Good Morning!!

What Is My Most
Important Relationship?
 What Is My Most
Important Relationship?
“

“Succeed at home and all other relationships

become easier.”
FACTS ABOUT FAMILIES:
 (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

1. Families dissolve at a greater rate in

the U.S. than in any other industrialized
countries. -
 (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

1. Families dissolve at a greater rate in

the U.S. than in any other
industrialized countries.
 “Hope of happiness at
the expense of breaking
up a family is an
illusion.”
1. You can’t give up your marriage or
neglect your children and gain true
success.
1. You can’t give up your marriage or
neglect your children and gain true
success.

2. Building and maintaining strong families

benefit us in every way, including in
helping us to become successful.
”When you have a strong family life, you
receive the message that you are loved,
cared for and important. The positive intake
of love, affection, and respect.. gives you
inner resources to deal with life more
successfully.”
Nick Stinner
(Family life expert)
 WORKING TO STAY
TOGETHER
- J.M. shares that in his travels, he is bringing
along with him his wife/family even if it was
difficult financially.
WORKING TO STAY TOGETHER
- J.M. shares that in his travels, he is bringing
along with him his wife/family even if it was
difficult financially.

- J.M. also shares that he wouldn’t have

experienced any measure of success in life
without Margarette, his wife and is grateful
to her and their children. His being grateful
have not come from what they brought him,
but from who they are to him.
WORKING TO STAY TOGETHER
“When I reach the end of my days, I don’t want
Margaret, Elizabeth or Joel Porter to say that I
was a good author, speaker, pastor or leader.”

“My desire is that the kids think I’m a

good father and that Margaret thinks
I’m a good husband.” That’s what
matters most, it is the measure of true
success.”
-J.M.-
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
- in order to build a strong family, you have to
make your home a supportive environment
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
- in order to build a strong family, you have to
make your home a supportive environment.
“Every person from cradle to the grave, there is a
deep craving to be appreciated. “
– William James (Psychologist)
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
Feeling appreciated brings out the best in people
and when that appreciation comes in the home
and is coupled with acceptance, love and
encouragement, the bonds between family
members grow, and the home becomes a safe
haven for everyone.
STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
“What would it profit me to gain the whole world and lose my family?”

“Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

― Dolly Parton
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
• Structure your lives to spend time together
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
• Structure your lives to spend time together
• Deal with crisis in a positive way
 from the book
The Road Less Travelled
by M. Scott Peck

“It is in this whole process of meeting

and solving problems that life has
meaning.”
 from the book
The Road Less Travelled
by M. Scott Peck

“Problems are the cutting edge that

distinguishes between success and
failure.”
 from the book
The Road Less Travelled
by M. Scott Peck

“ Problems call forth our courage and

wisdom; indeed they create our
courage and wisdom.”
 from the book
The Road Less Travelled
by M. Scott Peck

“It is only because of problems that

we grow mentally and spiritually.. It is
through the pain of confronting and
resolving problems that we learn.”
“Those things that hurt,
instruct.”

Benjamin Franklin
Strategies to help in Problem Solving Process:

1. Attack the problem never the

person.
Strategies to help in Problem Solving Process:

1. Attack the problem never the

person.
2. Get all the facts.
Strategies to help in Problem Solving Process:

1. Attack the problem never the

person.
2. Get all the facts.
3. List all the options.
Strategies to help in Problem Solving Process:

1. Attack the problem never the person.

2. Get all the facts.
3. List all the options.
4. Choose the best solution
Strategies to help in Problem Solving Process:

1. Attack the problem never the person.

2. Get all the facts.
3. List all the options.
4. Choose the best solution.
5. Look for the positives in the problem.
Strategies to help in Problem Solving Process:

1. Attack the problem never the person.

2. Get all the facts.
3. List all the options.
4. Choose the best solution.
5. Look for the positives in the problem.
6. Never withhold love.
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
• Structure your lives to spend time together
• Deal with crisis in a positive way
• Communicate continually
J.M.’s suggestions to develop
good communication:

• Develop platform for communication

J.M.’s suggestions to develop
good communication:

• Develop platform for communication

• Control communication killers
J.M.’s suggestions to develop
good communication:

• Develop platform for communication

• Control communication killers
• Encourage honesty and transparency in
conversation
J.M.’s suggestions to develop
good communication:

• Develop platform for communication

• Control communication killers
• Encourage honesty and transparency in
conversation
• Adopt a positive communication style
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
• Structure your lives to spend time together
• Deal with crisis in a positive way
• Communicate continually
• Share the same values
 Common Values that
Strengthened Maxwell Family:

1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to personal and family
growth
3. Commonly shared experiences
4. Confidence in ourselves and others
5. The desire to make a contribution in life
 STEPS TO BUILDING A
STRONG FAMILY
• Express appreciation for each other
• Structure your lives to spend time together
• Deal with crisis in a positive way
• Communicate continually
• Share the same values
• Build your marriage
“The greatest a father can do for his
children is to love their mother, and
the greatest thing a mother can do
for her children is to love their
father.”
by Josh McDwell (J.M.’s friend)
 A common missing ingredient in
many marriages is dedication to
make things work.

Marriages may start because of love,

by they finish because of
commitment.

-j.m.-
 Dr. Alfred Kinsey said:

“There may be nothing more important in a marriage than

in a determination that it shall persist.

With such a determination, individuals force themselves to

adjust and to keep situations which would seem sufficient
grounds for a break up, if continuation of the marriage were
not a prime objective.

If you want to help your spouse, your children and yourself,

then become committed to building and sustaining a strong
marriage.”
THANK YOU!!