Relationship issues can be worked through if we follow a few easy steps -

Do you believe in God and have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Are you willing to apply God's Word to your life?

Are you willing to pray the Holy Spirit will do a powerful work in your life and the lives of those around you?

- Actually, these steps aren't easy because we often suffer from a crisis of faith/belief. Most Christians will answer yes to the first question.

- Questions two is where the rubber meets the road. Usually people say they will apply God's Word to their lives. However, it's usually not true when it comes to the difficult issues life offers.

- Question three is also a tough one. We live in a world that says we can have instant gratification. What if the wait for change is a lengthy one?

Conflict resolution is something that isn't taught today. We're taught to tolerate, not get involved, or run away, and the end result is public sin is present in our churches and small groups. Reconciliation is of such importance, God says to do this prior to worship. (Matthew 5:23-24) "The Peacemaker" by Ken Sande is an excellent resource that we've used this with great success. Ken's book is great. However, these principles have been in use for thousands of years and are recorded in the Bible. Rather than follow God's Word, we tolerate as much as we can on our own. Or, we rationalize sinful behavior and ignore God's commands to reconcile. Usually we don't involve anyone who knows how to help. Pastors/elders/saints are ill-equipped and sometimes just refuse to step into the gap to help. Then when things are way past crisis, we decide we've had enough and use the excuses of another's sin as a "get out of jail free" card to divorce. However, running away is never the answer.

Pride and disobedience just never seem to work....yet we continue to ignore God. Because of this, we, our families and friends as well as society, continue to suffer needlessly because of divorce and broken relationships.

I've given some thought to what I'm writing here. It's not my intent to write theological volumes about the topic of relationships. In fact, this will almost certainly be a page about faith, hope, and love.

Perhaps the biggest questions to be asked about the hurts in our lives which we all have are - can you love them in spite of what they've done? Have you forgiven them and yourself? Have you done everything in your power to be reconciled and do you remain open to that possibility?

The hardest part of my life is missing those I love.