We advocate for conflict being good, but conflict, healthy conflict is good. Combat is not good.

Pride being one of the main ways we do combat. Yeah, this is what we're talking about, you know,

in the past is combat. And we can slip back into those combative disagreements. Those are not going to go

anywhere. Conflict when it's handled in a healthy, you know, humble, open-hearted manner can lead

you to very deep, intimate places.

Hey, friend. Welcome to Jabba with Julie. I'm Julie Slattery, and this podcast is a listener-supported outreach of authentic intimacy,

a ministry dedicated to reclaiming God's design for sexuality.

My friends Erin and Greg Smalley are back with me, and they're sharing from their book,

Fight Your Way to a Better Marriage, How Healthy Conflict Can Take You to Deeper Levels of

Intimacy.

Now if you were with us last time, you heard why your marriage actually needs conflict.

Now that sounds a little backwards, right?

Well, I'll drop a link to that in our show notes so that you can hear how conflict is actually

an opportunity to build intimacy with your spouse, but one that requires an open heart to be

curious and to learn about your spouse's feelings and needs.

Today, you're going to hear more about how an open heart in conflict can lead you to intimate

places, how an open heart brings humility and keeps you from saying and doing things that you'll someday regret.

And finally, how to care for your heart, why it's important to care for your own heart first, and then care for your spouse's heart as well.

Greg is a psychologist and the vice president of marriage at Focus on the Family.

Erin is a marriage and family therapist.

Now, don't skip out here because you're not married.

The things that Aaron and Greg share are really true for any personal relationship,

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