Blog Posts
All the posts - FUN - FAITH - FOOD - FAMILYClick Here!
to see the book on Amazon!
Top Posts & Pages
-01.png)
Get the Book!
Who is the ideal person to encourage your spouse?
YOU are the ideal person to encourage your spouse! (If not you, then who? ) And there are distinct benefits to encouragement – read to learn more…
Expand Hope for a Strong Future in Your Marriage
Expand your hope for a good future with the Big Picture theory and by using the Practical tips. Your spouse will be inspired by how you look at the future.
Gratitude in Marriage
Saying thank you – expressing gratitude. When was the last time you said “thank you” to your spouse? Encouragement sometimes starts with words.
The Value of Respect in Marriage
In your marriage, do you respect your spouse? And if you do - how do you show it? The Value of Respect As a value, Respect has three powerful components: an attitude of admiration or esteem; courteous regard for others; and deference. These components aren't mutually...
I Love You
Encouragement is simple. It's about painting a picture of hope for your husband or wife, when the current view is dismal. Encouragement is using your faith in God's goodness to strengthen your spouse's faith. It's loving - without condition, or prerequisite -...
How Can Your Spouse Encourage You?
Hello - It's Lori! ~ I've been writing about encouragement, here at Encourage Your Spouse, since 2007. I'm so thankful you've been reading the posts, and all the emails where you've shared your story. Moving forward, I'd like to take the topic of encouragement in...
Tasting a Daydream
Do you and your spouse share a dream? Amy Dickerson – from Accidental Happy Baker – shares a daydream she and her husband pursued.
Love is Kind
How can love be kind in this busy, noisy, stress-filled world we live in? Life is busy - there's lots to fit in, isn't there? Maybe we're a bit brusque - abrupt, short-tempered, or terse with those we love. Maybe. Sometimes. Not because we don't love our husbands or...
Patient Love
Love is patient. No hurrying. No worrying. Just waiting. Tamping down the questions - smoothing out the concerns - holding fast in patience. Not every season is about action. [Tweet "Sometimes love is best shown - and given - by being patient."] Think of those bulbs...
What do you see when you look at your husband or wife?
When you look at your spouse - your husband, your wife - what do you see? Is her skin sagging a bit? Is his belly hanging over his belt? Is there a grey hair peeking through her brown curls, or is there hair missing on his head? What are your looking at? When you look...
Challenge Yourself To Try Something New – It’ll Make You A Keeper
It's a challenge: try something new - it'll make you a "keeper"! Everyday Robert and I are seeing couples enjoying life. They're no longer raising their children, and most are not working full time anymore, (or they could be on holidays) but they are exploring new...
Encouragement in Grief and Loss
Encouraging your spouse when life is difficult - during grief or loss - takes perseverance. If we look carefully, life is also filled with God's love. Maybe, we can even be an example of God's love... I was listening to a minister talk about the person whose faith he...
Encourage Your Spouse To Be Healthy Today
How do you encourage your spouse - husband or wife - to be healthy? Health is a tricky topic. Being healthy in mind, body and spirit means something different to each person, yet being a husband and wife, and leading your life together, health is never a solo...
Now is the Best Time to Set Goals – 5 Resources
How can you encourage your spouse – or your spouse encourage you – if you you’re just drifting along? Reaching to achieve goals, is the perfect way to be encouraged – and encourage! And yes. You can, and should, set goals at every time in life. Here are 5 resources to set goals, because now is the best time to set goals in your marriage.
How to Choose Better Goals for This Time in Your Life
Even before a man and woman get married, they begin to set goals. Where will they live? What places will they visit together? How many kids will they have? How can they make a meaningful contribution to their community? Setting goals begins with lots of discussion,...
All the Possibilities Need a Plan
All the possibilities in life... need a plan ---> or they won't happen. (yeah. sorry.) It's easy to let "real life" meander - or dash - or fast forward, and find your dreams sinking into the muck of "wish I coulda" because time has passed too fast, and too far....
5 Ways to Set Goals Together in Marriage
So you want to set goals together? Where does this come from? We look for achievement in all aspects of life. Students strive to get good marks in college. Athletes work hard to win in sports. Professionals pursue advancement in their careers. What about achievement...
Intentional Growth in Your Marriage
Intentional growth in your marriage takes effort. (Welcome to Robert's readers from FergusonValues.com) However... Couples grow out of their relationships because they're not working on them together. <-- Tweet this! (That's a quote from a book I first read last...
New Year Focus
How do you feel about resolutions for a new year? Some people coach the concept of new year resolutions as goal setting. But, as important as goals are - in your personal or professional life - how successful have you been meeting those goals, or resolutions? I have...
Sharing 36 Questions
Questions and Conversations - asking questions and sharing thoughtfully creates intimacy between a couple. Last month I wrote about ways to create a conversation with your spouse. (You can read that post here.) That post had resources and links to questions. I'm still...
Faith is an Every Day Decision
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 Faith is a decision we make every day. It's not a one, and done... A solid faith in God - in Christ's love - needs to be nurtured. What actions are you and your spouse...
All The Love Languages Covered with Chocolate
A recipe for a Christmas favorite – chocolate bark – from Shannon, the pastry chef. (To be honest, this recipe is great for ALL times of the year.
Everything You Do
Above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) Guard Your Heart We are in that season - the one where we want to focus on Christ, on advent, the waiting and preparing for His birth. Yes, we want to seek Him. And yet. The...
