When one spouse finds himself or herself out of work, it's a situation that can add stress to any relationship. One of the biggest concerns that you and your significant other might have at this time is about money, but there are almost certainly other things that will come up. While you might be hesitant to invest in marriage counseling at this time, doing so is generally a good idea. A relationship in which one person is out of work is challenging at the best of times, but it can be more difficult when other issues arise. Here are some of the topics that you may want to discuss.
Faith
The stress of being out of work can make one or both people in the marriage question their faith. Even if the person who is out of work strives to live as a good Christian, he or she may question God and wonder why he or she is struggling in this manner, for example. The person may even begin to drift away from church because of the frustration he or she feels with the situation. A Christian marriage counselor will understand this attitude, but will also share some insights that will hopefully help the person to keep his or her faith strong.
Support
A relationship can become difficult when one person feels that the other isn't providing enough support. For example, if both partners work, and one finds himself or herself unemployed, the working partner's expectation might be that the unemployed partner offers support by cooking and cleaning. However, the unemployed partner may not want to perform these tasks and may feel that his or her partner's request of this nature is unreasonable. Such a situation can cause frequent disagreements at a time that is already tense. Your marriage counselor can allow you both to talk about how you can support each other and come up with some parameters to follow.
Effort
The effort that the unemployed spouse puts into finding a new job may not be in alignment with the other spouse's expectations. This can lead to arguments. The employed spouse may confront his or her partner about not working hard enough to find a job and thus creating more stress in the relationship. Meanwhile, the other spouse may say that he or she is working hard at searching and that the nagging isn't helping anything. This dynamic can continue without professional intervention.
​Consult with a Christian marriage counselor today to start discussing your concerns about your marriage.
