• Home
  • Shop
  • Cindi’s Speaking
    • Cindi’s Event Schedule
    • Book Cindi for Your Event
    • Cindi’s Speaking Topics
    • What Cindi Believes
    • Endorsements
  • Coaching Services
    • Coaching Credentials
    • Fees For Coaching/Consulting Service
    • Do We Fit?
    • Cindi’s Coaching/Consulting Options
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Encouragement
    • Articles of Encouragement
    • Encouragement for Couples
  • About Cindi
  • Contact
Type and hit ENTER
  • Home
  • Shop
  • Cindi’s Speaking
    • Cindi’s Event Schedule
    • Book Cindi for Your Event
    • Cindi’s Speaking Topics
    • What Cindi Believes
    • Endorsements
  • Coaching Services
    • Coaching Credentials
    • Fees For Coaching/Consulting Service
    • Do We Fit?
    • Cindi’s Coaching/Consulting Options
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Encouragement
    • Articles of Encouragement
    • Encouragement for Couples
  • About Cindi
  • Contact
GET CONNECTED
cart
  • Home
  • Shop
  • Cindi’s Speaking
    • Cindi’s Event Schedule
    • Book Cindi for Your Event
    • Cindi’s Speaking Topics
    • What Cindi Believes
    • Endorsements
  • Coaching Services
    • Coaching Credentials
    • Fees For Coaching/Consulting Service
    • Do We Fit?
    • Cindi’s Coaching/Consulting Options
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Encouragement
    • Articles of Encouragement
    • Encouragement for Couples
  • About Cindi
  • Contact
  • 0 Items : $0.00cart
The Magnet Syndrome – A Guest Blog by Janet Thompson
Share
Marriage

The Magnet Syndrome – A Guest Blog by Janet Thompson

May 27, 2014
-
Posted by Cindi

Is your husband drawn to you like a magnet? That can be wonderful until you’re stumbling over him at every turn!  My friend, Author Janet Thompson,  shares some insights from her book Dear God, He’s Home! that I believe will be helpful to you or anyone you know who has a stay-at-home husband.

Listen in on Janet’s conversation with God:

Dear God,
When we were first married, my husband Dave followed me around the house and wanted to do everything with me. He didn’t have any friends or interests beside his job, golf, and me. We quickly remedied that dilemma by finding him friends, serving at church, and starting guitar lessons.

Now that he’s retired and home 24/7, I’m reliving those early years. It seems like every time I turn around, I’m running into him right behind me, or he’s occupying the same space I’m trying to claim. I can’t make a move without him showing up. I try having my “quiet time” outside, only to look up and see him coming out with his Bible ready to settle in across the table from me . . . which would be OK except he doesn’t read quietly . . . he talks!

I get up early and go for my walk, expecting him to be done in the kitchen when I return. To my chagrin, he doesn’t think about eating breakfast, until I do! If I get my vitamins out of the cupboard, he needs his. Bottles fall and pills fly as we reach around each other trying to grab ours off the shelf.

When I go into the bathroom to put on my makeup and dry my hair, he remembers he needs to shave. Since we only have one sink and mirror, that’s a big problem. Last night, I was trying to take a shower, and he had to go to the bathroom, even though he had just been in there flossing his teeth!

It’s like having a perpetual shadow! Lord, I need some space. Why does everything I do, trigger the exact same response in him? If I change my routine to accommodate him, he changes his routine to match mine—he’s like a magnet. Help! I love my husband, but I’m stumbling over him at every turn.

Mentoring Moment with Janet:

My friend, Anita, and I were walking together one morning and I was lamenting about what Dave and I now laughingly call the “Magnet Syndrome.” Anita said she and her husband experience the same thing and then she shared their “breakfast dance” in the kitchen.

Anita also said she had been giving this phenomenon a lot of thought and concluded that the more time you spend together, the more you’re on the same “wave length.” You start thinking alike, your schedules are similar, and your body clocks become synchronized. You’re both hungry simultaneously and sometimes even need to use the bathroom at the same time!

Then she pointed out this is how God intended marriage: husbands and wives become as one. When we each went our separate ways during the day, we had to transition back to being “one” when we saw each other again at night. 24/7 togetherness reflects the oneness of Genesis 2:24:

“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Pondering Anita’s words, I realized how right she was. Instead of operating as two separate people in a marriage, 24/7 husbands and wives transition into one body—spiritually and physically. Exactly what we all agreed to in our marriage vows when the pastor said, “I present to you Mr. and Mrs. _____________, (fill in your names) united in marriage. What God has joined together, let no man separate.”

