In my first blog I wrote that praying was the #1 thing to do to see a change in your marriage. Hopefully you have begun. Now onto the #2 thing. Respect. There is so much great teaching on respecting your husband that I am going to give you a brief summary of my viewpoint and then lead you to some great links. No sense in reinventing the wheel here. After all the topic of respecting our husbands has been around since Jesus walked the earth.

First I will say I have in no way mastered this respect thing but I am so much further along that I feel comfortable in sharing some advice. What I have learned over the years after being a rude jerk to my husband at times is actually so simple. I would have given anything if someone would have showed me the errors of my ways. So I am telling you, you need to be a friend to him. Yep, it is that stinking simple. Just think of how you are with your girlfriends. I would hope you are considerate of her feelings, encouraging, speak nice, and unconditionally show love. These are all things that show you have respect for her. Now just demonstrate that same measure of regard to your husband. If you are thinking “well my girlfriends treat me way better than my husband and are more deserving of my respect” then you are basing your treatment of him on his performance and you are in the wrong. (I will always speak honestly and biblically when I share my viewpoints)  If you are passing judgement on your husband and denying him respect then you need to shift your thinking to one of obedience to Christ. You also need to know that men need to be respected for who they are, not for what they do. They need us to hold them in high-esteem and when we do you will see a huge change in the way they love you. It’s amazing how much influence a woman actually has in a relationship. We steer the ship or as Mark Gungor puts it When a husband feels he is being looked up to as the ‘head” in a relationship, he will automatically allow his wife to become the “neck”—she will be able to point her man in the right direction.

I have seen a huge increase in my husband’s love for me and also an increase in his productivity. When I am his cheerleader rooting him on he accomplishes so much more. There is a saying, behind a great man is a really great woman. Well, there you have it. You know you’re great, now make your husband feel great by showing him unconditional respect. If you need some help with ways to show respect then there is a blog post you should read. It shows dozens of ways of what respect looks like. The Peaceful Wife.

Thanks for reading, feel free to post a comment here or contact me personally or share your thoughts on The Helpmeets facebook page.