On Saturdays when I’ve been talking about praying more, many of my posts have focused on praying about problems you’re experiencing in your marriage and specifically your marriage bed.
But this week, I’ve been thinking about gratitude and how important it is in our prayers and our lives. Pastor James MacDonald, of Walk in the Word Ministries, words it this way: “Gratitude is the attitude that sets the altitude for living.”
Complainers and grumps feel like they’re at the bottom of life, whether or not that’s true. Whereas thankful people fly above their circumstances. Instead of wallowing in the dirt, they look up toward Heaven with gratefulness for what they have.
And the truth is, nearly everybody has something about their spouse for which they’re thankful. What’s your thing?
I hope it’s a lot of things. But sometimes we need to start small. This past week, I asked a simple question on Facebook and got over a hundred responses:
Spouses responded with everything from taking care of insects in the house to scrubbing toilets to putting gas in the car to painting her toenails (well done, hubby). But one lovely comment from a reader stuck with me:
“What I love about this question is the fact that it makes the ladies think about the precious gifts they are being given. I hope each of you takes a moment to share with him today. 
Good idea! We should share those things with our husbands and wives.
Perhaps we should also share our thankfulness for our spouse with the One who created our mate, put him in our lives, and blesses us now in our marriage.
When’s the last time you went to God in prayer and said, “Thank you, Lord, for my husband and how he __________ for me”? You can fill in the blank with whatever your husband (or wife) does for you. Even something from your bedroom time, if you wish.
As Romans 11:36 says, “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” We have free will, but the creation itself is from God. So this blessing in your life is because your Father God created your spouse, and you came together as one flesh before Him.
Take some time today, think of what your spouse does for you in your marriage, and then thank God for that benefit. Build that into your prayer repertoire so that gratitude becomes a part of who you are, both in your marriage and in your life. Learn to approach God with thankfulness in your heart for what you have.
Lift your whole marriage’s altitude with more gratitude.
That’s great my wife and I read this together and we both enjoyed it much
I thank God daily for my husband. He is a loving, caring man whom the Lord placed in my path at just the right time after I got out of a 20-year abusive marriage.
So while there may be things I grumble about I am still thankful every.single.day for a man who selfishly loves and cares for me.
<3
My wife routinely scours the house looking for my receipt so she can return me…LOL!
Hahaha.
Absolutely I thank God for my husband, every single day! Mostly I thank God that he’s even alive, that I even have a husband. Cancer nearly took him from me before I ever had the chance to marry him at all. Now it is trying to take him from me again, and we are fighting. If cancer doesn’t teach one not to take their spouse for granted, nothing will. Additionally though, I thank God for the kind of man my husband is: so patient, so loving, even as he goes through this. His team had warned me multiple times that patients often take anger, fear, or other emotions out on the one closest to them. I can honestly say that he has never done this to me even once. Vented to me yes, but not at me. IF anything, his team should have warned him about me taking my stress out on him…something I’ve been guilty of before. I thank God hubby shows me his heart, that he understands me in ways I never thought a man could understand a woman. No, things aren’t perfect with us, but nothing is ever perfect while we’re on this earth. But I know I’ve got an incredibly good man, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the Lord for him.