Day 8

Moving into the 2nd week of the Husband Encouragement challenge...and I am finding that much more than a challenge it is a blessing. Often daily life seems to take so much of our time and attention that we stop focusing on the things that are really most important to us...we allow our lives and minds to become so cluttered that it crowds out what we should be giving the most attention. The blessing of this challenge is that participating in it requires you to spend time daily focusing your thoughts, prayers and actions on your husband...which, in turn, actually increases your feelings of love, appreciation and closeness with him.

The reality of life is that there's no such thing as a 'perfect marriage' and often we fail to see the forest for the trees. Negativity invades our thoughts and it becomes far too easy to focus on the ways in which our spouse does not meet our needs rather than appreciate and thank them for the ways in which they do. Despite the wonderful things (all of which are true) that I have said about my husband throughout this blog...I am no exception to that human tendency. Far more times than I would really like to have to admit, I have been guilty of failing to see the forest for the trees. Everytime one spouse does this, it takes something from the relationship that God intended. So I find it a blessing that this challenge keeps me out of that negative mindset and focused on just how fortunate I really am!

Here's what the challenge says for today:

How are you doing with the "30-Day Encouragement Challenge"? In case you've forgotten, here's the challenge:
* You can't say anything negative about your husband ...to your husband...or to anyone else, about your husband.
* Say something that you admire or appreciate about your husband...to your husband...and to someone else, about your husband!

"...but who can find a faithful man?" Prov. 20:6b

Faithfulness is a wonderful but rare quality today, especially in regard to marriage. Do you understand how important this quality is? Your challenge is to continue to root out all negative speaking, and plant seeds of encouragement instead. You may be amazed at what will grow. Contemporary culture often entices men to be unfaithful to their wedding vows and spiritual commitments.

Appreciate your husband's faithfulness - how he is loyal to you. Let him know that you are glad he has "stick-to-it-iveness" in your marriage. Appreciate his faithfulness to God. (If you have an unfaithful husband, this is a difficult area for you. Pray, speak the truth in love, remain faithful yourself, and discover ways to encourage faithfulness in your mate. The Bible says that husbands may "...be won by the conduct of their wives" [1 Pet. 3:1]. You may also want to seek counsel from a mature, godly individual or couple.)

I believe that my hubby is loyal and faithful by nature. He is that way as a husband. He is that way as a friend. He is that way as a son. He believes in keeping his word in every way that he can and I know that I can trust in him. I wasn't always capable of trusting other people, even if they were trustworthy...and it has made a huge difference in my life to have such a person in my life. I really am incredibly blessed to be his wife!!!!