Reflections of The Love Challenge

When I thought of The Love Challenge I had my own relationship in mind.  I wanted to be more creative in finding ways to express love and gratitude with my husband. One Sunday evening I started jotting down ideas about how to express love and as I looked over my list I realized that others may benefit from the information. At that time I had about 10 things on my list and decided I would share the info on my blog as a Challenge for others to join in and express love in their own relationship. I knew I wanted the Challenge to be at least thirty days (studies show that a habit can be formed in 21-30 days), but I did not have thirty days worth of material.  During that brainstorming period God told me to just write and that He would guide me along the way, so I did just that…. I wrote! I created my list and each day wrote to the topic of the day.  I allowed the order of the list for The Love Challenge to flow naturally from making the commitment to do the challenge, to verbally express love and gratitude, doing and saying loving & gracious things in your relationship, spending quality time together, healing time, a weekly review, and of course a celebration. The Love Challenge grew from my personal experience as a woman, wife, mother, sister, friend, therapist, but the wisdom of the Challenge was guided by God. I had three goals of The Love Challenge: 1.) Explore more creative ways to express love and gratitude to my husband. 2.) Share the Good News with others that would like their love to grow. 3.) That the information would transform at least one person, transform their heart and enhance the love in their relationship.  All it takes is one person to make a commitment to change and those changes can shift the entire relationship into improvement.  No relationship is perfect, but I pray that The Love Challenge has made some relationships better!

How was The Love Challenge for you? If I haven’t already I would like to hear from you.  As the writer of The Love Challenge I was excited to share, eager, and also anxious.  The anxiety stemmed from my commitment to write and post to my blog daily while I still maintained order in my marriage, in my family, and in my home.  Fortunately, in that commitment the only thing I sacrificed was sleep.  Initially I thought it was my time that was scarified, but I now realize that my time was given, not sacrificed.  As a participant in The Love Challenge some days were easier than others, but what I appreciated most about participating in the Challenge was my intention.  Each day I had to do something with intent and it kept me focused on my love for my husband. When I stay focused on my love for him I have little to no time to live in the lack. I have received great feedback and testimonies from others from The Love Challenge.  I am happy to hear that others have been blessed by The Love Challenge.  The personal statements shared with me have been a reminder to continue to write; not for my glory, but for God’s glory. Thank you to each and every one of you!