Wednesday, February 13, 2013

40 Days to a Stronger Marriage

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days before Easter, that Christians take as a time of preparation. We use this time to reflect upon Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

Growing up Catholic, and attending a private Catholic school, every year we were encouraged to "give something up" for lent. A lot of us did silly things like, candy or something similar. As we got older what we gave up became a little less "silly." Regardless of how "silly" the thing was, it really did teach me a lot about self discipline.

As an adult, I have parted ways with the Catholic church. I now just consider myself a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. The denomination of church I attend does not matter. I still learned a lot from the Catholic church, self discipline being one of the major virtues. I simply can not let this Lenten season pass by without some challenge for myself. That is why, this year, I have chosen to commit myself to creating a stronger relationship with my husband.

G.I. Joe(my husband) and I have been married for 8 years and 9 months. I am deeply in love with him and we have a pretty strong marriage. I believe that it takes work to maintain a good marriage, but I don't want just a "good" marriage. I want a spectacular marriage. This will take extra work on both of our parts, but I can't make him work. I can only work on me.

Starting today, I will start on this new adventure of being intentional in my marriage. I will pull from many different resources for new ideas. Number one being The Bible. I can't promise I will succeed every day, but I can promise that I will try my hardest.


I invite each of you to follow along with me. If you do, post in my comments and I will pray for you. I ask that you do the same for me. You can join me on Facebook and Twitter. I will post the day's challenge on each of those pages.

So, without further ado, the challenge:

DAY 1:
Commit to praying for your husband, each time you think of him for the next 40 days. 

This may seem easy for you or extremely hard. Either way, I believe it's a good idea. Think of something that reminds you of your husband. Maybe it's your wedding ring. Each time you see your ring, feel your ring, adjust your ring, put lotion on your hands and touch your ring, say a little prayer for your husband. 

Here are some things you can pray for your husband:
1. protection
2. health
3. guidance
4. his job
5. his relationship with God
6. his relationship with you
7. his relationshop with your children

These are really just a jumping point. There are lots of articles all over the web about praying for our husbands. There are lots of books written on the subject also.  Do a search on the web or in your local library to get some more ideas. 

Again, I invite you to share with me in the comments section. Even if it's just for a quick prayer and you don't want to share details. Just let me know that you are trying to do this with me and I will add you to my prayer list. 

  

 

4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I am going to try this with you!

Erika ~ Prey Species @ www.preyspecies.com said...

Wow - is this ever timely. I love my husband to pieces and we have a six month old daughter - we are tired and stressed out new parents.....this is way better than giving up ice cream the way I had planned - count me in!









Unknown said...

I am so glad that both of you are joining me. I will definitely add you to my prayer list.

Erika, I remember the first year G.I. Joe and I were parents. It is hard. Trying to figure out the whole parenting thing while sleep deprived and stressed is not a fun situation. You can and will come through it. You may even look back on this year and laugh. I know we do.

Erika ~ Prey Species @ www.preyspecies.com said...

Laura - thank you so much for your prayers - they are much appreciated! ....we are hanging in there, but I definitely look forward to reaching a point where we can sit back and laugh :) sounds wonderful!