How to Have Meaningful Conversations with Your Spouse

Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

Focus on the Family

Kids & Family, Relationships, Society & Culture, Parenting

4.8 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Communication is a key factor in any healthy relationship, especially when nurturing your connection with your spouse. Heather Holleman and her husband, Ashley, join us today to share practical insights on communicating effectively within marriage while living out a gospel-centered life together. Their encouragement serves as inspiration to guide you into how to strengthen your marriage through strong care and conversations.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	So the first thing that changed in my marriage was believing the best about Ashley, meaning the things that he's doing, he's doing for a reason. I don't need to control him or nag him. So I started complimenting him. I started anytime he did anything, I would make sure I was admiring and respecting him. And was that like the first
0:22.6	year of her? It pretty much after the first year, that changed everything. Dr. Heather Holloman
0:27.8	and her husband Ashley are with us today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Thanks for joining us.
0:33.2	I'm John Fuller. John, one of our most popular programs from last year was with Heather,
0:39.1	and it was fantastic. And people responded, and we are quite confident that today's broadcast
0:46.0	will have that same kind of response because she just touches a great nerve when it comes to
0:51.2	how to communicate. And if you're in marriage, you get it. Sometimes you're doing it
0:55.7	well. Sometimes you're not doing it well. I remember one time I'm reading the newspaper,
1:00.1	watching a Broncos football game, and Gene's talking to me. And I think I've developed a bit of that
1:05.0	skill because of this job. And she looked at me and said, what did I just say? And I gave it back to her verbatim. And she said, I appreciate that, but I need your face. And I thought, uh-oh, I'm in trouble. And yeah, that's part of it. How do we communicate in a deeper way in our marriages to grow that intimacy, not just physically, but most importantly, emotionally and spiritually.
1:29.3	Yeah, there's a yearning for so many of us, and we don't know the path.
1:33.0	This is going to be a great show.
1:35.2	Heather's husband, Ashley, is joining her for this conversation, as I said.
1:39.1	He's the executive director of Seated and Sent, a ministry he and Heather founded.
1:44.4	And Heather has studied and spoken about conversation and relationships.
1:48.8	She's an associate teaching professor of advanced writing at Penn State.
1:53.3	And she's a speaker and author.
1:55.2	And her book is really the foundation for today's conversation.
1:59.1	It's what we talked about last time, in fact. So it's called
2:01.6	the six conversations, pathways to connecting in an age of isolation and incivility. Get a copy of
2:09.2	this book and learn more about our guests. We've got the links in the show notes. Heather and
2:13.8	Ashley, welcome. Back to Focus on the Family for you, Heather. First time for Ashley, welcome.
	...

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