Kevin passed his test he's been studying for! I'm so proud of him! And when he came home, he brought me a Dunkin Donuts drink, just because. I was the one who should be treating him, and he was the one treating me! So thoughtful.....Today I'll be heading out to the grocery store, and I think while I'm there I'll pick up a few special things for Kevin. He's mentioned that he'd like some snack-type things for during the middle of his night shift. An actual midnight snack! So that'll be my special thing I do for him today!
June 26--DAY 26
30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge
By Nancy Leigh DeMoss
"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52
If you have faithfully encouraged your husband, you will no doubt have seen some changes in his life . . . and your own life, as well. Encouragement is a wonderful habit that we hope you will continue for the rest of your life. The important thing is to keep growing in Christ and obeying the Word of God as you respond to your husband. As you consider today how to bless your husband and not tear him down, think of ways that you can encourage balance in your home. Jesus led a balanced life. He grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. As you see your husband branching out in these areas, is there a pattern of growth? Is your husband striving for balance in his life? If so, let him know you have noticed, and ask how you can further encourage that balance. If your husband is out of balance—focusing on one area to the exclusion of the others—consider whether there are things you can do to help restore or create balance in his life. Can you encourage times for sports or exercise? Keep the children quiet for a study time? Invite friends over for dinner? Stimulate his mind? Be sure you are working toward balance in your own life, as well. Be an example!
This is a tough area for us, but I try to encourage Kevin when I can by saying things like, "It's going to be nice tomorrow. Do you want to ride your bike in to work?" He likes biking, but it's not really something he thinks of doing, so it's nice when I encourage it. I've tried books or games and stuff, but he doesn't really take interest. And I don't know what else to try. So yeah... that's that. What do you ladies do to encourage a well-rounded life??
30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge
By Nancy Leigh DeMoss
"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52
If you have faithfully encouraged your husband, you will no doubt have seen some changes in his life . . . and your own life, as well. Encouragement is a wonderful habit that we hope you will continue for the rest of your life. The important thing is to keep growing in Christ and obeying the Word of God as you respond to your husband. As you consider today how to bless your husband and not tear him down, think of ways that you can encourage balance in your home. Jesus led a balanced life. He grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. As you see your husband branching out in these areas, is there a pattern of growth? Is your husband striving for balance in his life? If so, let him know you have noticed, and ask how you can further encourage that balance. If your husband is out of balance—focusing on one area to the exclusion of the others—consider whether there are things you can do to help restore or create balance in his life. Can you encourage times for sports or exercise? Keep the children quiet for a study time? Invite friends over for dinner? Stimulate his mind? Be sure you are working toward balance in your own life, as well. Be an example!
This is a tough area for us, but I try to encourage Kevin when I can by saying things like, "It's going to be nice tomorrow. Do you want to ride your bike in to work?" He likes biking, but it's not really something he thinks of doing, so it's nice when I encourage it. I've tried books or games and stuff, but he doesn't really take interest. And I don't know what else to try. So yeah... that's that. What do you ladies do to encourage a well-rounded life??
2 comments:
We struggle with balance too and at one point this year, we had to come to the agreement that exercise can be fun and having fun can result in some quality exercise. One thing we do that is SUPER fun is Dance Dance Revolution. It's totally worth the investment. My husband doesn't even like to dance and he loves DDR. Another thing I do to encourage Ben to exercise is through my constant approval of him to go golfing. Our deal is that he can golf whenever he wants but he has to walk it, not rent a cart. He loves to golf and has enjoyed this summer walking the course. It's not that strenuous of a work out but it is way better than nothing! Those are just physical ideas. Thankfully, my husband spends time with the Lord first thing in the morning so his day starts out pretty balanced just from that. We are constantly looking for ideas to bring all other parts of our life into balance as well and it helped us to have a visible plan that we concocted together and then stick with it...holding each other accountable, and encouraging each other.
Well, I think balance in Shawn's life has greatly improved since we moved up to CT. We were only married for a short period of time while we were in GA. We were really focused on "us". I definitely think it is important, but there needs to be a balance as well! As far as the question of growing mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially....
Mentally--Shawn has certainly been mentally challenged. Shawn is in the process of getting his Bachelor's degree. He has hit the books hard and is making good grades. He has been challenged at work by taking on new responsibilities and/or new roles. I am very proud of Shawn for his hard work in school and at his job! I do think Shawn would benefit by reading. I have wanted hubby for a while now to pick up a good book. I have tried to encourage Shawn to start reading a new book, but he is not too interested. I am not a good example of that though. I need to pick up a good book myself! Maybe if we actually went together and bought a book for ourselves he would be more open to the idea. Maybe we could set aside a quiet time each night. That is food for thought! Sarah, you have challenged us several times these past few weeks. Would you like to take on the challenge of you both buying a book and reading every night?? There is no pressure.
Physically- Shawn is not actively involved in a particular sport right now. He does on occassion play basketball at work or flag football when the season comes. He enjoys that. He use to work out regularly but he hasn't lately. I have mentioned to Shawn about working out, but he has to want to do that on his own. It would take a lot of time for him to build to where he wants to be. That was his reason.
Spiritually- As far as a quiet time/personal relationship with Christ--I think this is personal so I am not going to address this. This is between him and the Lord. Shawn has grown by wanting to actually sing in the choir and be involved with ministries.
Socially-- Shawn has definitely grown in this area. Like I said before when we were first married, we spent most of our time just Shawn and I. This is great but you also have to branch out. We did get together with friends and enjoy fellowships but not near as often as now. Shawn enjoys going to baseball games/ lunch with the guys. In GA he really didn't do much with the boat guys. Granted the majority of them were into partying and getting drunk. I am not saying the guys here are angels but the guys here are more mature. He also enjoys having people over or going places with other people.
One piece of advice I will say( I think it applies to most men) is that men do not liked to be pressured. Don't MAKE them do something. They will at their own pace. I think they might look at themselves negatively if you make them feel like they should be doing this or that. I think it takes time! I have found this out through Shawn. I think it is all about their comfort level. I think we both have areas to work on as far as balancing, but there has been great improvement.
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