Elijah had been used of God to hold back rain from the people for over three years, because of their sins. Obviously, he was not well liked as a preacher. I can imagine the stress he experienced during those years. Something strikes me, however, that seems to further complicate Elijah’s situation.

Consider 1 Kings 18:1: “After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

According to a couple N.T. passages, this “after a long time” was actually three and a half years. The famine was three and a half years long. For three and a half years, the people apparently continued to sin, Elijah continued to hold on by faith, but God said nothing. God was apparently inactive… not speaking… even to His great servant Elijah during this time. Have you ever been there? Has the silence of God in your life ever been eerily strong?

Imagine you had been faithfully serving. God is using you. You are in communication with Him… and then suddenly… everything is quiet. You have to wait. The separation must have seemed unbearable. Elijah is not liked and unpopular. He’s an outcast from the people and the One he trusted most was seemingly absent. God would soon do a miracle through Elijah… one he couldn’t even imagine… but during this period all Elijah could do was wait.

If you have been follower of Christ very long, you have had periods where it seems God is nowhere to be found. What should we do during the times of silence, before the miracles of God come through for us?

If you are like me, you can figure out how to celebrate a miracle. You don’t need much help doing that. The tough part of life is figuring out what to do during the years of silence… during the years when miracles are seemingly nowhere to be found. What do we do during the spiritually dry periods of life when we don't hear clearly the voice of God?

Here are 7 suggestions:

Guys, can I be honest with you? Marriage can be hard.

Did you know that already?

Sometimes you do the wrong thing before you even knew you did the wrong thing. You try to figure out the one you love the most, but the more you try the more confused you get. I get it. I understand.

Men and women are different. (You can tweet that.)

We don't always think and respond to life the same way.

And likely there are some things about your wife you just didn't know.

Over the years, through counseling training and actual counseling--and learning from my wife--I've observed some things. And I've realized some men simply don't know them--or don't realize how important they are to their wife.

Here are 7 things you may not know but you need to know about your wife:

I recently wrote a post about 7 things you may not know about your wife. It was a popular post and I committed to write a companion post for the wives.

Here are 7 things wives need to know — but may not know — about your husband:

I’ve observed things that work and things that don’t. I think there are some necessary ingredients for a healthy marriage. That’s the point of this post. Want a healthier marriage? Consider these 7 Commandments of Marriage...

Where life involves people—whether among family, friends or co-workers—there will be potential for conflict. Any disagreement there? Want to fight about it? :) In fact, if relationships are normal, conflict is inevitable. But conflict doesn’t have to destroy relationships. It can actually be used to make relationships better. That takes intentionality, practice—and a whole lot of grace. In an organizational sense, conflict is certainly a huge part of a leader’s life. Even a pastor's life. It seems to reason that learning to deal with conflict successfully should be one of our goals as leaders.

One great example of motivating a team during crisis comes from the writings of David in Psalm 3. At the time of this writing, it is believed that David was hiding out from his own son Absalom. His encouragement kept his troops focused and gave them strength they needed in desperate times.

I recently wrote a post about 7 things you may not know about your wife. It was a popular post and I committed to write a companion post for the wives.

Here are 7 things all wives need to know — but may not know — about their husbands: