Marriage and Faith

How to Build Trust In Your Marriage

June 17, 2019

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great Father’s Day weekend! We spent the day by the pool and it was perfect! Family time and lots of laughter is so good for the soul. This post has been one sitting in my drafts for a long time and I wrote it months ago, rewrote it and then this morning, I rewrote it again. The life of an enneagram 6…always overthinking. Let me be the first one to admit that trust is not something that comes easy to me. It is something I have to work on daily and be intentional about. I am constantly reassuring myself and needing constant reassurance from my husband. It is annoying (even for me at times) but it is how I am wired. I am not wise in this area, but after quite a bit of reading and research on the subject of trust and marriage, I feel prepared to share this list. If it is something you struggle with or if you are going through a rocky time in your marriage or maybe even a newlywed or newly engaged, my hope is that this will be a helpful starting point for you! I urge you to read what the bible says on the subject and to seek wise counsel.

When Ryan and I first got engaged, I read about five marriage books. I studied what the bible said on marriage. I wanted to know what I was getting into and wanted to feel as prepared as possible for that big life-altering step. I talked to older and wiser people about marriage, asked for advice and then some! I was sure I wanted to spend my life with him, but I wanted to do it right. I wanted (and still do) our marriage to be forever. Everyone had the same answers – keep God at the center of your marriage, communication is key and trust is vital.

How to Build Trust In Marriage:

Be open and honest with one another – even when it is hard.

Respect one another.

Communicate often, more often, and then some more.

Spend quality time together.

Be reliable – Don’t say it unless you plan to follow through with it.

Be quick to forgive (and apologize when you have done wrong).

Be genuine.

Manage your expectations with yourself and your spouse.

Show integrity – keep things private that your spouse has asked you to.

Take responsibility for your words and actions.

I found this quote and absolutely loved it and thought it would be the perfect way to end this post. “Real trust is not a trust that waits and hopes but a trust that acts from who you truly are. Real trust requires the discipline of being who you are in every circumstance and in every relationship. Real trust begins with yourself.”

20 Ways to Respect Your Husband

February 18, 2019

Confession time: I am very stubborn and strong-willed. I shouldn’t be a bit surprised that my children share these qualities. I am definitely paying for my raising. (ha) When the bible talks about the relationship a wife should have with her husband, two words come up many times: respect and submit. You can imagine I struggle to submit to anything. I mean, I can argue with a brick wall – very rarely do I ever back down or “submit” to anything or anyone. Submission is not a pleasant thought for me, but it is commanded and therefore something I am constantly reminding myself to do, even when it is killing me on the inside. (haha) Respect, however, is entirely different. I easily look up to and respect my husband. He is a very easy person to respect, so I guess I have it pretty good, but regardless we are told as wives to respect our husbands. I am constantly trying to find ways to do this and will get into that below, but I would love to know what you do to respect your husband?

At Home Date Ideas

February 4, 2019

Valentine’s day is just around the corner and Ryan and I definitely spend February 14th at home these days. Not only do we both agree on avoiding the crowds, we also have 3 kids under 5 with another one on the way. That makes going out very difficult and very expensive. We definitely do not let that stop us from making the most of our evenings and finding creative ways to have fun from time to time. We haven’t quite decided what we want to do this year for Valentine’s day, but last year we played 20 questions and learned so much about one another. It was actually really fun. We ended the evening with a movie and popcorn. Here are a few ideas for at home date ideas for those of you who are in the same boat as us!

21 Ways to Bring Fun Into Your Marriage

January 30, 2019

We all get stuck in a rut or in our day-to-day routines every once in a while. It can be nice to remind each other that you still care and want to have fun in your relationship. Creating fun and prioritizing your relationship is essential to a happy and long-lasting marriage. We have been thinking of ways to bring fun into your marriage over the last couple of weeks and here is what Ryan and I came up with together!

