Loving Your Wife Well By Matt JacobsonÖrnek

Day Three The Most Powerful Words of All Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Virtually every wife and mother feels like she is constantly meeting the needs of others. Your wife feels like she is constantly meeting the needs of others because she is, especially if there are young kids in the house. And she’s always there for you too . . . giving over and over. Your wife wants to know what you think, but she especially wants to know what you think of her . Do you value her? Care how she feels? Respect her? Honor her? Feel close to her? Need her? Genuinely showing appreciation for her through sincere words is a powerful way a wise husband ensures that as she is pouring out, she doesn’t begin to feel empty. Your deep feelings of gratitude for your wife do not mean all that much if you don’t express them. As husbands, we can think and feel all these things deeply and still never say them, never tell her how we feel about her . In the meantime, there are the other voices in your wife’s life that will never be silent—the voices speaking from every clothing ad, the voices calling from every corner of society, telling her, “You’re not good enough.” “You’re too much this.” “You’re not enough that.” “You’re not beautiful.” It’s hard for her not to believe those relentless messages. That’s why she needs to hear your affirmations regularly—and not some flippant, offhand, throwaway comments, but a message that comes straight from your heart. So take your wife in your arms. Look directly into her eyes for a moment, and tell her how beautiful she is to you. How much you appreciate her. How valuable she is. Your voice is far more important to your wife’s heart than anything this world has to say. That’s why it’s important for you to use your power to speak affirming words into your wife’s heart today, tomorrow, and every day God gives you together. Do this and you will discover what every happy, fulfilled husband has learned: the husband who sincerely and consistently fills his wife’s heart with affirming words of love soon discovers that she returns to him far more than he ever poured into her soul. What critical voices does your wife hear about herself from others or the media? What is one way your words of affirmation can speak over that negativity in her mind this week?