10 Ways to Love Your Sandpaper Spouse
UPDATE: The winner of LET. IT. GO. is Lesley. Please send your home address, along with what it is you won, to [email protected] so we can get our book out to you.
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Welcome to you joining by finding your way here from my Proverbs 31 Ministries devotion today called Sandpaper Spouses {To read it, click here but be sure to come back for the free PDF and giveaway!}
Tweet ThisAs promised in the devotion, here is a free PDF that I created called: 10 Ways to Love Your Sandpaper Spouse. Enter your email address below and you will receive the free download in your inbox.
To be entered to win a copy of my book LET. IT. GO.: How to Stop Running the Show and Start Walking in Faith, leave a comment here telling us which idea from the PDF you might want to try. Or, tell us one thing you appreciate about your spouse.
I’ll go first……my husband consistently makes sure that there is gas in my vehicle. I don’t think I have pumped gas more than a dozen times in the nearly 30 years we’ve been married, unless I was on a trip without him.
Okay….leave your comment, enjoy your free PDF, and go love that sandpaper spouse!
I need to pray more often for and with my husband. He is a very compassionate person and is a prison Chaplain\mission pastor. We work with people who have and are still making wrong choices and the frustration that brings when we pour our heart into their lives and even though we’re planting seeds; it’s hard to find any growth. He needs my prayer as he struggles with constant knee pain while waiting on a knee replacement and how that pain can affect his life and attitude.
I have been working on the flip side idea without even knowing it and am looking forward to beginning Pray & Say. He often asks if I miss him during the day. Now he will know. Thank you!
your marriage kind of sounds like ours, except we have never really got into a knock down drag out fight, we have had our differences of opinions of course, and some disagreements, but he is the one who thinks things through, the logical one, if you will, and I am the one who says “let’s go”. I have learned how to slow down and think things through first, although I don’t always slow down and think first. I am getting better at it, sure hope so, we have be married for 17 years now, and I love him just as much if not more than I did when we got married.
I really like the last idea of Pray and Say. What a beautiful way to show your love for your spouse and work on the marriage. Prayers are always good and I especially like the idea of telling him that I prayed for him.
Love the article! My Sweet Husband and I have always been considered opposites. It has not always been easy. PTL we just celebrated 30 years all glory to God. Without Him it would not have been possible. Thanks for reminding me God’s ways are not man’s ways. His purpose in our marriages are His perfect will, even when iron sharpens iron…though I do desire fluffy cotton still sometimes. ;) Thanks Karen for helping to keep us focused!! Keep serving Him well….k
It feels good to see that I’m not the only one in this boat…it’s a ship full of us…goodness. God help us all be patient and understanding!
Sandpaper…not only does it roughen the surface it can smooth it as well! Depending on the grade of the paper. My husband and I have both the rough and the smoothing. After 20 years we still do things to make it rough, you would think by now we’d learn. One of my favorite things on your pdf is making a memorable meal. It took years but I mastered his grandmother’s mac-n-cheese and he loves it but I don’t make it often (now I think I know why). He also travels a great deal and when he’s gone for long stretches I make his favorite meal when he gets home. We were never meant to be complete, but together we complete each other! Now to set that alarm in the middle of the day to pray for him!
Thank you!
My husband is extremely helpful. He is always asking me what he can do to help. Love that!
This was definitely for me, my husband is truly a good man, he makes sure that I have everything that I need. He is always looking out for me, checking the oil, tires, everything, about the car to make sure I’m safe. Thank you,
My husband is a mechanic so anytime something is wrong with my vehicle he always fixes it right away. Whether it be 8pm at night or not. I take that for granted. He’s said that he always wants to make sure my vehicle is working and safe since I’m the one driving around our kids.
I love the idea of setting an alarm and praying specifically about my husband everyday then letting him know.
I have also thought before the things we love most about our spouse can often be what drives us crazy. I appreciate the look at the flip side suggestion.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! It is so wonderful to know that you’re not the only “freak” in the world that deals with this situation! :D I cannot wait to let my hubby read this tonight. Maybe we should have dinner together – I think we’d have a lot in common (and maybe find that somewhere we’re related siblings or something – both the women and the men.) I love the title “sandpaper spouse” – and though I see, and acknowledge, the iron sharpens iron from Scripture, and what it is to do in my life, I think the sandpaper picture might help. Especially when things get “gritty”. :D I know we’ve improved over the years (23 to be exact) but I know there are still times where we need that work done in us. Thanks again!
I need to let go of wanting to control a situation and trust my husband as leader to make a decision that is in ALL our best interest. Rather than hen peck or nag him I need to take up prayer and give him the time he needs to think things through.
To stop and pray at a specific time everyday, because without a reminder I tend to forget otherwise (so sad but true) and your right if I’m not lifting him to the Lord, who is?
Thank you SO MUCH for this blog! I love how Jesus knows exactly when I need to hear something and places it in front of me. I needed this so much today! And my Bible Study group has just gotten a new book and it is your Let. It. Go. Now, after reading your blog and being so blessed and inspired, I cannot wait to start our study!
I want to focus on trying out “Time Travel” and “Pray and Say”. I just the message those 2 convey, yet they are so easy to disregard or bypass during difficult times. Thanks for the PDF, all of the 10 Ways are great reminders I can’t wait to incorporate into our relationship!
“If you’re not praying for your spouse, who is?” What a way to think of it, and how many discussions could have turned out differently if I had realized it sooner!
My husband is the best handy man EVER! Seriously, this man can build anything, make anything, and fix just about anything. He has completely remodeled two kitchens for us in addition to completely updating the rest of each house as well. He does beautiful work!
Thank you for the support you supply married couples. Often our views can falter, and alternate. Personally we are facing separation, and where my viewpoint was more in line with what you’ve talked about here at times, we’ve both struggled. And now I feel I’m being consumed by the view of giving up that he has had for longer than I knew. I pray that God protects my heart, this feels like it will take a miracle, so that I don’t fall into blame and hurt and such. Please, pray with me. Thank you.
I plan to try and use the Find the Flip Side with my husband. I tend to be a little OCD about how things should be around the house. It’s not that he does things wrong, he just doesn’t do them the way I want them done. His way is not wrong, just different. I’m working on trying to be more positive about him and the things he does do for my daughter and I instead of focusing on the things he doesn’t do.
This is a great post that I really needed at this time. I am not yet married to my soon-to-be husband and I feel as though we have completely different perspectives on how we should go about life decisions. We are both stubborn and love to be right. While I know that he loves me and cares for me a ton, sometimes when we argue I feel as though he is intentionally trying to go against what I am saying because it seems as though he always has a different opinion that I do. I love the idea of the flip side. I believe that thinking about the positive side of his stubbornness can be helpful. He is sharpening my faith and after our discussions, I almost always say a long prayer. He forces me to be a better follower of Jesus by challenging my perspectives and by not letting me win all the time. Thank you so much for helping me to see that through this blog post!! I am very thankful for that.
Just what I need.. Thank you Lord.
I like to think back to what first drew us together and thank God for those qualities! Would love a copy of the book
My husband extends a lot of grace, does not hold grudges, and is extremely forgiving. I truly appreciate this about him!
I need to pray for my husband each and every day. This devotion speaks volumes regarding my marriage. I have always tried to change my husband, instead of thinking maybe it was me that needed changing!! Thank you for the wonderful devotion and the title is so true. Sandpaper Spouse! That is us! God Bless You!