If you’re feeling ready for renewal in your relationship, it may be a good time to refresh what you know about Natural Family Planning! Our trained professionals work with couples who are newly engaged or decades into their relationship, showing tremendous compassion and sensitivity in a confidential setting.
Many people see NFP as restrictive, but in its truest sense, it opens up a path for better intimacy and communication. With support from a trained professional, you have the opportunity to grow closer to your spouse, deepen your faith, and improve your health!
How can NFP impact a relationship?
Embracing NFP in your marriage offers a new way to look at your relationship. Adjusting your focus to be more intentional about your time together and your intimacy creates new opportunities to connect. Some teachers use the acronym SPICE – spiritual, physical, intellectual, creative/communicative, and emotional forms of intimacy. When practiced properly, NFP is not a game of “red light, green light!” If the woman is seen as the gatekeeper for physical intimacy based on her cycle, this creates an imbalance. If the couple approaches each day with the perspective of how they can best offer and receive love, NFP becomes an opportunity to communicate and positively impact the relationship when it’s approached as a team.
Despite the fact that all four methods of NFP have decades of scientific backing, many people still feel nervous to get started. Taking this new step in a relationship can feel like a bold act of trust! When you learn to put your trust in God’s plan for your vocation, it impacts all aspects of your faith and marriage in a positive way. You can learn to trust him to guide you through big and small challenges.
How can NFP improve your health?
Our team can help you understand the ways that each of the four methods helps with different medical issues. All of the methods involve some form of tracking the woman’s cycles. The information can provide information that shows hormonal deficiencies, causes of pain, and other health problems, even when other doctors and medical professionals have dismissed these issues as “normal.” Many women aren’t even aware of what signals their body gives them at various points in the cycle, and gaining this knowledge makes them feel more empowered about their health. See Anna’s story about how her quality of life dramatically improved, and Steve and Deanna’s story of how NFP brought about diagnoses that saved BOTH of their lives!
How can the NFP office help?
Are you new to NFP, or has it just been a few years since you’ve evaluated your method? Give us a call! We offer introductory sessions and individual coaching calls free of charge. The calls can be for anyone from engaged couples to couples with a surprise pregnancy who want to talk about other methods. We’ll talk about your relationship, what preconceived notions you have, whether you like devices and data or something more personal, and more. Our team will ask you to answer a few specific questions, discuss the four methods available in our diocese, and see what seems like the best fit.
Learning and practicing NFP with the support of a professional can help ensure it is fruitful and effective in your relationship!