{"id":754,"date":"2025-10-29T10:17:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianregency.com\/blog\/?p=754"},"modified":"2025-10-29T10:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:17:30","slug":"how-to-maintain-a-flourishing-husband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/29\/how-to-maintain-a-flourishing-husband\/","title":{"rendered":"“How to Maintain a Flourishing Husband”"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was about to be married, the women of my church threw me a shower, at which each of them gave me a favorite recipe to put in a cookbook for our new home. And though I still use Marion’s directions for teriyaki chicken, and though Sandy’s roasted veggies are still a favorite at our house, the real treasure in that cookbook isn’t the recipes. It’s the marriage advice each woman wrote down alongside her recipe.<\/p>

\"Fire<\/a><\/div>\n

Since this June has been all about marriage here at Regency Reflections, I thought I’d pass on the best of that advice – the advice that’s proved the most true in this first decade of my marriage. And since it comes from a woman who’s currently in the middle of her\u00a0fourth<\/em> decade of marriage – my mom, Betsy Barber – you can trust that it has more wisdom than anything I could come up with out of my short experience.<\/p>\n

So, here they are, the words I see every time I turn to my mother’s recipe for the perfect pie crust:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0For those of you who haven’t had thirty years practice interpreting my mom’s handwriting, here’s what it says:<\/p>\n

1. Constant prayer<\/p>\n

2. Frequent, joyful sex<\/p>\n

3. Regular time spent together<\/p>\n

4. Continual forgiveness, continual repentance.<\/p>\n

5. Conscious support of his career and hobbies<\/p>\n

6. Encourage 10X more often than any critique.<\/p>\n

And there at the bottom, added in after the original composition, is my favorite part: “Remember – if it’s good for Adam, it is good for you.”<\/p>\n

That’s the part that I hadn’t read anywhere else in my marriage prep, and it’s the part I still wish more people talked about when they talk to married couples: since you’re one flesh, what’s good for one of you – what builds one up, what encourages one, what heartens one – benefits the other. Anything that helps my husband helps me. If something makes him a better Christian, if anything gives him joy, if anything delights his heart, it’s to my benefit that he has it, because it means I’ll be married to a better, happier, godlier man.<\/p>\n

And the same is true the other way around. If something encourages me, if something builds me up, it’s to Adam’s benefit to see that I get it, because then he enjoys a marriage to a happier, healthier, godlier wife.<\/p>\n

I could go on about the other points on that list, but this blog entry is supposed to be kept at a reasonable length. Suffice it to say: all the points on that list are good . . . especially the second one. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Question for You:<\/strong><\/p>\n

What’s your best piece of advice for a new bride?<\/p>\n

Peace of Christ to you,<\/p>\n

Jessica Snell<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally posted 2012-06-27 10:00:00. <\/small><\/p>

\"Listen<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was about to be married, the women of my church threw me a shower, at which each of them gave me a favorite recipe to put in a cookbook for our new home. And though I still use Marion’s directions for teriyaki chicken, and though Sandy’s roasted veggies are still a favorite at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[85,81,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love-and-romance","category-personal-stories","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t