Words of Affirmation for Husbands

October 22, 2018

One of my husband’s love languages is words of affirmation. I think this is a really common love language for men because words are a driving force for most of them. It can motivate, encourage, or if used in the wrong way, they can destroy. I am a huge advocate of speaking life into my people. I’ve personally seen the difference it can make in my children, friends, family and husband. Giving someone life, setting the mood for the day, these things are many times determined by our words. They are powerful, my friends. Today, since we are coming off of a wonderful family weekend, I have my guy on the brain, so here are words of affirmation for husbands:

3 Ways to Keep the Spark Alive in Your Relationship

January 12, 2018

One of our goals this year is to go on at least one date a month. We decided to make this a goal this year because last year, we did not do a good job of doing anything alone. We definitely did not date. It’s sad, I know, but we had three kid’s under three and amongst other things, it just was not easy to get away. While we did not feel that our relationship suffered by any means, we did decide to make a point to spend more one-on-one time together this year because it is important to keep the spark alive in your relationship with your spouse.

My mom out of the blue called me one day to ask if she could come over and watch our kids so that we could go on a date. I can not even tell you how excited we were! We ended up going to a movie (The Greatest Showman – you NEED to see it!) and dinner – just the two of us! It was so much fun and a much needed break from the kids. It was also just nice to get out with Ryan and do something fun for the first time in over a year. Sad, I know.

10 Bible Verses for Thanksgiving

October 16, 2017

I love this time of year. It really makes me reflect on all of our blessings and helps me refocus on what really matters in life. Family, our health, jobs, and YOU. I am so thankful for you, friends. Every year I am continually humbled by how many of you stop to read, comment or like my posts. You encourage me daily. For every troll/ ugly comment that I receive, there are 20 of you that fill me up with encouragement and good. Without you, I wouldn’t have found my passion. I wouldn’t absolutely love my job, and I probably wouldn’t be at home with my babies.

In the spirit of the season of family, friends and thankfulness, I wanted to share some of my favorite bible verses on thankfulness to hopefully encourage you today. Also, there is a little giveaway if you make it to the end! 😉

20 Verses to Pray Over Your Husband

March 30, 2015

I am a firm believer in the power of prayer and praying verses. Prayer is our direct line of communication to God and what an amazing gift is that? We don’t even have a direct line to the President of our small little country, but we do have one to God. The one who created everything. How powerful is that? It is very humbling to think about. Now, imagine if we never used this incredible gift? Through prayer, God can heal, protect, encourage, save, and perform miracles. In Mathew 7:7 God says “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find…”

Marriages are failing all over this country at an alarming rate. It makes me so sad. People do not view marriage in the same way that we are called to by our Lord. It’s time we change this. It is time we put God back in our marriages, and what better way to do this than to pray for our spouses? Here are 20 verses to pray over your husbands. You will both be so thankful that you did and blessed. Praying for your husband is the best gift you could ever give him.

Verses to Pray Over Your Husband:

-That God will bless his work and finances. (3 John 1:2)
-That God will bring him through temptations. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
-For his health. (Jeremiah 33:6)
-That God will continue to allow him to lead our family the way He desires. (1 Corinthians 11:3)
-That he will grow spiritually. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
-That he will have patience. (Romans 12:12)
-That he will love his wife as Jesus loves the church. (Ephesians 5:25)
-That he will be courageous in his stand against evil.(Ephesians 6:13)
-That he will constantly pray and seek God.(James 5:16)
-That he will surround himself with encouraging people who will lift him up. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
-That he will humbly serve others. (Acts 20:35)
-That he will raise his children to know and love the Lord. (Proverbs 22:6)
-That he will be forgiving. (Mark 11:25)
-His heart. (Philippians 4:8)
-That he will find peace in the Lord during times of stress. (Psalm 55:22)
-The he will choose to speak life into people through positive and encouraging words. (Proverbs 18:21)
-That he will have a humble, teachable spirit. (Proverbs 15:33)
-That he will find wisdom in Christ. (James 1:5)
-That he will be faithful to his wife and marriage. (Genesis 2:24)
-That he will recognize lies of the enemy and remain steadfast. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)