HOW TO STAY CONNECTED AS A FAMILY, EVEN WHEN DEALING WITH DIFFICULT SITUATIONS - Part 2

Today I want to continue the blog entitled “How to stay connected as a family, even when dealing with difficult situations.”  In my blog last week I shared two stories about how our family experienced difficult situations that could have ripped us apart.  But, it was how we handled the difficulties that caused us to stay connected together. 

Difficulties are inevitable in any type of relationship whether in a marriage or family, but it’s how we respond to tough times as a family that will determine if we stay closely connected together.  Here are some things we can do to help us respond properly to difficult situations in our family:
     1.      Love people unconditionally with no strings attached.
    2.   Don’t blame anybody for the difficulty. 
    3.    If needed take responsibility and ownership for our part of the difficulty, and 
          apologize for any wrong action.
    4.   Be ready to practice forgiveness for any hurt feelings caused by the situation.

Handling difficulties the right way helps us to mature in life.  Also, how the other person responds to the difficult situation will determine the health of the relationship.  I want to refer back to the two stories I mentioned.  In the first story, my wife could have blamed me for our financial difficulties because of losing my job.  This could have caused arguments, negatively affected our relationship.  Instead we both dealt with the situation in a positive way.  As a result we both matured and our relationship grew stronger by how we handled the difficult time.  In the second story, my wife confronted our daughter about a relationship she was in with a young man.  Although difficult at the time, the end result was a positive and today my daughter and wife have a great relationship.  My wife could have harbored ill feelings toward our daughter because of the incident that happened between them.  Instead she was the bigger person and went to her out of love in order for their relationship to stay connected.   

Maybe you are going through a difficult situation with a child in your home, a financial difficulty, a test in your marriage, or a health difficulty?  Difficult situations will test the closeness of any relationship but when handled properly will cause the relationship to mature.  Broken family relationships happen when we don’t correctly handle difficult situations.  When we blame others, harbor hurt feels, and don’t forgive, these actions only cause brokenness between our spouse and children that destroy the closeness that we built.  So maybe you had a close relationship with someone that was damaged because of not correctly handling a difficult situation?  And now you are trying to reestablish that connection with them.  It might take some time to restore that relationship and build up the closeness that you had with them.  Remember in order to get the closeness back that you once had with the person it is going to take hard work by both of you.  Continue to love the person and give them space.  Hopefully with much prayer trust God to touch the person’s heart to give you another chance to rebuild the relationship.  Family relationships are messy and take hard work in order to stay closely connected together, but going through difficult situations correctly can cause you to grow in your connection as a family. 

Would love to hear your thoughts, questions, or feedback.