The Marriage To The Max Podcast

How does a married couple manage depression? In this episode,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement have an informative conversation with author and therapist Trisha Taylor ( www.trishataylor.org ) about common and sometimes misunderstood aspects of depression and how it can affect marriages. We encourage couples dealing with these issue to reach out to their church communities and professi...

How much does your family of origin influence your marriage? Does it tend to make you look at life through a very specific lens? Maybe your spouse is not as crazy as you think! In this episode,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  interview Richard & Sheri Bright ( www.marriagefunatics.com ) about how drastically different our families of origin can be and how that can show up in our marriage relationship. This...

Are you currently encountering a great deal of anger in your marriage? Is all anger bad? How does a couple manage anger effectively?  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement interview therapist and author Trisha Taylor to get her thoughts on the many facets of anger. To find out more about Trisha Taylor, go to  www.trishataylor.org . Find out more about Home Encouragement at  www.homeencourage...

What do married couples have to learn from people who have walked through divorce? Actually, quite a lot, as it turns out. This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  discuss some of the practical lessons learned from those who have walked through the pain and tragedy of divorce. Thanks to Grant Peterson, Grant Supak and Zach Alkire for helping us with the production and posting of this week’s episode.

Can business leadership principles also benefit a marriage? That may not sound very romantic, but, actually, some principles can. This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement discuss a few basic leadership concepts from the business world that can also enhance a healthier marriage relationship. Thanks for listening!

When was the last time you apologized to your spouse? Maybe a better question would be to ask when was the last you needed to apologize to your spouse? What is an apology, anyway? Is it merely saying, “I’m sorry” and that’s the end of it? This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement have a conversation about the many facets of apology. We hope it will encourage couples to tear down even...

How do you manage anxiety in marriage? Are you tempted to disengage? Even worse, do you have a tendency to want to manage your partner? This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  interview  Ken Shuman , an adjunct professor at the Houston Graduate School of Theology. Ken has been married for thirty-six years, has over thirty years of experience as a coach, leader, pastor and teacher, and has personal exper...

Do you play enough together as a couple? When was the last time that you felt like you had a truly fun time with your spouse? Well, pardner….that’s too long! This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement encourage married couples to enjoy one another by doing some off-the-wall things together….just for the fun of it! We believe that couples that play together stay together. We’d love to...

What are the cheesier things you enjoy that you would never admit to anyone—except for your spouse? Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement believe that husbands and wives that are comfortable with speaking freely about such things can actually enjoy a richer marriage. After all, it’s just another facet of marital intimacy, isn’t it? What topics would you like us to tackle on Marriage to the M...

Why is forgiveness so often so difficult for us? Wouldn’t we rather be free of the pain that unforgiveness can cause? This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement discuss the many facets of forgiveness and how it can benefit marriage health. If you are struggling with forgiveness in your home or with someone else, we hope this conversation will spark healthy conversation in your situati...

What happens when a romantic getaway cruise suddenly becomes anything but that?  Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement interview their friends Danny and Trisha Kennedy who, earlier this year, found themselves stranded on a crippled cruise ship somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. In spite of their anxiety and struggles, what the Kennedy’s learned from this experience about themselves, each other,...

Do you always mean what you say? This week, Brett Hurst of Home Encouragement unwisely interviews his wife Kellie about words and phrases that she uses in their marriage relationship that often have alternative intentions and meaning. This is potentially an unwise move for Brett. Going down this road will most likely result in some kind of retribution toward Brett from Kellie… probably in a future...

What relational tools work best to get a marriage back on track? Since every married couple is different, there are too many effective tools to mention. However, this week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement mention a few that they have used time and time again to effectively encourage spouses in their marriages. With prayer and grace, these tools (and others) might be beneficial to your...

This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement discuss the ideas of personal privacy as it involves couples. Should a wife have the access codes and passwords into her husband’s accounts and social media—and vice versa? Will this enhance intimacy and trust? How much is too much? Should individual spouses have their own sense of privacy? The idea for this podcast episode actually was trigg...

This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement interview Mickey and Stephanie Peters of  Upside Ministries  in Houston. The Peters have a remarkable story of infidelity recovery as well as an outreach to couples that have suffered or are suffering from the devastating trauma of betrayal, infidelity and sexual addiction. This is a candid conversation about the realities of dealing with suc...

This week on “Marriage to the Max”,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  revisit some famous and not-so-famous quotes about marriage… mainly not-so-famous. We hope you enjoy the conversation. This particular series has become a favorite installment of the hosts (not so sure if that’s the case for our listeners!). At any rate, send us your favorite celebrity quotes about marriage at  thehursts@homeencouragement....

Although this sounds like a seminar, in this episode of “Marriage to the Max”  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement are merely having an informal conversation discussing how to prioritize relationships, particularly the relationship with one’s spouse. How does the math work out in your relationship? It might be worth having your own discussion about your personal schedules. Thanks to our mu...

Sometimes, in marriage, the most seemingly insignificant traditions can be the most important ones. As a couple, do you have little rituals that you share together that help make your marriage special and personal? Do you have a favorite song? A favorite movie that you don’t mind watching over and over? A favorite place to get coffee? A special restaurant that is “your place”? If not, we encourage...

Marriage was never designed to be a relationship that exists in isolation. In our opinion, especially in today’s world, the challenges of staying on course in a God-centered, fulfilling marriage are too much to handle without the support of others. This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement interview their very good friends David and Sue Harkins about their Married Life Group. The Hur...

Wouldn’t life be so much easier if your spouse would just “get with the program”?  If only our spouses were as enlightened, kind, compassionate, trustworthy, athletic, dependable, productive and brilliant as we are!   Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement discuss the question above that frequently seems to come up in conversation with married couples.  However, when frustrated about periodic...

In this week’s episode,  Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement  discuss a recent survey that apparently gauges what today’s dating men look for first in women…and…what dating women seem to look for first in men. What does this all mean? We have no idea. But we thought it might be an interesting window into today’s dating scene. We’d love to hear from you about what first attracted you to your...

Can a couple really find “true love” on the reality show “The Bachelor”? Only time will tell… as will the ratings. This week, just for fun,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement bring their deepest thoughts (not really) about the weekly antics of one of television’s longest running “reality” shows. We hope that you take this particular podcast episode about as seriously as we did. Thanks so...

What are the types of conversations that married couples should be having together on the subject of money and finances? In this episode,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement once again interview  Randy Schroeder  of  Ron Blue & Co. LLC  to discuss possible answers. Money continues to be a great stressor in many marriages. We encourage couples to be as open and transparent with each other...

What is the number one cause of divorce in America? What is the least talked about significant topic in most marriages? Most studies indicate that money is the number one answer to both questions. This week,  Brett & Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement interview good friend  Randy Schroeder  to talk about money issues that center around engaged and newlywed couples. Randy is the Managing Director...

The many stressors of life can often simply wear out a married couple. Because of this ongoing daily pressure, couples often strangely find themselves unable to make conversation together. This week’s episode of Marriage to the Max with  Brett and Kellie Hurst  of Home Encouragement centers on spouses asking one another simple questions beginning with “What is your favorite…?” As silly as this exe...