Relationship Goals (Part 1): Believe in Your Spouse

The person you love most deeply also has the ability to most aggravate and disappoint you. Most times, you find yourself wanting to both kiss and fight your spouse.

Thankfully, God offers just what we need to get through those moments— grace.

Grace allows us to believe in others. Sometimes it’s hardest to show grace to the people closest to us. It’s not easy to believe the best about a person when all their faults are exposed daily.

In the midst of it all, to achieve a thriving relationship we must believe in our spouse.

How do we do this?



Give compliments.
Did your spouse do something you appreciated? Acknowledge it. Encouragement only encourages when we speak it out loud. You can also give compliments in front of people. It’s easy to tell our friends how annoyed we are with our spouse. It’s harder to be mindful of the reputation we give our spouse in public.

We paint a negative picture of our spouse if we only vent about their faults. If we tell our friends the good things about our spouse, we’re more likely to give a realistic representation of him or her.

Be interested
It’s easy to talk about our own experiences. But what does your spouse enjoy? Even if it’s something you don’t find exciting, ask questions and be engaged with what they’re excited about.

Ask their opinion
Is your spouse knowledgeable about something you may not know as much about? Maybe it’s sports, organization, or fashion — ask for their input.

Give your spouse the benefit of the doubt.
We can be tempted to think the worst when our expectations aren’t met. When our spouses fail to follow through on a promise, we have a choice. We can assume the worse and accuse them of not caring. Or, we can give the benefit of the doubt and assume their intentions weren’t to hurt us.

Trust your spouse’s decisions.

It’s easy to second guess or criticize a decision, but trusting our spouses shows we believe in their ability. At the end of the day, do you want to be right or do you want to be happily married?

Pray for them.

Someone wise once told me, “It’s hard to be mad at a person you are truly praying for.” Showing our love to and belief in our spouse starts when we ask God to bless them.

I hope this piece was helpful?

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