Today, I am very privileged to have Stephanie from Faith and Fitness: Living Healthy for Him share with us how to engrave a wife’s name on her husband’s heart. Do you want to know how? Then, you have to read on!

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This weekend, I will be celebrating my 5 year wedding anniversary with the man of my dreams, my best friend, my soulmate.  I remember that day perfectly.  I remember the moment I vowed to love this man forever.  And he vowed to love me forever in return.  I have never once doubted this marriage.

I know that God has chosen this man for me!

They say the first few years of marriage are the most difficult.  I say the first few years of marriage are the easiest.  Those first few years are full of romantic love, puppydog love, or extreme “squishiness” as we like to call it.  But as you get to know your spouse, as careers are in full swing, as you begin to grow your family; the romance may dissipate as a predictable routine begins to take place and the storms of life blow in.  We hear so many stories of people falling “out of love” and marriages ending in divorce.  Why?  The greatest challenge in the world of marriage is transitioning from romantic love to mature love.  If couples plan only to survive on romantic love, they will feel overwhelmed when that “puppy dog love” begins to fade. That is when people “fall out of love.”  But if we can learn to make the transition to mature love, a love that is unconditional; a love that draws meaning, purpose and fulfillment;  a love that grows in service, obedience, and character; then we can have the most amazing marriage that God designed for us.

I know I want my name engraved on my husband’s heart.  But how do I do that?

Ask yourself: Am I first and foremost seeking Jesus?  Do I have a daily quiet time?  Do I pray?  Do I just have religion or do I have a relationship with Christ?  Do I have heavy expectations of my husband?  Am I content as a wife, or do I complain a lot?  Am I flexible, or am I controlling?  Am I self- controlled or am I over-emotional?  Am I encouraging , or am I critical?  Am I gentle, or am I harsh?  Am I quick to a decision or do I seek God’s counsel first?

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4

Is the desire of your heart to have a loving, joyful, God-centered marriage?  As you grow in your maturity in your relationship with Christ, the desires of your heart become more like His desires.  And He does indeed desire a loving, joyful God-centered marriage for you and your spouse.

There is no doubt about it.  Marriage comes with its trials.  But marriage calls for selfless living.  After 5 years of marriage, we are just starting to figure that one out.   Don’t get me wrong.  The past 5 years have been amazing, and I am truly married to my best friend.  But as we have taken on The Love Dare, Love and Respect, and currently, The 5 Love Languages, we are learning how selfless living (living to serve one another) can create such an amazing marriage; a marriage that pleases God.  He doesn’t desire for us to stay in romantic love.  Oh, He still wants us to experience romance, but He wants more than that for us.  He wants us to experience DIVINE ROMANCE, an unconditional love for our spouse and more importantly, an unconditional love for our Savior.

It’s so easy to want to satisfy our own desires.  It’s so easy to want our way.  It’s so easy to think that we are right all the time.  It’s so easy to be over-emotional.  It’s so easy to be critical of others.

It’s not easy to not get your way.  It’s not easy to admit you are wrong.  It’s not easy to ask forgiveness from your spouse.  It’s not easy to forgive.  It’s not easy to change your perspective.  It’s not easy to hold your tongue.  It’s not easy to not want to change someone.

It’s just flat out not easy to live selflessly.

But if Christ is the focus of your marriage, it can happen.  If you pursue God through your marriage, you can love sacrificially.  Loving sacrificially requires you to make choices in your marriage that will be best for your husband and your marriage, not choices that will be best for just you personally.  By loving sacrificially, with Christ as the center of your marriage, you can experience Divine romance as God intended.  You can engrave your name on your husband’s heart!

Stephanie is a first time mom to a sweet little redhead, a wife to an amazing man and a follower of Christ.  She is a girl with a to-do list that’s 1,000 miles long and a bucket list that is 1,001 miles long!!   She blogs over at Faith & Fitness: Living Healthy for Him about her crazy but amazingly wonderful life, and her journey of becoming physically, emotionally and spiritually fit.

Thank you so much Stephanie! What a blessing to be reminded that Christ should be the focus of our marriage! By the way, HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY! =D

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