ENCOURAGING SPOUSES

• Pray for them
• Make time to pray with your spouse daily
• Honor and respect your spouse (Read the book: Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs)

• Help your spouse through a grieving period

• Support them throughout the loss of a job or a challenging job change

• Ask them about their day and listen without interruption- Practice “active listening”

• Talk about the things you don’t agree upon

• Be the best spouse you can be in spite of circumstances

• Be tolerant of your spouse’s preferences

• Honor each other’s differences
  

• Offer your spouse praise

• Try to see circumstances from your spouse’s perspective

• Do a chore you know your spouse dislikes

• Make an effort to understand their viewpoint

• Talk in a positive way about your spouse’s family….visit them

• Assume that your spouse will take care of their responsibilities and take care of your own

• Support spouse’s decisions

• Create an environment of acceptance

• Offer a prayer for your spouse

• Pray separately and together about challenges

• Find out what would strengthen your own spirit and share with your spouse

• Communicate and listen to your spouse

• Be honest about your feelings and be willing to listen to your spouse

• Discuss important issues with your spouse

• Find ways to learn more about your spouse
• Create a safe environment for them (Read the book: Safe People by Cloud & Townsend)
• Be one of their balcony people (Read the book: Balcony People by Joyce Landorf Heatherly)

• Make time to pray with your spouse daily

• Play a game your spouse particularly enjoys

• Read, discuss and implement books related to healthy marriages 

• Take a walk with your spouse

• Be willing to extend yourself to help your spouse grow

• Do a chore your spouse is usually responsible for

• Attend an event your spouse enjoys but you may not prefer (family reunion, school reunion)

• Set aside an evening strictly for your spouse

• Find out what will strengthen your spouse and support them in this area

• Recognize things that cause disharmony and make an effort to avoid those things or seek resolution

• Take your spouse on a picnic that you prepared

• Take your spouse on a date for a random occasion

• Remember dates that are important to your spouse (i.e. birthday, anniversary)

• Write your spouse a note telling him/her how much you love them

• Tell your spouse the specific things about him/her that you love and value

• Apologize and ask forgiveness when you hurt your spouse

• Work together with them to learn better communication
  
• Seek first to understand and then be understood
  
• Have a harmonious home
  

• Discover your spouse’s “love language” (Read the book: The Five Love Languages by Gary D. Chapman; Click here to take the assessment)
  

• Discover your spouse’s Temperament (Read the book: Why You Act The Way You Do by Tim LaHaye; Click here to take the assessment)

• Discover your spouse’s strengths (Read the book: Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath)
  

If you have ideas that are not listed on this page, please email us your ideas here