What I Need To Know

Here is a list of things that we need to remind our spouses of that will help to encourage them daily.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I need lists, and this one challenged me. I plan to make words like this a priority.

As your spouse, I need to know...

• how you appreciate me
• what I've done to show that I respect you
• how I've been an encouragement to you
• that you appreciate the "little things" I do every week for you
• of your unconditional acceptance of me, just as I am
• how I am a partner to you
• how you are praying for me
• why you enjoy me
• how I've changed for good or ways that you've seen me grow (I forget sometimes)
• that you want to meet my needs
• that your love will persevere

Taken from the book "What Makes A Man Feel Loved" by Bob Barnes

What We Choose

This is from the book "What Makes A Man Feel Loved" by Bob Barnes.
I just love it!

I married a man I respect;
I have no need to bow and defer.
I married a man I adore and admire;
I don't need to be handed a list entitled
"How to build his ego" or
"the male need for admiration"
Love, loyalty, trust- these are inside me;
They motivate my actions.
To reduce them to rules destroys my motivation.
I choose to serve him, to enjoy him.
We choose to live together and grow together,
to stretch our capacities for love
even when it hurts and looks like conflict.
We choose to learn to know each other
as real people, as two unique individuals unlike any other two.
Our marriage is a commitment to love;
to belong to each other
to know and understand
to care
to share ourselves, our goals,
interests, desires, needs.
Out of that commitment the actions follow.
Love defines our behavior
and our ways of living together.
And since we fail to meet not only the demands
of standards but also the simple requirements
of love
We are forced to believe in forgiveness...and grace.

TLC

You-
Tolerate my trivia,
Laugh at my lunacy, and
Care when I cry.

That's TLC!

The Gesture of Love

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort,
Of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor
measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together.
Knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
Keeping what is worth keeping and then, with the breath of kindness,
blow the rest away.

*George Eliot*

Music of the Heart

Love should be like music-
Sometimes lively and fun,
Other times slow and serious,
Occasionally flirty and loud,
But always in harmony with each other.
~From: You +Me= Love

A Blessed Marriage

Except Thou build it, Father,
The house is built in vain;
Except Thou, Saviour, bless it,
The joy will turn to pain;
But none can break the marriage
Of hearts in Thee made one,
And the Love Thy Spirit hallows
Is endless love begun.

Love Letter

The following are excerpts from a letter John Piper wrote to his wife, Noel, on her birthday. They are such a wonderful testimony to a marriage built on God and a reminder to wives of how we should always stand strong in support of our husbands and the postions God has placed them in.

"I celebrate the blessings of your rock solid support, layer upon layer."

”You have supported me in my faith. When I have wavered in discouragement, you have never sunk, but stood. You have directed me to our sovereign King again and again.”

“You have supported me in the calling God has given me. In private you comfort me, in public you stand with me, in all you help me keep my bearings…. You are just rock solid there for me.”

“You have supported me as a Song of Solomon bride—bringing me more pleasures than I could ever deserve, and wakening in me hopes that heaven, which must be better, though there is no marriage there, will be indescribably good.”

“Only you, till death do us part. I love you.”