gratitude · Thanksgiving

Intentional Gratitude

Thanksgiving will be here three weeks! I look forward to the day filled traditions, good food, and family. I have some special memories of childhood days gathered with all the relatives . Back in the day, we all dressed up in our “good” clothes for these family get-togethers. This was a special occasion, after all!

When I’m visiting with my mom I love looking at the old albums containing photos from those gatherings. I look deep into the pictures at the tables, the decor, the apron my grandma had on. I sometimes wish I could jump back to that time to hear the chatter, the cousins playing, the parade playing on the television and the men talking about football or their latest hunting trip.

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Marriage · Mentoring

Need a Little Help Loving Your Man?

This post is a continuation of the Adorned Study #11. You can listen to this post here on the Refresh Her podcast.

A long-distance friend on Facebook is engaged.  She wrote on her fiancé’s wall this week,

“You are so easy to love!”

Anyone who has been married for a month or two, knows that husbands AND wives don’t STAY easy to love; both need grace at times in order to love the other as we should! 

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Love · Marriage · Refreshment in marriage · Wife's Role

Practical Ways To Show Love To Your Husband

Is there any greater need in the human heart than to feel loved? Yet we often resist the demonstrations, the words and the responses that reveal to the one we love just how deeply we care.

As we continue studying A Woman after God’s Own Heart by Elisabeth George, we’re going to get details about how we can demonstrate our love on a daily basis. 

We started this lesson last week with talking about praying for him daily. The second admonition was to plan for him daily.

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Biblical Womanhood · Refreshment in marriage · Wife's Role

Keeping Your Husband Your Best Friend

Continuation of our series and review of the book, A Woman After God’s Own Heart.

I love getting to counsel women who are engaged and preparing for marriage. They are excited about their new life ahead with this man whom they love so much. I remember when I was in that stage of life – I couldn’t imagine that I could love Dale any more than I did at that moment.  But Paul writes in Titus that the older women should instruct the younger women to love their husbands!  Why? 
Because life happens. 
Struggles come. 
Sinners sin and love can be tested and strained. 
Therefore, younger women need to be taught how to love when it’s not all violin music and ocean sunsets.

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Family life · home · Life, · Love · Marriage · memories · refreshment at home · Refreshment in marriage · Wife's Role

Best Friends in Marriage

The posts have been about friendship this week, we can’t forget our BEST earthly friend and the importance of maintaining  our relationship with him!

Dari Ace a

Yesterday found my husband and me in the basement going through some boxes of “stuff.” Stuffed animals, old toys, pictures, school annuals, dolls, dishes, and books were sorted through. I was down there for several hours – not because I got so much accomplished, necessarily, but because when I go through old things it brings back memories and I have to stop and reflect! My husband and I passed many pictures back and forth to one another. “Oh, remember this?” “Look at us! How hilarious!” (You will not be seeing any of those pictures posted here!) Not only did we recall many special times from our past, but it was a sweet time together recounting good memories and numerous blessings.

I also leafed through a couple of the books that I hadn’t read in a while. One book was on marriage and there was a chapter on being best friends with your mate. The highlights were how important it is to spend time together having fun, talking, sharing your heart, and being open with one another. I smiled – we had done that even in a cool basement on Memorial Day when most of our neighbors were probably out at the lake or at the park having a picnic with their extended family. We had shared secret memories of times and places when notes were found written in our handwriting. We’d laughed. We’d talked about times when our girls were growing up. This is what friends do.

Dari Ace

After we’d had our grilled hamburgers later in the evening, we headed out for a drive through the countryside. Opening the sun roof on the car, the warm air blew through as we pointed at beautiful homes, the clouds over the mountain or a row of flags in a front yard. We even stopped for an ice cream at Dari ace – so cute! It was a great end to a fun day spent with my best friend.

Are you still best friends with your husband? Are you spending time together? I don’t mean time living – I mean time just being together. What tone of voice do you use when you speak to him or repeat an answer to his question? Is it the tone that one would use with their best friend? God gave Adam a wife so he would have a companion. Are you and I being the best kind of completer that we could possibly be? Best friends give each other the benefit of the doubt, love when no one else loves, and enjoy just doing little things together. Is your husband the one you spend that kind of time with? Don’t replace his companionship with that of your girlfriend, sister or parents. That is not God’s plan for a married woman.

I am planning on re-reading that book I found. It was a good reminder for me. We all need to be encouraged in what a godly marriage looks like. I’m thankful for a day in the basement that helped me to be refreshed in the friendship part of our marriage!

With love,

Denise Signature 150 px

P.S. I believe the book I was referring to is, The Ministry of Marriage, by Jim Binney.