I always thought I was a nice person. Kind. Thoughtful. Great at planning and organizing. I would have definitely described myself as a good Christian girl. I didn't think of myself as selfish. Not at all. Until I got married. In almost 20 months of marriage, I've learned a lot about my husband -- as I imagined I would. But I never realized how much I would learn about myself. One of the best wedding gifts God gave you was a full-length mirror called your spouse. Had there been a card attached, it would have said, "Here's to helping you discover what you're really like!" - Gary and Continue Reading
When I Found Out My Husband Was Leaving Me
I had just got home from a weekend trip to Indiana to surprise my family. Travis and I were sitting at the stools in our kitchen, eating our supper and talking about my trip. And that's when he told me. "I got an email," he said. That one email completely threw me for a loop. It was unexpected and unwanted. And it changed everything. That email said my husband's name was put in for a position in South Korea. As a soldier in the Army, my husband can be sent basically anywhere in the world and he has to go. Even if that means leaving his wife behind to wait for his return. This news wasn't Continue Reading
Loving Your Husband When Your Own Love Tank is Low
I just wasn't feeling the love. If everyone has a love tank, mine was low. And it was making me cranky. I have read about loving your husband, but love was the last thing I was feeling. It wasn't my husband's fault really. Due to military life, I hadn't seen him in a month and didn't get to talk to him as much as when he's home. I wasn't getting my quality time. Or my words of affirmation. Or my acts of service. Or physical touch. Or gifts. None of the five love languages, and I was feeling it. The lies began in my mind. "He doesn't really want to come home." "He would be texting you Continue Reading
Just a Little Something
My husband left about two weeks ago for NTC (the National Training Center) in California. He'll be gone for a month. I wanted to do something for him so he would feel my love even weeks into his training, especially when we couldn't have any contact. It's nothing special -- just a little something. So I bought a few treats for him to take and included little notes with each one. I bought him some of his favorite candy -- Sour Patch Kids, Sour Gummy Worms and Mamba Chews -- a package of Golden Oreos, his favorite Kind bars and some new Kind bars he hasn't had before. For each of Continue Reading
50 Ways to Show Love to Your Spouse
Marriage takes work. Everybody knows that. A loving, healthy marriage doesn't come easy. A husband and wife both have to be intentional about showing love to one another. You have to be willing to serve one another. The best marriages include spouses who both have a desire to make the other person feel special, important, respected, and loved. So what are some ways to show love? Depending on each person's love language, different acts can have more meaning to certain people. Some spouses really appreciate when the other person helps with chores. Others just want to spend some quality time Continue Reading
My First Army Wife Experience
I walked out of the gym, feeling great after my workout. And then I saw them. The tires on my car were low. Great -- of course this would happen once Travis is gone. My husband had left early that morning for two weeks in the field. Military spouses always joke that everything breaks or goes wrong when the service member leaves, but I had yet to experience it for myself being a fairly new Army wife. I got out my tire gauge and checked the air pressure. I couldn't even remember what the air pressure was supposed to be! I texted my dad who lives 800 miles away and asked what the tire Continue Reading
Things To Do When Hubby Is Away
As a military family, there are going to be many weeks or months or years where my husband is away. This week my husband has been in the field for training. Next month, he'll be gone a little longer. The month after that he'll be gone longer still. And a few months from now, he'll be gone for a whole month. I just keep telling myself that's nothing -- this isn't a deployment. But since we haven't been through a deployment yet, this kind of sucks. No matter how long your husband will be gone, it's totally OK to wear one of his shirts, eat cereal for supper, and wallow a little in your Continue Reading
The Best Thing You Can Do for Your Spouse
In my opinion, the very best thing you can do for your spouse, the very best way to truly love someone, is by praying for them. I truly believe prayer is one powerful thing that can change a person deep down into their core. If your spouse is struggling, if you are not getting along, if you are beginning to hate each other, if you are hurt and broken because of something they've done, if you are struggling financially, if your marriage just seems to be spinning out of control: PRAY. Find time to be alone, even if it's just for 10 minutes every day. Take that time to kneel by your bed Continue Reading
What the Bible says about Marriage
I was asked to write a post about marriage, before I was even married myself. I wasn't sure what to write, but as I wrote one post after praying that God would give me the words, God decided to give me enough words to overflow three blog posts. God is kind of cool like that. I shared with you the 10 secrets to a happy marriage, and now I want to share with you what exactly the Bible says about the topic. Because although the Bible doesn't ever talk about dating, which I find really inconvenient (Thanks a lot God!), it does talk a lot about marriage. What the Bible Says About Continue Reading
10 Secrets to a Happy Marriage
Someone recently asked me to write a post on marriage. My immediate thought was, "Me? But I've never been married. I'm nowhere near marriage. I don't know the first thing about marriage, including how to have a happy marriage!" But this person said they needed some sunshine in that area of their life, and I feel like God's given me this job of helping others see sunshine. Plus, I also thought about Moses, and how he felt totally inadequate for saving the Israelites, but God was like, "Yo Moses, I'm a burning bush. Take off your sandals, and go do what I tell you to do because I AM." Continue Reading