10 Days of Encouraging Your Husband

I know Christmas is over, but don't you really think that you should think and do especially nice things for your husband every day and not just once or twice a year?? Sometimes when you have been married longer than six months or so, life can get rather sticky and I have found that it takes 100% work on MY part to keep the fires burning.

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We have been married for 33 years and by no means do we have the exemplary marriage that is talked about in all those wonderful marriage books. More times than you'd want to know, I get discouraged thinking there is no way that I have any right to write (so punny!!) on marriage!! 

Every time I write about The Love Dare my marriage is challenged in exactly THAT area (by the evil one NOT my sweet husband) and I am challenged to live on a higher plane the way God intended my marriage to be. 

I just read a wonderful post over at 'Auntie Em's Guide to Life' called '12 Days (of Encouragement) of Christmas' that challenged me to keep that thought going for 10 Days of Encouraging Your Husband...or how about the Whole year?! This could be done anytime and started over again and again.

So, let's get going!!

TEN Ways to Encourage Your Husband in 2013

If you take these ideas and the similar ones (sorry Auntie Em inspired me to this challenge) and do them for the next 10 days, you just might find yourself loving your husband more and more. I know I have been growing in my love for my husband in the last several years as I have tried some of these ideas.

1. Pray for your husband each morning as he leaves for work. Then three times through the day (minimum) if you can. My husband commutes an hour to work...not through city driving (praise God) but driving is driving. He isn't getting any younger, so he could fall asleep at the wheel...so he needs those wonderful guardian angels. He works with his hands and mind. He is very intelligent and needs to keep his mind on his work for the safety of all who benefit from is technical handiwork. My prayers as I fold his laundry will bless him. He is our Spiritual leader and he needs my prayers for that area of his life. I need to improve my faithfulness in praying for my husband. There is a sheet I keep in my Bible from Naomi over at What Joy is Mine that helps me keep in mind what I should pray for my dear husband. Hop over to her site and print it off...but don't forget to finish reading my post :-)
2. Listen when your husband talks (and stop doing so much talking yourself!!) My husband talks a lot about current events, inclimate weather conditions (hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, blizzards, and whatever), unusual car accidents, his job, and interesting things he reads about in science and God's creation. These are the things that make my husband tick, and I need to stop what I am doing and listen to him. Our husbands love it when we show them honor!!
3. Make your bedroom a get-a-way: Does your bedroom invite clutter as well as children and your husband?? Anything that doesn't have a place has always ended up in my bedroom!! The stairs to our attic fold down in our walk-in closet, so into my bedroom it goes. I want to make sure my husband doesn't feel misplaced in our bedroom, so I try to keep up with  misplaced clutter. I like having a quilt on my bed. When we were first married we had a single sized quilt placed against the wall that reached the floor on the side you got in on. You see, you don't have to spend a lot of money to make your special room inviting. Sheer or inexpensive lace curtains set the mood. 
4. Buy your husband chocolates: You don't have to break-the-bank as you could buy a small box and place it on his pillow. Maybe he will even share it with you?! Once I wrote out little notes and refilled a box of chocolates I had saved with these small cute shaped sticky-notes. On each of them I wrote a sweet note gotten from ideas in the Song Of Solomon. That is a love story and it is a wonderful idea to read it from-time-to-time to restore or build your marriage.
5. Make your husband's favorite meal: Does your husband have a meal he really, really loves?? Mine loves Sausage Egg Casserole. It is simple and not-so-healthy in my book, but he just loves this inexpensive meal. He gets very happy when he smells it cooking. Food really speaks to a man's heart. The longer I have been married, the more I realize that it is important to cook the way my husband likes to eat. I wish that I had really understood this when I was younger. Sometimes it is more important to cook the way my husband WANTS to eat than to cook healthy. Hmmm!!
6. Pick up after your husband WITHOUT complaining with words or with your heart:  My husband gets physically exhausted because he is a mechanic. He isn't a car mechanic. That's my son ;-) I am his help meet and I learned when I was first married how important it is to help by picking up after him. As we get a bit older, and my husband a bit more tired at the end of the day, this is all the more important. Picking up after my husband means putting his clothes into the laundry without resentment, or hanging his coat up, with a heart of a servant. If you do this with the right heart attitude, it will build into your marriage with incredible rewards.
7. Buy him an inexpensive little gift: Think about your husband while you are grocery shopping and buy him a bar of his favorite candy (and slip a note into it) or some peanuts. Take Auntie Em's advice and package it up like a gift. Keeping the romance alive in your marriage is healthy whether you are married one month (like my son...WOW!!) or 33 years like us!!
8. Um...Lets see...Making his lunch: Do you make your husband's lunch?? For years we were broke. Well, OK, we're still broke!! The lunch I made for my husband was sadly lacking in love!! Now, although I try not to pack a lunch full of calories, I try to pack it full of love. I try to find things that are interesting to eat (other than the proverbial peanut butter and jelly) that say, "I love you!!" It is a small thing that I have done that has spoken volumes to bring our marriage out of a slump a few years ago.
9. Dress attractively for my husband: This doesn't sound to me like something you do for your husband, but it is. I've always heard about the girl who gets married and 'lets herself go.' It is as important to fix yourself up once you are married as it was before you were married.  So, take good care of yourself. Shower first thing in the morning, fix your hair, and dress to please your husband . My favorite store is Salvation Army, so I am not talking about shopping at a mall. 
10. Bake cookies!! Baking speaks wonders to a man's heart. Have you ever heard that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach?? Or something like that?! 

What are some of the ways you encourage your husband?? Auntie Em started this (blame it all on her) and I continued the conversation...now it is your turn to either write a post or comment!!

I'd LOVE you to leave a comment!!

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In Christ Alone,

~Judith~

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