The "Be My Valentine" challenge follow-up...

Well, I took the challenge and it did help me to become more appreciative of my hard-working, family-loving man!! 



But I think that habits of appreciation have to be nurtured after they are introduced... Married couples have to "WORK"  and take care of the keeping of their marriage... In a time when divorce comes easy, and faithful love is difficult to find, a good marriage must be nurtured...

I am very much in love with my husband ~ but it is a love that has changed over our years of being together... I respect him. I can tell him anything. I try my best (but don't always succeed) to not speak negatively about him.  But he's not perfect and neither am I.



Love has to be preserved. A couple has to pray together, play together, share surprises and sadness.  But after all the work, the reward is wonderful. Being a happy couple is one of my goals right up along with having a happy family.



I recently read an article that listed 10 steps for a successful marriage. We are given the job of preserving and caring for that gift of marriage that God ordained for us. 

1. Be faithful ~ to me this is the most important point. Trust should be first and most importan in any relationship. You are spending the rest of your life with this person and you should be not have to worry that you are not first in their lives.

2. Spend time together ~ I know it's the trend now for everyone to "do" their own thing.  Society craves it and it is thrown at us from all angles. But I know that no matter who you spend time with, the more time spent, the closer you become. Why not make that time for your spouse? A simple expression of love by sharing time together.

3. Think positively ~ negative thoughts only breeds negative thoughts. This is the case with everything, not only your marriage.  Think about sweet words or actions when he is being a turkey. Try to support and not criticize ~ because no matter what he does, it is not going to be the way you would do it and life is too short to let negative thoughts and criticism tear down your marriage... And alot of annoyances are temporary actions and not something that we can't forgive and forget.

4. Embrace sexual intimacy as God's gift to you ~ It was God created and desire for the one you love is only a normal expression of love. 



5. Encourage one another ~ this follows along with the positive thinking.  Pray carefully about how you should encourage your husband to be the man that you need him to be and think twice before you try and tear him down. I know it is so eay for me to have be negative and criticize him when he really needs me to be his partner and support him in his endeavors. Something I need to work harder and pray more about.

6. Don't play games ~ don't over-react or be dramatic.  I personally don't have this issue.  I have never understood why someone would want to cause pointless worry in the mind of a man who loves you and distract him from "real" issues that are most likely more important to your family success.. But I listed it since it was in the article...

7. Build high hopes ~ protect you marriage. Build walls around it. You have to have powerful walls up to guard against intruders. This can be something as a small seed of negative thought from reading a article or blog to allowing society to intervene on your family time. We have to protect our marriages and take care of our husbands ~ we were made to be his helpmate (Genesis 2:18).

8. Respect your husband ~  It doesn't kill us to openly admire our husbands.  Do we not feel fabulous when he lets us know how important and beautiful we are to him, or how much he loves us? I strive to follow Proverbs 31, because it is important to me to be worth more than jewels to him and be trusted with his heart. I want to be what is needs me to be.

9. Listen ~ whether I think they are silly or not, his needs are his. If he's taking the time to tell me, it must be important to him... Listening is a pwerful tool and I truly hope that God hears my prayers when I am struggling with it or when I am exasperated with my husband because I feel he may not have heard a word I said.

10. Make your home peaceful and loving ~ again I think this step goes back to Proverbs 31 and trying to be the kind of woman that God intended us to be. Let go of the small things, forgive as much as possible, accept his flaws, and love him. He is your own special version of man made by God. I think one of the most important things we can teach and share with our children about love is to let them see you and your husband in a loving, secure relationship.       

This Valentine's Day, I have lots of love, hope, and thankfulness in my heart for the gift of love that God created for me in my husband.