Daily Answers: Improving my marriage

​For years I felt like my husband put in more effort in our marriage than I did. I could tell you lots of excuses like I was busy raising the children, or needed to keep the house clean, or do my church service. I prayed often about what to do, but only felt like I should try harder and I didn't know how to do that. About a year-and-a-half ago I received the revelation to record daily what I appreciated about my husband. I've done that and slowly our relationship has grown. Today in my morning scripture study, I was given a better understanding of how that happened.

My question for today was, "How can I improve my marriage?" Before my scripture study, I ask in prayer what my question should be and that was the first one that settled into my mind. I questioned my question because I feel like our marriage is strong right now. Here are the phrases I noticed clearly from Mosiah 4:1-12: "receive forgiveness, remission of sins, his goodness, his matchless power, his wisdom, his patience, his long-suffering, put trust in the Lord, receiveth salvation, see that ye do them, grow in the knowledge of what is just and true." What I learned was that when I prayed to improve my marriage and was ready to repent, I received guidance. I am still trying to understand the process of repent, and I'm coming to understand that repentance doesn't mean never committing the sin again. It means turning to the Lord. I didn't understand all that needed to happen in my marriage, but the Lord did. He has "matchless power, wisdom, patience, long-suffering." He knew that by noticing and appreciating my husband, my heart would be softened. It wasn't my husband that needed to change. It was me.
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I am grateful that when I was ready to repent, the Lord showed me a simple step that had miraculous results.