Marriage Monday--Weekly Challenge

Saturday was the last day of a 30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge I was leading on my blog, so now I'm hopping on board with Christine's challenge to help me continue with my positive efforts. On the last day of my challenge I had everyone write 10 goals they wanted to keep working on. This full list of goals is here. But for this week I'm going to choose three to really focus on:

1. Start each day with a prayer and Bible time, even if it's something small like "Dear God, please give me the strength and patience to be a good wife and mother today, to be encouraging and respectful with my words. Fill me with the Holy Spirit that I may bring peace and love to our home. Amen." I believe starting each and every day with God's strength will make a huuuge difference in the rest of the day, in our marriage, and in my role as a mother.... I've been trying to get up at 6am so a) I can wish my husband a good day before he leaves for work instead of grunting at him in my sleep as he kisses me goodbye, and b) so I have 30-45 minutes of quiet time with God before starting the day. The problem is that Eli often wakes at 6am and I want him to play in his crib until 6:30 or 6:45 but I'm afraid if I get up, he'll hear me and then I'll have to get him. (it throws Eli's whole day off if he's fully up and out of his crib before 6:30, it's just too early) Soo... this week I'm going to try putting my prayer journal and Bible on my nightstand so when I wake up at 6:00 I can just do my quiet time in our room and not make any noise.
2. The first goal will tie in the second goal... pray for my husband daily, guided by The Power of a Praying Wife or 31 Days of Prayer if need be. But this week I want even my prayers to more thankful instead of "Dear God, help him with this, fix that, change this, etc"
3. Maintain a more positive attitude not only to Kevin but just in general, specifically with Eli so that my frustrations don't spill over affecting others in the house. When I'm having a rough day with Eli, I can really blow up and turn into this awful person. And even if it's nothing directed at my husband, it's still very negative and I really need/want to work on self-control.

I've been doing pretty well at using positive words to Kevin and saying Thank You for everything, but these goals I've chosen this week are goals I've been needing to work on for a loooong time now. So I pray that this challenge will really hold me accountable to my actions.

All-powerful God, You are the Creator and Sustainer of life. You breathed life into this marriage and You can initiate its daily rebirth. You are the Originator of all things good, the Author of Peace, and our gracious Redeemer. Bless our efforts. Give us hearts that seek the best in our husbands and draw out the love, forgiveness and self-sacrificing spirit in us. Renew us each morning to forgive ourselves our failures and bring new conviction to each day. Allow us to be a picture of Christ, and our marriages to reflect your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.