Bring Back Courtesy to Your Marriage
Through small courtesies, you show your spouse you value her/him. Bring back courtesy to marriage and connect with your spouse! Here are 30 ways…
Be Together
My beloved is mine and I am his. Song of Solomon 2:16 Connection. Being close - in heart and in body. Choosing each other - over anyone else. Making your spouse the priority in this busy holiday time may not be easy - or simple... but it can be done. Be deliberate. Be...
Humble Hearts Equal Healthy Marriages
Being Humble. It's not the first attitude you'd use when you describe a healthy marriage, is it? And yet... Love is never... ... arrogant with pride. 1Corinthians 13:4 If love isn't arrogant with pride, then what's the opposite? Humility. Being Humble. Want to...
Always Have Hope – Scripture Saturday
As for me I will always have hope... Psalm 71:14 (NIV) What are you hoping for? Do you talk with your spouse about your hopes? Spend some time talking, sharing, dreaming, imagining what the future could hold... And then give thanks for all the blessings you have -...
Being Sincere – It Starts With YOU
The study of values is called Axiology. We discovered this description of what Robert does every day in a text book our daughter was studying. (It was satisfying to have a word to describe his passion!) What do values have to do with marriage? What do values have to...
Rob Loves Coffee Crisp
Food as Encouragement ~ Our eyes see the food, our noses take in the aroma, our tongue delights in the flavor, it's chilled to perfection, or heated to warm our insides, the texture is crisp, or creamy... food is a full sensory experience. And sometimes a favorite...
Love Deeply
Above all things, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1Peter 4:8 NIV Your spouse isn't perfect. Neither are you. Instead of chafing over those things which could be irritating, let's cover each other with love. Lots of love. Big,...
No Conditions or Prerequisites: Just Acceptance
Robert has joined me as a co-contributor here at Encourage Your Spouse, adding his male viewpoint to encouragement. I vividly remember that all day event with Dr. Gary Chapman - along with a few hundred other couples, from newly weds to married more than fifty years....
Don’t Grow Weary In Doing Good
Just a little nudge... Encourage your spouse... If you don't encourage her or him - who will? Have courage. Encourage. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now,...
Questions to Start a Conversation
Conversation dragging...? I was talking with a young woman about how her relationship was progressing when she mentioned something interesting. She said, "We run out of things to talk about." [Tweet "Not all of us are natural conversationalists. Here are some...
7 Ways to Build Strength Into Your Marriage
Hello! I thought you'd like to hear about encouragement from a man's perspective, so I've invited Robert, my husband, to be my co-contributor here at Encourage Your Spouse. (Learn more at our "About Us" page.) Robert is passionate about values - and how they can make...
Positive Leadership in Your Family
Your attitude shapes your family. Spouse, kids, siblings, parents, and everybody else who is invested in your future, is influenced by your reaction to what life throws at you. The only option you have control over in any situation, is how you respond. What's your...
Marriage: the greatest travel story ever!
You like to travel; a cruise is your idea of heaven, or a Route 66 road trip has you pulling out maps, or an all-inclusive resort with a white-sand beach has you salivating for a fruit-flavored iced libation. I'm sure you have some great stories from your travels......
Demonstrate Your Love with Some Encouragement
What's one way to demonstrate your love for your spouse? Encouragement We all need encouragement. It does make a difference - in good times and in difficult times. Encouragement is love in action. Show your love by talking about all the good things in your past...
Be more than an “I’m fine” communicator with your spouse.
One of the first items any couple cites when experiencing marriage related issues, is "communication". So what is communication? Communication: the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas,...
My Husband Told Me To Get Out
"Get out!" my husband of 30 years said. We were in the truck, touring around the historic artists' town of Nashville, Indiana, when I saw a lush display of red flowers in front of the Holly Shop. Most times, when I see something I want to preserve with a photo, Rob...
The Honeymoon Habit: Book Review
As I was working in the Niles Public Library for a few days, I saw this display: There were fiction books, and non-fiction. Christian focused, kid focused and memoirs. Most were self-published. One book had poems by a 12-year old, and another book was a history of...
Going Further with Encouragement
In the midst of daily life, sometimes your spouse needs to go beyond what they think they can do. You can help. Your spouse can go further with a bit of encouragement. Truly. Sometimes the incline seems daunting. (and your spouse is saying to themselves, "I can't do...
Scripture to Strengthen
Last week I read a devotional from Lead Like Jesus... Where do you turn when you need help? Your answer is important. Who, or what, we turn to reflects something about our values and what drives our lives. It indicates who or what we worship, and where we find our...
When Communication Is A Challenge
As we travel, Robert and I grab every opportunity to talk with husbands and wives about their marriages. We usually start the conversation by asking what "best practices" they'd recommend to newly-weds. The two most prevalent responses are: Laughter and Communication...
Love Your Spouse. Every Day.
Being consistent is either your strength... or it's a weakness. But if you're consistent in only ONE area of your marriage make it LOVE. Every day is a new day to love your spouse. When you wake up in the morning, know that today is a day you can, you're able, it's...
It’s Never Too Late To Start Over
Start Over. Begin Again. Commence Once More. What have you stopped doing... for your spouse that would be good to launch anew, with fresh vigor? Remember when you were first married (or even when you were first dating) and you couldn't wait to see that guy or gal you...
