Michael Todd - Relationship Goals Challenge - Thirty Days from Good to Great

R ELATIONSHIP G OALS C HALLENGE

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( GNT ) are taken from the Good News Translation in Todays English VersionSecond Edition. Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. (www.zondervan.com). The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica Inc. Scripture quotations marked ( NKJV ) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2020 by Michael Todd

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

W ATER B ROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Portions of this text originally appeared in Relationship Goals, copyright 2020 by Michael Todd, published in the United States by WaterBrook, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, in 2020.

L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING-IN- P UBLICATION D ATA

Names: Todd, Michael (Pastor), author. | Stanford, Eric, author.

Title: Relationship goals challenge : thirty days from good to great / Michael Todd with Eric Stanford.

Description: First edition. | [Colorado Springs] : WaterBrook, 2020.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020032156 | ISBN 9780593192627 (hardcover : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780593192634 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Todd, Michael (Pastor) Relationship goals. | Interpersonal relationsReligious aspectsChristianityTextbooks. | Dating (Social customs)Religious aspectsChristianityTextbooks. | MarriageReligious aspectsChristianityTextbooks. | SexReligious aspectsChristianityTextbooks.

Classification: LCC BV4597.52.T633 T63 2020 | DDC 248.4dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020032156

Ebook ISBN9780593192634

waterbrookmultnomah.com

Cover design: Jon Vinnett

Cover photographs: Graceson Todd

ep_prh_5.6.0_c0_r1

#RelationshipGoals has been a trending topic worldwide for years now. Search for this hashtag on social media, and youll find celebrity couples posing at exclusive clubs, stills from romantic movies at the point where the boy gets the girl, cute couples kissing on a beach or cuddled up in bed, a boyfriend-girlfriend pair holding balloons in the park and giving the impression that their relationship has never been anything but pure happiness. And when people repost these pictures with the hashtag, what are they saying? Theyre saying, I want a relationship like that! Kim and Kanye, Jay and Bey, Prince William and Kate, some unidentified couple who look really good in a picture that happened to go viralwe can easily become obsessed with their seemingly perfect images and make them our idols and ideals.

Okay, maybe youve never noticed #RelationshipGoals online, much less posted anything with it. But if I were to ask you to think about the relationship you want, would an idealized picture flash into your mind? Maybe its you with a tall, handsome pro athlete who takes you on shopping sprees. Or maybe its you beside a girl whos hood like Cardi B but has a sweet side like Carrie Underwood. Is he an amazing listener with a classic swag like George Clooney and a job that pays both his bills and yours? Can she cook like your mama and get just as hype as you do when your team scores?

Now, if you just asked Whats wrong with that? in your head, allow me to submit to you that maybe theres more to relationship than what pop culture has taught us or our own imaginings have dreamed up. Maybe our society sells an illusion of romantic relationship thats more like a miragethe closer you get to it, the more you realize its not real at all. Maybe the things we tend to celebrate are built on unstable foundations and are bound to eventually fall. But alsomaybe there are some truths here that can be unlocked about how and why human connection is so important and how we can achieve it.

I believe so, and thats why Ive written Relationship Goalsabout real relationship goals.

from Relationship Goals

Taking Notes

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Since my book Relationship Goals came out, Ive been hearing from people all around the country and overseas about how its helping them turn their lives away from the shallow #RelationshipGoals they used to pursue and start aiming for the kinds of relationships that will help them live out a purposeful life. Ive heard from teenagers who have never even been on a date and from couples who have been married for decades, from longtime churchgoers and from people who are far from God, and many more. Theyre seeing change in their lives. Theyre rediscovering love and unity in their relationships and being liberated to do what they were put on this planet to do.

Its not because Im so smart that these results are happening. (Ive still got a lot to learn about relationships. Just ask my wife, Natalie.) Whats making the difference is that Relationship Goals is based on the Word of God, which was true long before social media existed and will be true long after anybody remembers what a hashtag is.

Im so thankful God has allowed me to play some part in helping to turn around some relationships. But there is one request Ive been getting a lot, and that is for help to put the key principles of Relationship Goals into practice over the long term. In other words, to create new habits that will solidify gains and prevent relationships from slipping back to the way they were before.

Thats where this book comes in.