I have only recently decided to do weekly devotionals. I would like to share this weeks with you now, which I have called "Your Most Important Relationship". This will be an ongoing series where I will discuss how to cope with difficult relationships and how to improve our relationship with others. I really do appreciate questions and comments on every devotion I do. So ask your questions, leave your comments. We are not alone in our struggles. Let's encourage and support one another!

Well ladies let's talk a little bit about relationships. I don?t know if you struggle with them or if all of your relationships are perfect. Maybe you and your family and friends get along perfectly all of the time, but I know my friends and I sometimes find ourselves in a struggle with husbands, significant others, children, parents, co-workers and others that are close to us. My partner in ministry and I recognized that we always had our greatest struggles right before a time of ministry. What do you think about that? Who do you? think was trying to get that mess stirred up and why? Well God in his infinite wisdom opened our eyes to the trick of the enemy and we don?t have this struggle any more. I encourage you to journal what is going on and look for the pattern in your relationship issues.

Do you want to make your evenings a little sweeter AND leave a lasting impression on your children? Meet- If you are a stay-at-home mom or you get home from work before your spouse does, try to meet your spouse at the door when he or she comes home from work. Some suggest "dropping everything" and rallying up the kids to meet them at the door, but you can decide which method works best for you.

To get your relationship is on track, we can focus in on the romantic part of marriage. I always suggest the book, "The Five Love Languages" by Dr. Gary Chapman. It is an awesome book and it helped our marriage tremendously. If you are not familiar with it, it breaks down the 5 basic needs of people: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. Yes, a lot of men fall into the category of Physical Touch (and we know that they are just wired that way) but most of us have a Primary and Secondary Love Language, so you're not done when you figure out the first one.

Marriage relationships are fascinating to me. I love watching how couples treat one another and how they relate to each other. When I observe other people's relationships, sometimes I learn a lot. I learn what attitudes I want to exhibit more of within my own marriage relationship and I also see harmful behavior that I want to stay away from. One thing I am learning not only from observation but also through growth in my own marriage is how crucial it is to encourage your spouse. It is amazing to me how we can treat other people better than our own husband and/or wife at times.

One of the toughest things that can emotionally affect the closeness in a marriage relationship is when you find your spouse to be depressed or discouraged. When we love someone we tend to feel what he is feeling whether it's happiness or sadness. We share that emotion because of our connectedness. But when your spouse drifts into a state of depression it can be isolating - for both of you.

My husband went to Kenya, Africa a few summers ago on a Missions trip for two weeks. It was the first time we had ever been away from one another for that long of a time. I was really excited for him, as he had always wanted to see Africa. I also knew that his trip might be an emotional one with new experiences and opportunities.

The little bit of time and effort it takes you to ensure the spark stays in your union is worth it. If you are attentive, loving, and make little efforts towards your husband, he will catch that mood and start to make little efforts in your direction as well. Don't get complacent and neglect each other emotionally or allow complacency to rob your marriage of its enjoyment.

It is very interesting how the lines of common sense seem to get blurred in marriage. Things we know in our head seem to get lost as we are propelled by emotions. There are some basic attributes that will help strengthen or tear down your marriage. As simple as they are, they are easily set aside or overlooked. So let's take a look and get a good reminder right now of the important "do's" and "dont's" in a marriage.

I was listening to someone speak on marriage. They were talking about all of the griping that husbands and wives do. We tend to complain a lot about our spouse's and what they fail to do around our homes and in our marriages.