Boundaries in Dating: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Relationships Book

"You will have a good relationship to the degree that you are able to be clear and honest about everything."

"People who can handle confrontation and feedback are the ones who can make relationships work."

"Many people try to change their patterns all on their own, using willpower, discipline, resolve, and the like. Sooner or later, they tend to fail. A desire to change is generally not enough, or we would have changed before...(Colossians 2:23).
Relationship is the fuel which makes change and growth possible. It provides comfort so you can bear the difficulty of change. It creates support for the person as she struggles and fails. It brings reality to her, so that she can change directions and try new ways of solving her problems."

"In a mature relationship, romantic idealization waxes and wanes through the connection at various times. It arises out of a deep appreciation and gratitude for the person's presence and love, yet it retains the reality of who he is at the same time."

"Instead of expressing love through sex, the luster replaces love with sex."

"[God] does not look at us as like a piece of porcelain that, once broken, is always broken. He looks at us all as broken people whom he makes new again."

"So many people naively think they will meet a kindred spirit who will never have an argument with them...And they are devastated or lose hope when they find themselves having long-term conflicts...Give up the demand that your relationship be conflict-free, get over it, and go to the next step."

"Does your date know how you feel about how he treats you? Or do you minimize it, make excuses for it, or simply give him the silent treatment, hoping he will get the message? This is not an honest approach."