30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge Available as PDF

The entire 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge is also available in pdf format. You may get it by requesting it when you leave a comment or by emailing me at claudia @ theanniversaryshop.com (be sure to remove spaces around @ intended to fool spammers).

Company Girl Coffee – Help!!

I’ve missed all of you!

I’ve been away for a while, and it always seems that when I come back I try to make a change to my blog that I just can’t figure out.

Does anyone use an Amazon aStore widget on their sidebar in WordPress? If so, how do you make it work? Maybe I can’t use it because I have a freebie template, or because the widget uses java, or just because I don’t have a 13-year old to help me figure it out.

Anyway, that’s one question for ya’ll.

The other is that I’m looking for a new Bible and thought that the best people to help me decide would be my Company Girls at Home Sanctuary.  I am looking at two different women’s study Bibles: True Identity and Women of Faith Study Bible.

If anyone has either one of these – or is considering buying one of these or another one – please leave a comment about why you made or are thinking about making the choice you did.  I’ve been using an NIV Study Bible for years, but feel like it might be time to get something with some devotional material in it.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Yours for the celebration of Life,

Claudia

Gone, but not Forgotten

I’m away from blogging for a while, but I hope to be back mid-February sometime. In the meantime, be sure to have a look around – and check out the Wife Encouragement and Husband Encouragement Challenges while you’re here.

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

Company Girl Coffee – Taylor the Latte Boy

Welcome to all my Company Girls at Home Sanctuary!

Is it just me, or are you having trouble getting back in the groove after the holidays?

We took 10 days off from Christmas to the Saturday after New Year’s to visit family – lots of family and lots of miles – and other than my “real” work and keeping up with housework, I’m having trouble getting back into the swing of things. Blog posts have gone unwritten, one meal has been cooked the entire week (fortunately it’s just me and my husband and he’s been away for supper most of the week), and I can’t even think about getting back into working out even though I know I’ll feel better once I do.

Today promises to be better. I have Bible study this afternoon with some friends and I’ll stop by the fabric store for some quilting fabric. I might even grab my favorite salad while I’m out. The sun is shining, and I feel that I can get back to doing some of those things I did before our time off. I might even take down the Christmas decorations when I get home.

In the meantime, I don’t have a topic for this post, so I want to share a cute coffee song that you probably haven’t heard. Sit back and enjoy your favorite hot drink and think about those special things that made you sure your better half loved you even before he said those three little words.

My favorite line: Who’d have thought that love could be so caffeinated.

Yours for the celebration of life,

Claudia

Taylor the Latte Boy, sung by Kristein Chenoweth.

Previous post: What If … You Lived Out Unconditional Respect For Your Husband?

Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness home

What If … You Lived Out Unconditional Respect?

A little trick I learned in high school is to turn to the dictionary when I don’t know exactly where to begin writing.

“Webster’s defines … as” was often used to start English Literature papers, and is going to be used to start this post as well.

Webster’s defines respect (verb tense) as to hold in esteem or honor; to show regard or consideration for; to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with; to relate or have reference to.

If one more definition could be added, it might read something like “respect is the deepest need a man has; without it, he will never feel loved.”

You see, a man values respect even more than love. This is hard for women to understand, but according to Emerson Eggerichs in his book Love & Respect, numerous men in his study agree with the statement “I would rather live with a wife who respects me but did not love me than live with a wife who loved me but did not respect me.”

Over the past few years, we have come to understand unconditional love, but unconditional respect seems an oxymoron. In our society, we still believe that respect must be earned.

I can’t say that I fully understand it and know how to carry it out myself, but I know that the Bible tells men to love their wives and women to respect their husbands, and I know that God would not tell us to do something that is unnecessary or impossible.

Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:33 (NIV)

Take a few minutes to write down the definition of respect and keep it where you can look at it and understand it. Write it in your own words and come up with ways to show respect to your husband.

As I gain understanding of this, I want to share it with you. As you gain understanding of respecting your husband unconditionally, please leave a comment and share it with me.

Yours for the celebration of marriage,

Claudia

Here are more great books to strengthen your marriage.

30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge: Day 30

I was filled with delight day after day. (Proverbs 8:30)
Today is the final day of the challenge! How did it go? Was it harder than you expected or easier? Did you see fruit for your labor? I certainly hope so.

Now that you’ve completed the 30 days, don’t stop there. Take what you have learned and apply it to the next 30 days and the 30 days after that and the 30 days after that until you have applied it for 10 or 20 or 50 years.

Use the knowledge and insight you have gained to keep your marriage fresh. The vows you made to your wife before God are too valuable to let crumble without doing everything in your power to keep it together.

Pray without ceasing that God will continue to show you how to encourage your wife. Look at your wife with fresh eyes every day. See who she is and who she is becoming. Notice how your love and affection toward her are returned to you tenfold.

Find joy in each day that you have together. When you start to falter in your commitment, pick up this challenge and work through it again. You have the blueprint; it is up to you to build the house.

Your challenge for today and forever: Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love. Ecclesiastes 9:9 (NIV)

Yours for the celebration of marriage,

Claudia

If you missed any of the previous days, click here or on 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge in the sidebar to catch up.

The 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge is now available in pdf format. If you would like a pdf of the entire 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge, email me at claudia @ theanniversaryshop.com (be sure to remove the extra spaces around @ intended to fool spammers).

