How you communicate is key to building trust, and trust is foundational to any relationship. Trust takes time to develop but can easily be lost in a second. It’s precious, valuable, to be treasured, protected and constantly built on. Without trust, a relationship falls apart – communication fails, insecurities creep in and it’s no longer just the two of you and God. Instead, it’s the two of you and doubt. Trust needs to be built from the very start of a relationship, be it friendship or romance.

I remember the day I went on my first date in fifteen years. Could this thing called internet dating possibly hold any potential for me when it came to meeting someone special to share my life with? I now know the answer was Yes. This date was the first of quite a few before I met my husband, and along the way I picked up some ideas for handling them so they felt natural, not an ordeal. This definitely helped when I met the man I married so here are tips for before, during, and after meeting someone new, so you can have a great first date.

We all desire to be in healthy relationships, and whilst we cannot always just make it happen, there are several things we can do to give ourselves the opportunity or increase our chances of finding one. When you’re looking to be in a healthy relationship, it is important to put yourself in the right environment – physically, socially, and even mentally – to enable that to happen. So, how do you improve your dating environment to ensure you’re in a space that helps you find a healthy relationship? And how can you overcome any limitations to enable this?

Dating with a heart that’s both open and protected may sound like an oxymoron but being able to strike this tricky balance is key to finding healthy love. Our hearts are precious, on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. They pump blood around our body, they connect us to others through love and they connect us to God. They are also easily hurt or wounded, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. It’s not called heartache for nothing, and many of us will have experienced some level of heartbreak. But if past heartache leads us to become overly protective of our hearts, we risk sabotaging our chances of finding true love.

Time is precious. 24 hours in a day can seem too little as we fill it with work, family, friends and hobbies. How easy it is to make time to date too? Trying to find time to spend with God seems to be a challenge, let alone start a relationship or online dating. When everything else already needs to be scheduled into our busy lives, how do we make time for getting to know someone new? It’s a balancing act, but God knew exactly how many hours we need in a day – we just need to make sure we use them wisely! So how can we make time to date when our lives are so busy?

So, you’d like to meet someone with faith, someone you could come to love and maybe, just maybe, share your life with? Congratulations and welcome to a life-changing journey! Like any journey, physical or emotional, it’s vital to look after yourself along the way. The key to this? Be gentle with yourself. It’s a great way of balancing your emotions and inner resilience. If you’re wondering what gentleness with yourself looks like in practice when you’re dating, here are some simple but effective ideas.

I just finished taking part in a 22-day praise challenge, which involved praising and worshipping God for an hour at midnight. What I loved most about this was that the focus was mainly on worshipping God, with singing and dancing. As human beings we all have our issues and we often come to God with problems each time we pray. For example, as a single person, getting married someday might be at the top of your prayer list (as it was, mine, for many years). There is nothing wrong with that, of course, but how often do we just worship God for who He is or for what He has done? Here are three great reasons to worship God this Easter…

Whether you are dating, in a relationship or married for a long time, one of the main keys to a successful relationship is finding ways to show appreciation. If your ‘appreciation box’ is filled up, you’re more likely to give out love more easily. If your box is empty, then it’s very hard to maintain a healthy relationship. If you appreciate your partner, then they will feel loved and filled up, ready to show you appreciation. If you feel appreciated by your partner, then you are going to find it much easier to show love and appreciation and be happier in a relationship or when dating.