5 Practical Ways Wives Can Revive Their Marriage
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I’ll admit, I never dreamed I’d write a post about intimacy in marriage.
I’m a bit shy when it comes to topics like this, and yet it is impossible to talk about revival in marriage without talking about revival in the intimate part of marriage.
While I tried to approach this subject delicately, I must preface it by saying that this post is for married women’s eyes only.
With all of the busy and messy that is life for us right now, it would be so easy to let intimacy slip to a lesser role in our marriage.
To be honest, at the end of the day I’m tired and all I want to do is curl up with a good movie or book and just veg.
But intimacy takes purpose. Intention. And energy.
Yet, failure to invest in this vital role in marriage only gives the enemy a foothold. Lack of intimacy in marriage causes apathy and distance to grow.
It’s why Paul urged married couples to not deprive one another of this sacred act in marriage.
And intimacy is sacred.
Despite our mommy fatigue and long to-do lists, we need a revival of intimacy in our marriage. Not only is it healthy for our bodies, it is healthy for our souls and spirits, too.
Yes – even our spirit!
5 Practical Ways Wives Can Revive Their Marriage
1. Pray
You may not have expected this to be the first step on my list, but let me tell you, prayer is so vital to ever area of our life! And we often ignore it, or fail to understand just how important it truly is.
Do you pray about your intimate relationship with your husband?
Maybe you have low libido, or none at all.
Perhaps you’ve allowed busy-ness or even bitterness to turn off your desire for your husband.
Have you prayed about this?
We should daily pray for the intimacy in our marriage: that our husbands and we stay pure in our thoughts and hearts, that our intimacy grows and deepens, and that our marriage bed stays pure.
2. Adjust your thinking
Instead of thinking about how tired we are and how much we’d just love to curl up with a book than work up the energy for our husbands, we should adjust our thinking.
Think about how much fun you will have.
What new exciting thing you can try tonight.
Think back to what your sex life was like when you were first married and try to recreate some of those fun times. Maybe your favorite CD or candle, or even get some new lingerie.
One of the biggest barriers between an apathetic love life and a thriving love life is our thinking.
A simple adjustment in the way we think about it can have a profound affect in how we approach intimacy, and even our desire for it on a regular basis.
Read about The Day the Lord Invaded My Sex Life
3. Plan ahead
While there’s a lot to be said for spontaneity, planning ahead can be fun and exciting.
Plan a day that is good for both of you, and then send each other texts throughout the day, plan what you’ll wear, what you’ll do, and then put the kids to bed early and make the whole night fun and exciting.
Taking time to prepare your mind for a night of intimacy and fun with your husband can help raise your libido and help you come to orgasm more easily.
You can even set a specific night each week that is reserved for intimacy and follow this step every single week!
4. Take it slow
As you probably already know, women warm up more slowly than men do.
For a lot of men, just thinking about having sex with their wife is enough to put them in the mood. But we are far more complicated than that.
This is why foreplay is so important.
Sure, we can just skip it, give our husbands what they need, and then move on. But that’s not what God created intimacy for.
God didn’t create sex to just be a release of built up tension. He created it to be an avenue through which a husband and wife bond and continue to bond for a lifetime.
It’s more than a physical need – a primal desire, it’s an emotional and spiritual need that requires intentional care and nurturing.
Resist the urge to just “give in”.
Spend some time in preparing your heart and mind….and body to greet him with the same enthusiasm.
Even better – surprise him and initiate first. Take the lead every once in a while.
5. Don’t forget to care for yourself
Remember what I said about us being a little more complicated when it comes to our desire for intimacy?
There are all sorts of things that interrupt the delicate balance of hormones that God created and that contribute to a healthy libido.
If you find that you have an ongoing low libido, and you don’t know why, be sure to get checked out.
It could be that you have hormone disregulation, which could include thyroid dysfunction, adrenal fatigue, or chronic fatigue.
Check out my post: 5 War Room Prayers for Weary Women
Or it could be that you are in permenopause.
Working with a medical or health expert at properly regulating your hormones will help a lot.
Two very important things that contribute to healthy hormone function, that many moms fail to pay attention to, are sleep and a healthy diet.
Never underestimate the power of quality sleep.
Two things I try to do each night is
1) No use my phone or any device 1 hour before sleep. If I’m reading on my Kindle, I make sure to dim the screen.
2) Drink strong chamomile or lavender tea.
Check out my post 5 Ways Christian Women Should Care for Themselves
Diet is also very important.
Because of my own chronic battle with hormone disregulation, I’ve found that sticking to a strict ketogenic diet has helped me tremendously. I have created a blog and Facebook group dedicated to the ketogenic diet.
It has helped me get my cycles back to a steady 28-day cycle, has helped to increase my libido, and cured my PMS.
Intimacy plays such an integral role in the strength of marriage. If you find that you are needing a revival in the intimacy of your marriage, I hope that these tips will help you as much as they are helping me.
Resources for Marriage:
1. 30 Day Prayer Challenge for Marriage
Get 30% off of my 30 Day Prayer Challenge for Marriage today when you use the coupon code Marriage. Learn more about my 30 Day Prayer Challenge for Marriage here.
2. 14 Days of Agape Video-Based Bible Study
Get 30% off of the 14 Days of Agape Video-Based Bible Study when you use the coupon code Agape. Learn more about this exciting and revolutionary Bible study when you click here or the image below.
3. My Book Reviews
The Book That Took My Marriage from Good to Great
Silver Threads – a Look at the Older Women from Titus 2
When Marriage Isn’t What You Dreamed
4. My favorite books on marriage:
(You can also check these out in my online store)
Women Living Well: Find Your Joy in God, Your Man, Your Kids, and Your HomeMessy Beautiful Love: Hope and Redemption for Real-Life Marriages
Silver Threads: Weaving Godly Wisdom Into the Lives of Younger Women
The Unveiled Wife: Embracing Intimacy with God and Your Husband
Every Wife’s Choice: Loving Beyond the Mood of the Moment
Hope for the Hurting Wife: 30 Days of Practical Encouragement for Your Marriage
100 Prayers for Your Marriage: Draw Close to Each Other and Closer to God
Messy Beautiful Love: Hope and Redemption for Real-Life Marriages
The Good Wife’s Guide: Embracing Your Role as a Help Meet
The Power of a Praying® Wife
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts
The Act of Marriage: The Beauty of Sexual Love
5. More A Little R & R articles on marriage:
4 Powerful Ways to Invest Your Marriage
5 Ways to Revive Intimacy in Marriage
Wives Submit To Your Own Husbands
3 Ways to Tear Your House Down
Is Your Husband Your Spiritual Leader?
The Secret to Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman
Supporting Your Husband in the Ministry
Preventative Maintenance In Your Marriage
Thanks for sharing these tips. I’m gonna try and see if i can make my husband smile again. I know he will like this very much. God bless you.
Awwww – yes!! Go make that man smile!
What a great post! I love all your ideas and completely agree with them.
Life can just get so busy sometimes and it can become all too easy to push intimacy to the backburner, but it’s so important to focus on keeping it a priority and making time for intimacy.
Thanks for the awesome post. 🙂
Thank you so much for your encouragement. Yes – it is so important to keep it as a priority.