30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge: Day 30

(Song of Solomon 5:16b)(Prov. 27:12)

Friends can be completely honest with each other, but friendships are strained when truth is not spoken in love. How are you speaking to your beloved? Are you so “used” to him that you don’t appreciate the wonder of his friendship? That is your challenge today. Is your sweetheart your best friend? Does he know this? Have you told him, or do you assume he “just knows”?

Friendship is something that is cultivated through the good times and the bad. Friends can share their hearts, but they don’t step on each other’s hearts.

The way to have and be a good friend is to cultivate and celebrate the relationship. As you end this “30-Day Encouragement Challenge,” celebrate your friendship with your husband. Get alone and reflect on your beloved friend. Write him a letter, listing the qualities you admire and appreciate about him. If you are creative with words, write and frame a poem about him.

Perhaps you can prepare a special meal, just for the two of you, and read the letter or poem to him. Ask if you can pray for him, and if he is willing, thank God for your love and friendship, asking for His blessing on your home. Encouragement, as you have seen these past 30 days, is a synonym for love in action.

If you missed any of the previous days, click here or on 30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge in the sidebar to catch up.

Yours for the celebration of marriage,

Claudia

Copyright Revive Our Hearts. Written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Used with permission. www.ReviveOurHearts.com

30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge: Day 29

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30 (NIV)

Just as your marriage has undergone changes since your wedding day, you and your wife will continue to change physically, spiritually, and emotionally as the years bring new joys and new challenges.

As you age, the beauty and vigor of youth will be replaced by grace and strength of character unknown to younger generations. Do not be deceived by the beauty and charm of youth; there is no fountain of youth except for the renewal that only God can give (Isaiah 40:31).

Just as Moses’ face glowed when he met with God face to face (Exodus 34:35), your wife’s countenance will take on a new glow as she walks with God, feels your love in new ways, and trusts you as the spiritual leader of your home. Your love will take on new dimensions and praise will pour forth from your lips without working at it.

Commit to the ground rules of this 30 day challenge for the rest of your life. Let nothing and no one deceive you and cause you to doubt the vows of marriage that you have spoken. The road may be long and it may be hard at times, but the prize is a life of no regrets and a love that knows no end.

You’ve had some serious days recently. It’s time again to have some fun and make playing together an integral part of your marriage. Get outside, ride a bike, go out for ice cream, put together a puzzle, play a game. Find something that both you and your wife enjoy doing and take time to do it together.

If this time of play takes away from other things your wife wants/needs to get done, help her complete her tasks either before or after your play so she can feel more relaxed and enjoy your time together.

Yours for the celebration of marriage,

Claudia

If you missed any of the previous days, click here or on 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge in the sidebar to catch up.

The 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge is now available in pdf format. If you would like a pdf of the entire 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge, email me at claudia @ theanniversaryshop.com (be sure to remove the extra spaces around @ intended to fool spammers).

30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge: Day 29

A prudent man foresees evil, and hides himself; the simple pass on, and are punished. (Prov. 27:12)

As you near the end of your Encouragement Challenge, take time to think about your husband’s responses to the wickedness of the culture, the media, etc. Does your husband recognize and avoid evil? Does he regularly turn his back on pornography, sexual temptations, and the urge to lie and cheat?

This is a valuable character trait. Like Joseph in the Old Testament, who fled from the wicked advances of Potiphar’s wife, this takes an understanding that these kinds of sins are first and foremost, sins against God (Gen. 39:9).

Praise your husband when he recognizes and turns his back on wickedness. If you can think of a circumstance where your husband stood for righteousness, remind him of that today—and express your gratitude.

If you missed any of the previous days, click here or on 30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge in the sidebar to catch up.

Yours for the celebration of marriage,

Claudia

Copyright Revive Our Hearts. Written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Used with permission. www.ReviveOurHearts.com

30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge: Day 28

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Genesis 2:18 (NIV)

Some men and women have a very narrow view of what a “helper” is. A helper can be someone who cooks meals and washes the dishes, or someone who takes care of the children.

A helper can be someone who stands by to hand over tools when they are needed to complete a project. A helper can be someone who stands by to take care of anything that might have been left undone. A helper can also be someone who has strengths in areas in which you have weaknesses. She can be an extrovert to your introvert; she can have a sense of color and style to your T-shirt and blue jeans; she can make lists and carry out tasks while you see the big picture and are already looking past this project to the next one.

Sometimes husbands and wives get annoyed by their differences, but quite often God brings together two people who are very different so they can work together to be whole, to be one (Genesis 2:24).

In what ways does your helper, your wife, “complete” you? How do your strengths and weaknesses work together to make an unbeatable team?

Rejoice in the differences that make your marriage work. Ask your wife how she sees the strengths and weaknesses that you each have working together. Talk about how you and your marriage are stronger because she is your helper who completes you.

Yours for the celebration of marriage,

Claudia

If you missed any of the previous days, click here or on 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge in the sidebar to catch up.

The 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge is now available in pdf format. If you would like a pdf of the entire 30 Day Wife Encouragement Challenge, email me at claudia @ theanniversaryshop.com (be sure to remove the extra spaces around @ intended to fool spammers).