Janet Thompson is an international speaker, freelance editor, and award-winning author of 19 books. For more on living with a man who is retired, disabled, unemployed,  or home from deployment, check out Janet Thompson’s book, Dear God, He’s Home! For more on Janet’s speaking, writing, and mentoring ministry, see her website.

 

May 27, 2014
No comments yet
Cindi
Cindi McMenamin is an award-winning author and national speaker who helps women find strength for the soul. She has nearly 30 years experience ministering to women and inspiring them to let God meet their emotional needs, grow stronger through their alone times, and pursue their dreams with boldness.
← PREVIOUS POST
Battle weary? Try These 3 Steps to Keep the Peace
NEXT POST →
Three Questions to Ask (to guide you toward your dream)

Leave a Comment

Your feedback is valuable for us. Your email will not be published.
Cancel Reply

Please wait...
Submit Comment

Categories
Also Find Cindi on:

Cindi’s Books Also Available On:
kindlenook
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM
  • You Are Not Alone -- Jesus Grieved, Too - Are you grieving the loss of someone you love or dreading your ability to endure something? You are not alone. Here are five more emotions Jesus expressed and they just might be the same feelings you are having right now. 
https://strengthforthesoul.com/5-more-emotions-jesus-expressed/
  • Do Your Emotions Line up with God's? 
Did Jesus ever get frustrated, angry, exhausted? I looked at just five of the emotions Jesus expressed to see how our emotions line up with His. Read my blog and tell me what you think: http://strengthforthesoul.com/do-your-emotions-line-up-with-gods/
  • Can God Really Hear Me? You may be surprised to know what God does as you open up your life and share your story with someone else. Be encouraged by Jayme Hull's guest blog and your chance to win a copy of her newest book.  Read her guest blog here: http://strengthforthesoul.com/can-god-really-hear-me-a-guest-blog-by-jayme-hull/
  • Are You Ever Accused of Being Critical? I was recently -- by my grown daughter -- and I never intended to sound critical OR argumentative. Here's the story in my weekly blog post, as well as what  God laid on my heart about how I was coming across and what to do about it: https://strengthforthesoul.com/taming-that-critical-spirit/
  • 5 MORE Ways to Revive Your Alone Time with God -- You loved last week's suggestions, so here are FIVE MORE  ways to help you experience more meaningful time with God and His Word: https://strengthforthesoul.com/5-more-ways-to-revive-your-quiet-time-with-god/
  • You're not alone if it's difficult for you to have meaningful time with God. Here are 5 ways to reignite your quiet time so you can grow closer to God in 2019. https://strengthforthesoul.com/5-ways-to-reignite-your-quiet-time-with-god/
  • Do you need a Christmas miracle? - [Campaign URL]  My friend, Betsy Stowe, will never forget the Christmas God came through for her family.  Be encouraged and find hope for YOUR  story, too. https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/christmas-and-advent/when-you-need-a-christmas-miracle.html
  • You may be the only Jesus some people see this Christmas season. Here's how to not miss your opportunity.  https://strengthforthesoul.com/three-ways-to-let-others-see-christ-in-your-life/
  • Here are four tips from Author @JaymeHull to help you get started mentoring the next generation. Leave a comment at the end of her blog and you could win one of her two books on mentoring. https://strengthforthesoul.com/do-you-need-help-through-lifes-transitions/
  • I came home to find the portuguese translation of ‘When a Woman Inspires Her Husband’ (!!!)
~~~
4 of my books have been translated in Portuguese! Such an honor!
~~~
#authorsofinstagram#cindimcmenamin#writingcoach#strengthforthesoul#portuguese#authorslife#whenawomaninspiresherhusband
  • Is it Friday yet?? #cindimcmenamin#strengthforthesoul#authorsofinstagram#authorslife#dramafree
  • “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 🛶
~~~
#strengthforthesoul#cindimcmenamin#dramafree#authorsofinstagram#authorslife

SIGN UP FOR CINDI'S BLOG/NEWSLETTER

  • ABOUT ME
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright Strength for the Soul, 2018

The Magnet Syndrome – A Guest Blog by Janet Thompson | Strength for the Soul