38 Comments

  1. What a beautiful list of ways to show gratitude to our spouses! You’re right that if we don’t focus on the positive, our minds will automatically gravitate to what is wrong. We can change this by being thankful for what we do have.

    • melissa

      Thank you for your kind words. It is incredibly important to make the positives a focus so thankfulness and gratitude show instead of bitterness or resentment. Thank you for reading and commenting! God bless!

  2. Having a heart of gratitude is SO important, and like you said, it can dynamically grow our marriage. I was challenged to do a thankfulness list like this for a bible study and it was a such a blessing! Thank you for this wisdom Melissa!

    • melissa

      It is such a great skill to practice and develop. When we remain thankful we actively push away evil. Thank you for reading and commenting! God bless!

  3. Oh, if only husbands and wives focused on what they like about their spouse instead of all the things they don’t like, maybe we would have more successful marriages. Great reminders and advice in this post. Blessings!

    • melissa

      So true Heather! Continued thankfulness would keep many marriages together. Thank you for stopping by and commenting! God bless!

  4. I love this list because my husband’s love language is words of affirmation. This is one of my weaknesses so I like to have new ideas about how to love him with my words.

    • melissa

      I’m glad the list was beneficial. My examples all happened to be words of affirmation but the assignment would work for each of the other love languages as well. Thank you for reading and commenting! God bless!

  5. This is so important. My husband is good at telling me thank you for fixing dinner, doing laundry, etc, but I’m not so good at it. I need to be more intentional. Thank you for bringing this to light.

    • melissa

      Thank you Emily. If intentionally focusing on thankfulness takes place when you get married you guys will be great! It’s so beneficial. Thank you for stopping by and commenting! God bless!

    • melissa

      Thank you. The focus on the positives and intentionally finding things to be thankful for with your spouse is restorative to the marriage. Thank you for reading and commenting! God bless!

    • melissa

      I’m so glad Hannah that you found the post beneficial. It can be a really powerful reminder of all of the positives about our spouse. It also can be a reminder of where our mindset has been within our marriage. I pray the project is meaningful for you both! God bless!

  6. I’m enjoying your posts on thankfulness! I think I overlook my spouse with gratitude! Thank you for the tips and ideas on how to tell him what he means to me!

    • melissa

      Thank you! I think that happens to a lot of us! We get caught up in all other aspects of life. When we’re married to a steady and loving husband we can take him for granted. Thank you for stopping by and commenting! God bless!

    • melissa

      Thank you Sasha! It can become all too easy to overlook our spouses as life gets crazy. Unfortunately if that continues it can turn negative. Thank you for stopping by and commenting! God bless!

  7. Heidi

    I love this list! What a wonderful way to show thankfulness and gratitude towards your spouse. It’s very important in a relationship. 🙂

    • melissa

      It is so important but unfortunately sometimes our spouses get the ‘left-over’ version of us and we aren’t as intentional with them as with others. Thank you for stopping by and commenting! God bless!

  8. I love all of these! Thank you for being specific! We recently hit the 7 year mark…I feel I could definitely do a better job at letting him know how much I appreciate about him! I’m not the best at verbalizing. It may be a completely awkward two weeks, but I do believe you when you say that I will see a difference! <3 Such great advice!

    • melissa

      Congratulations on 7 years! Verbalizing our appreciation can definitely feel awkward because that means we are also allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. I would love to hear how it goes after two weeks! Thank you for reading and commenting! God bless!

  9. prayer, prayer, prayer
    I often prayed for God to make me willing to be willing to see my spouse differently. For many years my name for him in my head was less than loving.
    Asking God to show me how to change that perception of my spouse changed our marriage.

    Thank you, Jesus, for faithfulness to partners in marriage! Praying with a and for my spouse changed my world.

    • melissa

      Thank you for sharing this Tanya. As I had stated we have to know what we are thankful for before we can show it. For a multitude of reasons couples abilities to see their spouses positives can fade or wither. But prayer can restore our thoughts and heart. Praise God that He showed you ways to be loving and thankful for your spouse. Thank you again for sharing! God bless!

    • melissa

      That’s a hard situation to be in Teliah. My advice would be to continue showing your thankfulness. In addition pray for God to give you strength to continue loving your spouse in the way He wants us to. I would then also pray for your spouse’s heart to be opened to experience the love of God and your love. A spouse can’t change their spouse. But you can continue to love in the way God wants us to. *Please note that this advice goes out the window if there is abuse involved. Abuse is not a biblical marriage and safety is a priority. Thank you for reading and for the courage to ask your question about a difficult topic. God bless!

  10. I love this post. It is so easy to take my husband for granted and forget that he needs me to tell him how thankful I am for him…and to be specific. Thank you for posting this. I will begin now :).

    • melissa

      It often is easy to forget to show appreciation for the people closest to us because they are our constants. I’m glad that the post was a good reminder! Thank you for stopping by and commenting. God bless!

    • melissa

      I’m so glad the post met you where you are and provided conviction! I love how God leads us to things when we need them. Thank you for reading and commenting! God bless!

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