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Greg and Julie Gorman

About Julie Gorman

Greg and Julie Gorman are John Maxwell Certified Coaches, Trainers, Speakers and LIFEPLAN Facilitators with the Paterson Center. They write, produce, and host a weekly Broadcast and are passionate about helping individuals, couples, churches and businesses live purpose-focused NOT problem-focused.
21 12, 2016

Make Memories NOT Madness

By |2016-12-21T03:16:36-05:00December 21st, 2016|Devotional, Videos|0 Comments

Merry Christmas from the Gorman’s! Listen in as Married For A Purpose Founders Greg and Julie Gorman share a quick word of encouragement to remind you to Make Memories NOT Madness this Christmas. The best Christmas’ are the ones spent together, connecting. So, slow down. Take the scenic route. Don’t let commercialization crowd out what’s most important. This Christmas, take time to connect with the ones you love most.

We care about you and your marriage! Join the movement, #Married For A Purpose and receive Daily Inspiration by LIKING us on Facebook Also, coming soon is MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE TV where we’ll offer inspiration and daily Best Practices to Live God’s Purpose for your marriage.

13 11, 2016

3 Foundations to Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Marriage

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00November 13th, 2016|Devotional|1 Comment

God created every couple, including you and your spouse, for a unique purpose. But, many couples still question; how do we discover that purpose? Are there clues? Is there a way to test whether we are on the right track or not? If that’s you, know this. The answer is …

Absolutely!

Though our marriage purpose is as unique as God is creative, there are three universal foundations for every marriage purpose. Every marriage purpose must be established by God and for God and will

  1. make God known,
  2. bring God pleasure, and
  3. demonstrate His unconditional love.

 

Our Marriage Purpose Will Make God Known

Before you roll your eyes and say, “Tell us something we don’t know,” remember strong towers require deep, steady foundations. As believers, our primary task is to make Jesus known. Even if you aren’t the “ministry-type,” there is no such thing as a Christian without a calling; likewise, there is no such thing as a marriage without a ministry. God hardwired it into our DNA. He designed us with the desire to be part of something greater than ourselves and commissioned us to be a light in our homes,

[i] to share the good news,[ii] and to bear lasting fruit.[iii] As a couple, you might make God known by serving people in your community or serving people overseas. Making Him known may play out in raising godly children or by serving aging parents. You may make Him known by building a business that honors Him in the workplace. Making Him known isn’t an item on an exhaustive to-do list; rather, making Him known plays out in every fiber of your being and flows from the depths of your design. After all, we are human beings, not human doings. Making Him known isn’t so much in what we do but in who we are. Your gifts make up who you are. And, as a couple, God already designed and innately equipped you with gifts and passions that make you and your spouse uniquely who you are. It’s who you are as a couple and the activities bringing forth life to you and from you that point you more clearly toward God’s purpose for your marriage.

As you search to define your marriage purpose, remember to begin where you are and consider some important questions: “How do we (most naturally) make God known right where we are?” How can our distinct passions and purpose first bring life to one another and reveal Christ to our family? How can we (best) make God known in our marriage, to our children, and then to our world?” A second universal truth to living God’s purpose for our marriage and building on firm foundations is to bring God pleasure.

 

Our Marriage Purpose Will Bring God Pleasure[iv]

 

In The Practice of the Presence, Brother Lawrence writes, “Our sole occupation in life is to please God.”[v] Wow! Can you imagine how different our world would be if our only ambition as married couples was to bring God pleasure? If our sole occupation was to bring Him delight? Can you imagine how different our lives would be if every activity we engaged in was to bring God joy and cause Him to smile?

In the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell was quoted as saying: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run I feel His pleasure.”[vi] When we embrace God’s design for our marriage purpose, it makes God smile, and when we live His purpose together, it brings Him pleasure.

Scripture says, “For from him and through him and to him are all things.”[vii] Our purpose came from God and is upheld through Him. Discovering our marriage purpose and then offering it back to Him is a spiritual act of worship. Our marriage brings God pleasure when we extend our gifts back to Him, for His service, and live according to the purpose He designed for our marriage.

