Refocus ~ The words I speak to my husband...

Do I speak words to my husband that show my love for him?

Do I speak words to my husband that encourage & life him up?

Do I pray for my husband?

In April Jeff & I will be married for 15 years & together for 19 years. When we first met & dated we were together as much as possible & talked on the phone for hours.

Nineteen years later life has changed a lot. We are not the carefree college kids we once were. We have responsibilities at work, home & church. We have 2 kids & family responsibilities. Many times at the end of the day we fall into bed exhausted without having a chance to really talk.

Do you find yourself in a similar situation? Do you & your husband take time to know what is going on with each other? Do you make it a point to show him your love?

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one anther..." Hebrews 10:25

When we as a husband and wife Refocus on each other & make a point to sit and talk we gain in many areas.

• We learn ways we can encourage each other.
• We have an opportunity to discuss small issues before they have a chance to mushroom into bigger problems.
• We find out ways we can pray for each other
• Taking time to sit and listen to Jeff shows I am interested in him and is an expression of my love for him.

It is also a time to protect my marriage from

• miscommunication
• hurt feelings
• drifting apart.

It pleases God to see a strong marriage where the husband & wife communicate, encourage each other & support each other.

What specifically can you do this week to Refocus your time & attention on your husband?

Dear Lord, I thank you for my husband. Thank you that you desire for my marriage to be one filled with encouragement and love. Lord I pray that you will help me to slow down and refocus my attention on my husband. Show me specifically what I can do this week to encourage and pray for my husband. In Your Name I Pray.

I am linked today with Melanie at Only A Breath. Visit her blog to see all the wonderful One Word posts.


In His Calm,

Mary

Marriage Monday ~ Spring Cleaning ~ Dreaming

Good Monday Morning to you!

How is your spring cleaning going? Did you get the cobwebs & dust cleaned out of your home last week?

How about the cobwebs in the communication with your husband? Did you wipe away the dust and dig into deeper levels of communication?

I must admit I didn't reach my goal last week. I had grand plans to begin the deep clean starting with the cobwebs & dust but it didn't get done. A sick daughter, an unplanned field trip and life interrupted those plans.

But, I'm happy to say Jeff & I did dust off the cobwebs of our communication. And oh what a joy it was!

• I love hearing what is going on in my husband's heart! 
• I love knowing how I can pray more effectively for him! 
• I love the intimacy that comes with deep communication!

In those moments of sharing and opening our hearts to each other we began to dream.

• We dreamed & talked of ways to spruce up our house.
• We dreamed of life for our family.
• We dreamed & talked about the path God has called us to.

How about you? Do you dream with your husband? Do you talk about what your future holds as a family? As a couple? As an individual?

As you're making plans to spruce up your home while spring cleaning, why not take some time to dream & plan with your husband. Who knows what path you may head down.

I'm linked today with Women Living Well Wednesdays











In His Calm,

Mary

Marriage Monday ~ Spring Cleaning the Cobwebs of Communication

Can you feel it? Can you hear it? Can you see it?

I can!

My windows are open. The warmth of the sun warms my shoulders as the cool breeze blows across my face. The birds are chirping & left over fall leaves are sliding across the driveway. A robin sits high on the gutter singing as I watch another robin build a nest in the cypress just outside my window.

Spring is in the Air! The cold, gray days of winter are beginning to give way to the fresh new birth of spring.

I love spring and the fresh hope it brings. As I open windows to exchange the stale, stillness of winter for the light, newness of spring my eyes are opened to the dust & cobwebs that have built up in the house. It is time for some spring cleaning!

I have started making notes of the deep cleaning I want to tackle in the house ~ beginning with the cobwebs in the corners and the dust on the ceiling fans :-).

As I sat in church last night waiting for the service to begin I realized not only is it time to do some spring cleaning in my house, but it is also time to do some spring cleaning in my marriage.

We've been very busy with work, kids, ministry...life. So much so that we haven't had time for just the two of us.

When we don't have time for the two of us we begin to have quick drive thru conversations. Does this sound familiar to you?

• A quick catch up on the phone of our schedules for the evening as my husband drives home from work & I shuttle kids between activities.
• Discussing issues about work while fielding questions from the kids as we inhale dinner.
• Talking in "code" about a surprise trip while we do bath & bedtime with the kids & then once the kids are down each of us working on our own separate projects.

Drive thru conversations can only keep us going for so long. Eventually a marriage will begin to suffer if deeper level of communication aren't reached.

When Jeff & I were dating we would sit and talk until the wee hours of the morning. Granted we were a lot younger and could go on very little sleep :-) but, we had in-depth conversations. We were newly in love and wanted to know completely about each other.

My one word for this year is intentional. This week as I clean the cobwebs in my house I will also be intentional about dusting the cobwebs off the communication in my marriage. How about you? Will you commit to making & spending more time in deep meaningful communication with your husband?

Here are a few questions & ideas to get you started:

• What is one area of our marriage we need to work on?
• If we could do one thing we did when we were dating what would you want to do?
• What is something new we could do as a couple?
• Begin dreaming about a vacation for just the two of you that you could begin saving for.

I would love to hear some of your ideas for dusting off the cobwebs of communication in your marriage. Leave a comment sharing some questions you might discuss with your husband.

I'm linked today with Women Living Well Wednesdays












In His Calm,

Mary