Hey there, Bella Rose. Thank you so much. Sorry, I acted like I was talking to Bella Rose. I am Bella Rose. I am talking to you and I thank you for joining me. So what I'm doing here is reading an excerpt of my book in hopes to encourage you in your marriage, in your intimacy, in your walk with God.

I'm doing that every Tuesday, so I thank you for joining me. This is a little unusual if you

are a new, new to the podcast. I took a couple months off for the summer to focus on what I think God wants me to focus on at this point,

but we'll be back in August, back to DYM.

So you can go ahead and check out the many interviews, 130-something interviews, maybe more than that.

So go to delightyourmarriage.com to listen to all of those

wonderful interviews with amazing women and a couple men and different topics.

So lots and lots of different topics.

All right, so today's reading, though,

to encourage and inspire you, are you unintentionally hurting him? Your insecurities pain him.

Are you the kind of lady who likes roses on Valentine's Day? Do you enjoy a special date planned for your anniversary?

Or do you expect a surprise gift for your hubby on your birthday? These may seem like no-brainers for you,

but for him it can be very scary. It feels like his abilities as a husband are on trial. I misunderstood my husband in this area for a long time.

I thought that he didn't want to bring me flowers or celebrate special days for me. But further,

my mind would make up a story that he didn't think I was worth these niceties.

These are important to me, so it hurt when he missed an occasion or put no thought into a celebration-worthy day.

We eventually were able to uncover the truth. He felt vulnerable every time these occasions came around. He was so worried

about whether I would like what he prepared. So often he would choose the safer route of doing

our normal routines instead of anything special. Of course these routines I'm typically satisfied

with, but on these days they would make me very disappointed.

What he couldn't understand was the pain he caused me.

He was, or his quote-unquote forgetting, was avoiding the risk of being judged or letting me down.

...