Immersing your combined skills and passions in a pursuit of bringing God pleasure, and tempering your gifts with His unconditional love, helps to secure a strong foundation for your unified marriage purpose.

 

Our Marriage Purpose Demonstrates Unconditional Love

 

When we first married, unconditional love seemed like an impossible concept. We both reserved our love, with conditions. Julie struggled with insecurities, stemming from earlier childhood abuse. It took years to unravel her unspoken vows of “I’ll never let another man hurt me” and “I won’t ever feel vulnerable again.” Likewise, Greg conditioned his love with qualifiers of “I won’t be controlled by anyone” and “no one’s going to tell me how to live.” As you might imagine, our unexpressed needs eventually escalated to shouting matches of demanding our rights. Our individual mandates obstructed our ability to express love unconditionally. Yet one of the greatest invitations God extends to married couples is to love as He has loved us.[viii] Marriage especially affords us with the opportunity to practice that command. If we want to build a strong legacy and live the purpose God designed for us as couples, then we need to build upon the foundation of unconditional love. Our demonstration of unconditional love serves as the greatest megaphone possible. God’s unconditional love extends a rare gift in a world filled with conditions.

Take a moment today, to invite God’s thoughts into your relationship and consider the following: How can we make God known? How can our marriage bring Him pleasure, together? And, how can we best demonstrate His unconditional love through our union? If you’d like to unpack the full process of discovering your specific marriage purpose visit GormanLeadership.com.

[i] Matthew 5:16.

[ii] Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47–48.

[iii] John 15:16.

[iv] Revelation 4:11; Colossians 1:16.

[v] Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1982), 48.

[vi] Eric, Liddell, accessed December 7, 2015, https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/802465.Eric_Liddell.

[vii] Romans 11:36.

[viii] John 13:34; 15:12.

5 11, 2016

WHY DO SOME MARRIAGES THRIVE WHILE OTHERS MERELY SURVIVE?

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00November 5th, 2016|Devotional|1 Comment

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Why do some marriages thrive while others merely survive? After nearly two decades of studying human behavior and coaching couples, we stumbled upon a transformational truth. The catalyst to a truly happy, thriving marriage. Surprisingly, the answer is quite simple.

Couples who live for a greater purpose—together—thrive.

Since the creation of Adam and Eve, God ordained the union of man and woman as the crowning jewel to His creation. His first intention for a husband and wife, as recorded in Genesis 1:26, revealed His BIG IDEA for marriage.

“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock over all the earth, and over the creatures that move along the ground”

[i]

God’s words, revealed a purpose that required Adam and Eve’s interdependency- physically, emotionally and spiritually.

And, since creation, God’s intention for a husband and wife hasn’t changed. So, what does He desire? What is His intention for marriage? What is the secret that truly makes the difference in relationships?

Simply this—relationships that thrive embrace the central truth that God created each of them individually, for a distinct purpose and then hardwired them lovingly and masterfully for a distinct purpose, only the two of them will accomplish, together.

God desires for you to live purpose-focused NOT problem-focused.

The truth is God created you distinctly. He destined your spouse for a unique purpose. And, when the two of you married, He designed a plan for the two of you to accomplish together. Like Adam and Eve, His plan for your marriage will only be attained by the two of you operating as one—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

As Christians, if we lack intentionality to do what is most important, we exhaust our energy planning for events and strategically coordinating projects to excel our career or the next thing on our “to-do” list. Without intentionality, we may fail to put our best foot forward in marriage. We begin to live ME-focused instead of WE-focused and drift into the pattern of living unto our problems instead of into our purpose.

But, when we unify towards a common purpose our relationship thrives more naturally. When we grab hold of God’s big idea for our relationship—that two are better than one—our unity reflects the cooperative nature of the Trinity and brings God pleasure. As we bring God pleasure, we perpetuate more of Him in our relationship, and the more we perpetuate Him in our relationship, the more we live life as He intended.

