Well, Kevin was called in to start his night shift work today instead of Monday, so he won't be able to do his fun activities after all since he'll have to be sleeping during the day. He was pretty bummed, and I could tell, so I thought about his schedule and encouraged him that he could still do his off-roading in the afternoon once he's up. Working a Navy schedule is hard, because you never know in advance when you're going to have to work. They're not all that good about being organized. Kevin's a bit frustrated, but I'm doing the best I can at just focusing on his needs and letting him still get a "weekend" instead of focusing on myself and how he won't be around for church and other things.June 23--DAY 23
30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge
By Nancy Leigh DeMoss
"Let your speech always be with grace . . ." Col. 4:6a
You're moving toward the home stretch of your 30-day challenge! Just a reminder of what you've committed:
- You can't say anything negative about your husband . . . to your husband . . . or to anyone else, about your husband.
- Say something that you admire or appreciate about your husband. . . to your husband . . . and to someone else, about your husband!
Does the "30-Day Encouragement Challenge" seem like hard work? Or is it becoming a pleasant exercise in genuine Christ-likeness in your home? You are only scratching the surface of ways to encourage your mate. Is your husband organized? Is he diligent? Is he persistent? These are all related to a pattern of personal disciplines that are worthy of your praise. Affirm him for one or more of these traits that you see in him. Some men have not developed these qualities because they are naturally more spontaneous. You can praise his spontaneity! Perhaps God has called you alongside to help him with disciplines he has not yet developed - but this does not include nagging. You can keep him organized. Whatever the need, you can be your husband's cheerleader, encouraging him when he wants to give up.
This challenge still takes work, every single day. But it is starting to become more natural to think before I speak, to make sure I say thank you for everything Kevin does, and to do and say encouraging things to my husband and to others about him.
Kevin is organized when he wants to be, but otherwise he has typical guy tendencies to just leave clothes on the floor, toss things in a drawer before folding, or leave dishes in a sink. But it's okay, because those aren't his responsibilities. That's not how God has designed him. He is good at periodically tidying up the garage and getting all his tools in order. And he's amazingly persistent when it comes to his Jeep work. This thing is an old rust bucket, and there are always complications with any project he's doing. BUT with the work of just hand tools and other creativity, he always gets the project done, one way or another. It's not fun for him but he does it so we don't have to pay the money to have someone else do it. I respect him so much for that.
On Monday, the start of our last week of this challenge, I'll be posting some homework assignment, so be sure to come back on Monday!
I would say the beginning of the challenge was a lot more difficult than now. It has really come into my day-to-day routine to be an encouragement to Shawn. It's hard to believe we only have one more week left of the challenge! Shawn is hard-working when it comes to work responsibilities, home responsibilities and church responsibilities. Shawn never leaves something incomplete. He will always finish the project and take the extra time if need be. He rarely leaves anything half-done. As far as organization...Shawn is organized to an extent. He is a typical male though. Somethings he is organized but other things he could careless about being organized. That is why God put women on this earth to help them out! For example, Shawn has about 50 different type of cords he keeps. They aren't organized but he knows exactly what's there. Another example, the garage is for the most part organized but he doesn't feel it has to be perfect, since he is getting things in and out all of the time. Spotanious...Shawn and I are opposites in the fact that I like a set schedule but he is spontanious. This makes for some interesting times. I enjoy it! LT
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