7 Ways to Grow Your Marriage: Wife EditionSample

We are going to start this plan off with an apology (don’t worry…I had the husbands do the same thing in the husband version of this plan, so I’m not just picking on the ladies). This is a way for you to humble yourself before God and your husband. My prayer is that we can humble ourselves so that over the next 7 days, the Lord is free to do a work in us and our marriages.

Today’s One Thing: Wives, apologize to your husband for not being the nurturer and helper God designed you to be in your marriage. Ask him how you can best nurture and help him, and then follow through!

If I asked you and your husband if you wanted to have a God honoring marriage, what would you say? I guess that you would both say “yes.” Then, if I asked you how you are going to accomplish this, I would probably get a blank stare.

Having a God honoring marriage seems like a pretty good idea, but what exactly does that mean? If we start all the way back in Genesis 2:8 (NIV), we see that God had created man and said, “it wasn’t good for man to be alone.” He then created a woman. In God’s design, he had a specific role for a husband to play and a specific role for a wife to play. Both roles were important. Both were significant. Both were equal. Both were essential.

Marriage was designed to function at its best when both were fulfilling their roles because each was indispensable to the other. The wife's role was to be a helper and a nurturer, and an encourager. God equipped women to do this in a way that is essential to the life of the marriage. Proverbs 31 says that a godly wife has the complete confidence of her husband and that she brings her husband good!

Evaluate how well you are loving, nurturing, and encouraging according to God’s standards. 1 Corinthians 13 does a great job of defining love. Acknowledge where you are falling short (there’s grace for that), and then admit to your husband where you haven’t met the mark and commit to stepping into being the wife God called and created you to be.

Prayer Focus: Lord, give me the strength and grace to be a great helper and nurturer to my husband. I want to bring my husband good and I need your help to do that. Show me where I've been inattentive or selfish in our relationship. Grant me wisdom to love him in ways that help him flourish. Prepare me daily for this important calling. Amen.

Reflection Question: In what specific ways can I bring good to my husband this week? Are there any ways I’m bringing him harm (even if unintentionally)?