Marriage Enrichment

I feel like I have been learning a lot about this lately. I have loved hearing and attempting to learn more about Marriage Enrichment. So I felt compelled to share the wealth! Sorry for the lengthiness.

This past semester in our community group we did a book called "Dream Team, The Power of Two" by Tommy Nelson. It was a great "back to the basics" study about marriage. It is a workbook so it would also be a great tool to use as a couple and then discuss. Our group absolutely loved it. It was an easy read and brought up great little reminders for all of us. The greatest thing that I took away from it was the reminder that I need to be an encouraging wife instead of a nagging wife. I need to encourage all the time whether I am with him or not. I was also reminded that I need to never talk negative about my spouse in front of anyone! I now understand how disrespectful and devastating that can be to a spouse

Its only 7.99 so check it out at www.lifewaystores.com

Speaking of encouragement, this leads me to my next thing:

For Christmas, one of Marc's presents was a journal I gave to him. This journal consisted of 30 days of encouragement to him. A girl from my community group shared this amazing 30 day challenge with us. She told us that she did it for her husbands birthday and that he really, really appreciated it. I though to myself, what a great Christmas present this would make for Marc. So I started on Thanksgiving and ended on Christmas day. For 30 days I was not to not say anything negative about my husband, to my husband, or to anyone else about my husband. I WAS only to say something I admired or appreciated about my husband, to my husband, or to someone else about my husband. Each day gave me a topic to think about along with a verse.

One topic was about finances. This one was so easy for me, because Marc is amazing at keeping up with our finances. So that day I made an effort to tell him how much that it actually meant to me that he took care of it. After bringing that up with him, I quickly learned that he thought I didn't care. So again, I learned something about myself that I could start working on to better our marriage.

This challenge was not easy, but made me realize how important encouragement really is. It was a blessing to Marc as well as helped me in my own spiritual walk.

If you would like to view this challenge or print it off, you can go to:

http://www.reviveourhearts.com/challenge/

They have several others to choose from as well.

Lastly, my church, Fellowship Bible Church NWA has been doing a Marriage Enrichment series during the month of January. They have had 2 guest speakers, Gary Oliver and Greg Smalley. (which are 2 very amazing speakers and are also JBU professors). I have attended 2 of the sessions and let me tell you they are nothing short of incredible. It has just been a wealth a knowledge for me. Gary and Greg received a grant from the state to start this program called "NWA Healthy Marriages," it has grown tremendously over this past year. Click here for more details! They have an awesome Valentines banquet coming up that they speak at. Marc and I went last year and loved it!

Anyways, all that to say you and your spouse should definitely listen to the podcasts available on Fellowships website. It could be an amazing tool for your marriage or for someone you might know!

Hope all of this info is helpful, I know it has been for us! Happy Tuesday!