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Have you Shown Your Love Today?
What makes your husband (or wife) happy? Certainly we know what pleases ourselves, and can name a litany of things with a moment's notice. But are you as good of a study of your spouse as you are of yourself? Do several things come to mind easily, or are you stumped?
What would happen in your relationship if you spent time praying how to be a better mate ... and listened for God's response? Inspired by the movie Fireproof, my Bible-study group recently went through The Love Dare book, taking a 40-day challenge to show unconditional love toward our husbands. And the process was quite revealing.
In answer to my prayers, God showed me numerous ways to bless my husband. Surprisingly, it was the little things that seemed to matter the most to him. It's not that big of an inconvenience for me to prepare dinner by 6 pm, or to watch an action movie on date night when I'd rather watch a chick flick. True, some were harder than others, and required more sacrifice on my part. But as I went out of my way to bless him, and put his needs ahead of mine, an unexpected thing happened.
He began to respond with thoughtful deeds and small sacrifices of his own. Although he had no idea that I was going through The Love Dare, it was as if he was reading the same book and taking the same challenges. Everyone knows a dog bites when you kick it and wags its tail when you pet it. Can human nature be as simple as that?
It bears mentioning here though, that the purpose of the book is to help you discover your weaknesses and make positive steps toward loving your spouse unconditionally. This is not a book on how to change your mate. But as I shared some of my experiences going through the book with my group, I was amazed to learn that my friends were experiencing some of the same surprising results. Our husbands, consciously or not, noticed a change in us and were responding in kind.
The 40 days is past now, and I am trying to retain those lessons learned. My day is full of opportunities to react the wrong way or make a mess of things, but God always provides an option to choose love.
Evening is approaching, and dinner needs to be made, so I must go now. But before I do, can I ask, have you shown your love to your spouse today?
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