals where you toss the hope of being on the same page because you're not even on the same book. (no pun intended)

Here are keys to breakthrough in a spiritually disconnected marriage where one is a believer and one is not, or one is pursuing a deeper relationship with the Lord than the other.

Think of this like washing dirty hair. Sometimes in these situations, you get negative thoughts floating around your head and you need to wash it off.

1. ...