Category: 30-Day Challenge

Day Thirty:

I was filled with delight day after day. (Proverbs 8:30)

Today is the final day of the challenge! How did it go? Was it harder than you expected or easier? Did you see fruit for your labor? I certainly hope so.

Now that you’ve completed the 30 days, don’t stop there. Take what you have learned and apply it to the next 30 days and the 30 days after that and the 30 days after that until you have applied it for 10 or 20 or 50 years.

Use the knowledge and insight you have gained to keep your marriage fresh. The vows you made to your wife before God are too valuable to let crumble without doing everything in your power to keep it together.

Pray without ceasing that God will continue to show you how to encourage your wife. Look at your wife with fresh eyes every day. See who she is and who she is becoming. Notice how your love and affection toward her are returned to you tenfold.

Find joy in each day that you have together. When you start to falter in your commitment, pick up this challenge and work through it again. You have the blueprint; it is up to you to build the house.

Your challenge for today and forever: Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love. Ecclesiastes 9:9

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-nine:

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

Just as your marriage has undergone changes since your wedding day, you and your wife will continue to change physically, spiritually, and emotionally as the years bring new joys and new challenges.

As you age, the beauty and vigor of youth will be replaced by grace and strength of character unknown to younger generations. Do not be deceived by the beauty and charm of youth; there is no fountain of youth except for the renewal that only God can give (Isaiah 40:31).

Just as Moses’ face glowed when he met with God face to face (Exodus 34:35), your wife’s countenance will take on a new glow as she walks with God, feels your love in new ways, and trusts you as the spiritual leader of your home. Your love will take on new dimensions and praise will pour forth from your lips without working at it.

Commit to the ground rules of this 30 day challenge for the rest of your life. Let nothing and no one deceive you and cause you to doubt the vows of marriage that you have spoken. The road may be long and it may be hard at times, but the prize is a life of no regrets and a love that knows no end.

You’ve had some serious days recently. It’s time again to have some fun and make playing together an integral part of your marriage. Get outside, ride a bike, go out for ice cream, put together a puzzle, play a game. Find something that both you and your wife enjoy doing and take time to do it together.

If this time of play takes away from other things your wife wants/needs to get done, help her complete her tasks either before or after your play so she can feel more relaxed and enjoy your time together.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-eight:

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Genesis 2:18

Some men and women have a very narrow view of what a “helper” is. A helper can be someone who cooks meals and washes the dishes, or someone who takes care of the children. A helper can be someone who stands by to hand over tools when they are needed to complete a project.

A helper can be someone who stands by to take care of anything that might have been left undone. A helper can also be someone who has strengths in areas in which you have weaknesses. She can be an extrovert to your introvert; she can have a sense of color and style to your T-shirt and blue jeans; she can make lists and carry out tasks while you see the big picture and are already looking past this project to the next one.

Sometimes husbands and wives get annoyed by their differences, but quite often God brings together two people who are very different so they can work together to be whole, to be one (Genesis 2:24).

In what ways does your helper, your wife, “complete” you? How do your strengths and weaknesses work together to make an unbeatable team?

Rejoice in the differences that make your marriage work. Ask your wife how she sees the strengths and weaknesses that you each have working together. Talk about how you and your marriage are stronger because she is your helper who completes you.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-seven:

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

For reasons that women often find hard to understand, very few men have close friends – especially friends that will hold them accountable and help them grow in the Lord.

Pray that God will bring such a man into your life and that you can be that kind of man to someone else.

Reach out to a godly man and ask him to be your accountability partner. Meet together regularly to encourage one another in your walk with Christ, your marriage, and the many other responsibilities that you have.

You will glorify God and gain spiritual, emotional, and even physical strength by meeting together with another godly man regularly.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-six:

A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17

I once heard someone say that a friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway.

Does this describe your relationship with your wife? Does she know all about you? What are you holding back from her for fear that she will not love you?

Most women know when a man is holding out on her: there is an emotional barrier that never seems to come down even if the ax is swung close to the root.

Vulnerability is hard and trust is risky, but it might be time to trust in your friend, the wife of your youth (Proverbs 5:18).

Pray about an issue that you are holding back from your wife. Seek Godly counsel and wait for an answer from the Lord. As your marriage grows stronger and you learn that you can and want to trust your wife with who you are as a man, you will know when the time is right to let that barrier down.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work … But pity the man who falls down and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9,10.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-five:

If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:12

It’s time for a little self-examination. You’ve come a long way, and the end of the 30 days is in sight. What changes have you seen in your wife? What changes have you seen in yourself? Is your home a little quieter and peace more abundant? Do your wife and children seem more at ease and loving?

Today, think of how you can show love to your wife through the pattern of love in I Corinthians 13:1-8a. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Choose one characteristic that you want to make abundant in your wife’s life today and ask God to help you follow through.

Read the I Corinthians passage again. Underline those characteristics of love that you do pretty well and circle those that need some work. Don’t be too hard on yourself; none of us will get a perfect score.

This exercise is not meant to point out where you’ve failed or need more work, but to point out where you have succeeded and how your demonstration of love to your wife has changed over the past 24 days.

There is still room for improvement, there always is, but you are well on your way to living out I Corinthians 13 every day.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-four:

Take me away with you – let us hurry! Song of Songs 1:4

Before a man and woman are married, a great deal of time and energy is spent planning for time together. Often plans for the next date are made in the midst of the current date.

After marriage, however, a husband and wife seldom plan time to be together – they just are together, for better or for worse, and dinner out is more a necessity than a romantic date.

Today’s challenge is to go on a date with your wife. Call her, email her, send a text message, or slip a note in her purse to set it up. Whatever you do, make it clear that this is a date, not just a chance to get out of cooking.

Take her someplace new or someplace that you both really love. Dress up, open doors for her, look at her when she talks; remember what it was like to be dating and how you couldn’t wait to be alone together again.

While you’re out, plan a longer getaway just for the two of you. If finances are tight, plan a one-day outing and ask someone to watch your kids in exchange for watching theirs another day.

If you can, plan an overnight trip or a weekend getaway. It sometimes takes more than just a couple of hours together to put the cares of the world behind you and begin to focus on other another.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-three:

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Psalm 126:2

If a woman is honest, she will likely tell you that it was her husband’s sense of humor that won her over. Sure you have lots of wonderful, endearing qualities, but your sense of humor probably played a major role in winning your wife’s heart.

Joanne Woodward, wife of actor Paul Newman, said Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that’s a real treat.

When was the last time you and your wife laughed, really laughed together? Hopefully, it was yesterday or earlier today, but chances are good you haven’t heard a real good belly laugh from your wife in a long while.

Today’s challenge is to make your wife’s heart cheerful by making her laugh.

A cheerful heart is good medicine. Proverbs 17:22

Did something funny happen to you that you haven’t shared with her? Does she have a favorite comedian or funny show that makes her laugh? Is there something that you do or say that makes her laugh every time you do it? Make your wife laugh today, whatever it takes.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com

Day Twenty-one:

Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. I Thessalonians 5:11

God’s word makes it clear that we are to encourage one another and build each other up daily. Encouragement keeps us from being hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:14) and prepares us for the day of Christ’s return (Hebrews 10:26).

In our modern-day language, the word encourage means to “inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence; to stimulate by assistance or approval.”

As Christians, there is nothing that encourages us more than the promises found in God’s word.

Today’s challenge is to share with your wife a Bible passage or verse that encourages you the most. Tell her why this passage “gives you courage,” keeps you from sin’s deceitfulness, and/or prepares you for the day of His return.

* Written and distributed by Claudia J. Pate, www.theanniversaryshop.wordpress.com