One: A Marriage Devotional by Jimmy EvansSample

A Little Care Repair Kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. (Proverbs 16:24, NLT) Every couple faces communication challenges in their marriage. I’ve faced my own challenges, taught on the subject for many years, and learned there is one element necessary for success—caring. That’s right. It doesn’t matter what communication techniques you may know and understand—if you don’t care, it won’t make a difference. The actual breakdown of communication in marriage typically begins when attitudes begin to change. For instance, when you first began dating, you had long conversations about your lives, future, expectations, etc. And things were great! Why? Because you cared! You worked to understand each other and affirm the importance of what the other person had to say. This is one reason you fell in love and became willing to commit in a deeper way to the relationship. Fast forward into the marriage when communication begins to break down and you’ll find a different story. The lack of faceto-face, meaningful time together combined with sarcastic retorts, eye rolling, negative facial gestures and just a basic lack of caring about what your spouse is feeling or saying will devastate the atmosphere of positive communication. For your marriage to be successful, you’re going to have to have an open line of communication. For that to happen, you need to feel safe enough to share your thoughts and feelings with each other. That will only take place if you feel as though the other person really cares. Caring is communicated by eye contact, a positive countenance, providing positive feedback as your spouse shares, valuing his or her input, and simply doing anything you can to let them know you care. Also, as you care about your partner, it will become easier to understand the opposite sex. It’s really not that hard to figure out the person you are married to if you really care about him or her. However, if you don’t have personal concern for each other, your marriage can quickly become a dark mystery with danger at every turn. Ready to try a little “care repair” in your marriage? It will go a long way toward getting the communication in your marriage back on track. When that happens, you’ll automatically experience a rise in the romantic temperature of your relationship! As long as you keep communicating how much you care, the temperature of romance will continue to increase. Talk It Out | Have you communicated lately how much you care about each other? Are you experiencing a breakdown in communication because of some of the negative traits listed above? If so, talk about ways to make positive changes in these areas. Walk It Out | Show your spouse how much you care by making eye contact and giving positive feedback during your next conversation.