Day 27 "Love Dare"

Hello friends,
Today's devotion is titled "Love Encourages" have you encouraged your spouse recently???
Now I am going to be VERY open here this is for me another hard core day ....you see this is my gift...... so I have been told (as well as I love to do it) is to encourage those around me as much as possible. The Lord convicted my heart today as He has shown me I am always concerned with encouraging all those around me ACCEPT MY HUSBAND (OUCH THAT HIT A GOOD SPOT) I
was so taken back because He was so right I guess I was holding my husband to a higher standard or as today the devotion shared many times we have "unrealistic expectations in which always breeds DISAPPOINTMENT" I am expecting him to Always meet my needs and my desires even though I fail to do that very same thing myself wow who am I????? We must choose instead of living by expectations instead live by encouraging ALL THOSE IN OUR LIVES NOT JUST OUTSIDERS and then give the husbands parden my french but what the bird leaves on the fence. We too our just as imperfect as our mates as Jesus puts it as He paints us this picture in the word of God; when He speaks of us looking at the speck in our brother's eye (husband) while we seem to NOT notice the LOG IN OUR OWN yikes.....In the devotion today after this it asks "DOES YOUR MATE FEEL AS IF THEY ARE LIVING WITH A SPECK INSPECTOR"?? OH YIKES so today I have realized most of the problem is me, myself, and I,
I have made my hubby in the past feel on edge, fearful of always failing to live to any of my expectations and giving him a sense of disapproval rather than acceptance and shouldnt our husbands come home to a place of acceptance yes it should be the one place they can we never want to push our hubbies away from us leaving them with no desire to even be home that gives the enemy so much room to do damage. We dont want to make our mates ever feel beat down,
and defeated but instead loved, accepted, encouraged, even when we dont feel like it we must choose to love any way. Will we be perfect at this no however we should be striving in our marriages to be better putting God FIRST AND HUSBANDS NEXT even if we dont feel like it remember Love is not a FEELING but a choose in which we are COMMANDED to do period.
I will now just leave you with a few scriptures to ponder on and meditate on:

"Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble" (Isaiah 35:3

"Encourage one another and build up one another...Encourage the fainthearted, help the weak,
be patient with EVERYONE" (1 Thess. 5:11, 14)

"When you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things." (Romans 2:1) HCSB

[LOVE] always protects." (1 corinth. 13:7)

"The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her hands" (Proverbs 14:1)

May we all (myself included) just remember these things must start at home or all we do outside of the home is ALL IN VAIN!!!!

Father I pray you give each of us no matter what our marital circumstances may be in at this time the strength to love and to be that love in action not just by words may we be that safe haven for our husbands to come home to and when we are upset may we come to you first to make sure our hearts are in the right place before speaking to our mates and when we do may it always be in Love Father thank you, thank you, thank you for my loving husband in whom has endured a lot from me and stayed by my side may you bless him abundantly in Jesus Name AMEN
Until next time,
Love,
Cindy