Women have this giant toggle switch and if it is turned “OFF” you will get absolutely nowhere. You might touch her exactly the right way, or say the perfect things, but her body does not respond. She acts like ice. Sometimes the switch will turn to “OFF” when she feels insecure about whether you really love her. She may test you to see if you will give up on her. If you pass the test the switch can flip to the “ON” position, and in an instant she can open up. So what does a woman need to feel to have her switch turned “ON”?

Safe

A woman must feel safe in her marriage bed. One small wrong comment, or even silence when she opens up or expresses her desires, can make her shrink back like a sea anemone. Watch for opportunities to notice how she stretches and affirm her with enthusiasm. Never share what goes on in your marriage bed. Even small comments or jokes about her lower drive, can feel like a stab in the back.

Physically,  take small steps to make your wife feel safe. If your beard feels like 60 grit sandpaper on her sensitive skin, then come to bed clean shaven when you want to treat her to oral stimulation. If you want to touch her most intimate parts,  keep  your hands clean, manicured and soft.  ( use coconut oil on a regular basis to soften your hands) Some women are sensitive to smells. Do you care enough about her to hop in the shower before sex? If you want  your wife to open up, then she must feel absolutely safe.

Relaxed

Women multi-task and handle all the little details of the day. But most are terrible at shutting off their brain to engage in the single focus of “becoming one”. During sex, she may be laying there thinking about the next load of laundry that needs to be changed.

Help your wife  transition from “mom extraordinaire” or “career woman” to THE MOST DESIRABLE WOMAN ON THE PLANET.  Offer to let her relax with a transition zone. With no expectations offer her bath, a walk, some time to read a book, whatever she wants. Give her a massage to relax her body. Help her download her brain by listening to her talk through the details of the day, or the next days tasks. Suggest she make a list of what is rattling around in her brain so she can give you her undivided attention.

Loved

If your wife only feels loved on days you hope to get lucky, or even worse the hour before sex,  she will start feeling used. One of the simplest and most practical books on marriage is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Read it with your wife and learn how to love her more effectively.  Hold her hand, stroke her arm, or offer to hold her when she has had a bad day. Turn off the screen and give her your undivided attention. Talk, play a game, go for a walk or look at photos of great memories together. Make your wife feel loved 365 days a year.

Known

God created sex to know each other and your wife wants you to know her. She wants you to be so intrigued by her body and amazed at the many different ways that it works. Men typically have this attitude “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it“. Just because it works, does not mean that you are experiencing all there is to enjoy.  Enjoy discovering new things about your wife every time you have sex. In order to know each other during sex, you must be  present, use all of your 5 senses and not worry about getting from point A to point B.

Sometimes wives test whether you are really there during sex by shutting down to something that she has enjoyed in the past. If you don’t notice and continue to go through your routine regardless of how she responds she will think to herself, “He doesn’t even see me. He is not really here. He is just going on without me.”

If you notice when her body  shuts down and try another path, she will think to herself, “He noticed. He is really here.” Even though you cannot read your wife’s mind, you can learn to read her body. Don’t just rub her, but truly feel her and get to know her and react to how she reacts, whether it is negatively or positively.

Beautiful

Feeling beautiful is one of the hardest things for a woman and yet one of her greatest desires. In those moments when she truly feels beautiful, she will have the confidence to share her body in ways that will drive you crazy.

So how do you help  your wife feel beautiful? Ultimately, she must believe that God created her absolutely perfect, unique and with a special God ordained purpose. Constantly point your wife to God and how much He loves her, no matter what her past, what she has done, or how she struggles. God’s love is not conditional.

Men, keep your eyes pure so that your God given visual lust is completely satisfied by feasting on your wife. Tell her with your words how beautiful she is. Show her with your eyes how she makes your heart beat. Affirm her beauty inside and out, even when she does not believe it herself. This is a battle we are in.

Wanted

As your wife gains confidence and you build trust together, it will turn your wife on to know that you want her. She no longer wants you to ask, “do you want to?” but she trusts your choice and  wants you to act on it.

Let me give you a couple of examples…. If you desire to pleasure your wife with oral sex and she thinks that you are doing it just so that you can have an orgasm, she may turn off her switch. You see, she doesn’t want  you to do it because it will bring her orgasm to orgasm. She wants you to do it because you love giving her oral sex.

Similarly, if you are try to arouse your wife in a way that you think will bring her pleasure, she may shut down her switch. Your wife wants you to touch her because you love touching her and you can’t keep your hands off of her, not because you think she will like it.

This whole “wanting to be taken” phenomenon is our romantic notion that if we go out on a hot date, and seduce your eyes, when you finally get home, you won’t be able to help but firmly hold us, passionately kiss us and “take us”. You want us so much – you can’t help yourself. Realistic or not, as we mature and trust you, that is what our heart desires.

I realize this whole switch thing is totally unfair.

I suppose we use it as a from of protection because, sex is that vulnerable for us. We use it to reassure ourselves that you really do love us. Will you give up on us or will you stick with us and pull us out of the muck. I think we also use the switch to stretch our husbands. Our intuition is so accurate that we know if you are just rubbing us or if you are feeling us. We know when you are enjoying it, or if you are merely doing it for our enjoyment.

Don’t give up on us. We want to get there, but sometimes we need to lean on your strong shoulders and assurances. Does this make any sense to anyone?