The result of living toward a common purpose causes us to serve one another more naturally because we share the same mind-set and move forward together, to live out God’s design. Inevitably, when we shift our thinking from our problems to His purpose, we shift our thinking from, “How can I get my spouse to change?” to “How can we accomplish His purpose together?” Instead of comparing and competing to get our needs met, we begin living intentionally to accomplish the same purpose. Instead of trying to implement a bunch of dos and don’ts, we govern our actions with questions like,

“God, how can we bring You pleasure in our marriage?
How can we impact this world, together?”

The more a couple lives toward a unified purpose, the more they enjoy marriage and celebrate their relationship to its fullest. Like anything in life, there is power, connection, and unity when we share a similar goal and desired outcome. When we live purpose-focused, our relationship and servanthood is not drudgery—it’s life giving.

And, God intended for every marriage to enjoy life, together, as one. His intention for unity and purpose stands true for every marriage. Just as there is no such thing as a Christian without a calling, there is no such thing as a marriage without a ministry. And, that ministry will be as vast and unique as God is creative.

But don’t worry! Discovering your marriage purpose isn’t another exhaustive list of things you need to do; it’s more a celebration of who you are. Click here to learn how you can uncover God’s specific purpose for your marriage and develop new habits of thinking that foster life in your relationship. Or, take this free on-line quiz, to discover whether you tend to live more purpose-focused or problem-focused in your relationship. Also, be sure to watch for more upcoming articles from Greg and Julie Gorman.

[i] Genesis 1:26

18 10, 2016

Flexible?

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00October 18th, 2016|Devotional, Videos|0 Comments

Are you flexible? Are there ways God is asking you to compromise in your relationship? Listen in as #marriedforapurpose Founders Greg and Julie Gorman share insights from Hurricane Matthew encouraging couples to look for specific ways they’ve become too rigid in their relationship and provide specific questions you can ask in order to better live PURPOSE-focused NOT PROBLEM-focused in your relationship.

We care about you and your marriage! Join the movement, #Married For A Purpose and receive Daily Inspiration by LIKING us on Facebook Also, coming soon is MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE TV where we’ll offer inspiration and daily Best Practices to Live God’s Purpose for your marriage.

23 09, 2016

Take Time to Dance

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00September 23rd, 2016|Videos|0 Comments

What do you do when your daughter’s wedding facility floods the day of the wedding? Here’s what we recommend: Take Time to Dance … Take time to Embrace … Don’t take life too seriously … Laugh with one another!

For more pictures of our daughter’s wedding visit: Greg and Julie on Facebook

2 09, 2016

Tame Your Tongue

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00September 2nd, 2016|Devotional, Videos|0 Comments

 

Want to experience greater friendship in your marriage? Learn the art to Tame Your Tongue and Store Up Good Thoughts! In this short video Greg and Julie Gorman share two best practices to enhance your communication and experience greater connection in your marriage. Be sure to share your best practices by commenting here or share your thoughts at Greg and Julie’s Facebook Page..

22 08, 2016

Spiritual Replenishment

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00August 22nd, 2016|Two Are Better Than One, Videos|0 Comments

 
Do you long for spiritual replenishment? Need a little rest? Long to grow together spiritually? Spiritual Replenishment is vital to connection. In this last video (in the P.I.E.S series) Greg and Julie Gorman encourage you to take a moment to connect spiritually. Remember what matters most and invite the Holy Spirit to connect you with your spouse.

3 08, 2016

Emotional Replenishment

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00August 3rd, 2016|Videos|0 Comments

Emotional Replenishment requires intentional reflection. In this third session on P.I.E.S,
Authors Greg and Julie Gorman encourage you to take time to connect and discover one another
again. What can you do this week to replenish and connect with your spouse?

Remember, to look for the “get to’s” of life NOT the “have to’s.”

After listening, be sure to share your best practices on
Greg and Julie’s Facebook Page.

3 08, 2016

I=Intellectual Replenishment

By |2016-11-15T10:20:00-05:00August 3rd, 2016|Videos|0 Comments

I=Intellectual Replenishment
Take a moment to listen in as Greg and Julie Gorman share insights on how you can connect and replenish
together, as a couple, intellectually. As you take time to push the pause button on your life, and make
time for reflection, be sure to share your best practices with us on Facebook at:
Greg and Julie Gorman

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