Eva & Michelle: ...her mouth!

EVA: How can a woman keep a relationship strong with the wonder of words?

Michelle: First by examining those words. Are they negative? Critical? This leaves a lot to be desired where a man is concerned. Do your words make them feel good? Remember that a man's heart is shaped just like God's and it seeks honor, respect, praise, and encouragement. The woman is basically the period on the end of a man's sentence. The finisher. We have a lot to do with how they turn out in life by our responses to them. Remember that behind the heart of every man is a little boy waiting to be nurtured. Also, remember to listen. They want to know they've been heard just as women do.

Eva: My husband says to me, "Speak to me like you are speaking to one of your friends." On those days when I'm having a tough time, it's a reminder that I should love him greater than all others.

Michelle: Men like to feel as if they are a priority.

Eva: What are the 20 things you say a man will notice by simply looking at a woman?

Michelle: There's 20? (laughs)

Eva: (Laughs with her) Okay, give us the top of the list.

Michelle: Eyes. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, so those eyes need to be full of light. You can wear eye makeup but it won't hide bitterness. You gotta work on the inside if you want a man to see your beauty.

Eva: Do you think that's the first thing a man looks at; a woman's eyes?

Michelle: Upon approaching and talking, yes. The eyes, the lips...do they invite with a smile? Of course he checks out her figure and each one likes a different part. Some are leg men and some are wing men.

(Eva & Michelle laugh)

Michelle: The hair. Is it soft? Touchable? Hands. How do you shake his hand? Don't break his hand...

Eva: But I also find that men don't like shaking hands with a fish.

Michelle: No. They don't like weak. They want to feel as though they are shaking a woman's hand.

Eva: That leads me to the next question. You say that "a woman's touch goes beyond the mere physical." Explain that.

Michelle: Her touch in the home. The very presence of a woman is a touch. When a woman walks into the room she adds a touch to the room. We have to be cognizant of the attitude we bring into the room.

Eva: Michelle, you are reminding me of how much my husband loves me! He says, "I love what happens when you walk into a room." But I have to be honest with you, walking into a people-filled room is the most difficult thing I do. Even as a speaker...if I'm supposed to be there...it's the most difficult. But my husband says he likes the way people respond when I walk into the room. Michelle, I always ask fellow authors to pray with me. Would you pray for our women and the men whose lives they will touch.

Michelle: Heavenly Father, I pray that you will help us all as women to rediscover the beauty you've placed in all of us. Within the simple things. Within the things that come naturally to us. I pray, Father, that you will give us wisdom. That as women who know you, Lord, that we will not hide behind your skirt in order to shirk the responsibility of the ministry you've given us to men. That we would not over-spiritualize what should be to us as natural. Help us to find the joy in listening, in looking and feeling our best, of making a house a home, of serving--not just food, but ourselves. Lord I ask that you would teach us the joys of intimacy. Help us to rediscover those secret joys. That as we minister to the men in our lives as unto you that our families will be strengthened and we will be a glory and a testament to who you are. Amen.

Eva: Amen.

Award-winning national speaker, Eva Marie Everson is the author of Shadow of Dreams, Summon the Shadows and the recently released and highly anticipated Shadows of Light. She can be contacted for comments or for speaking engagement bookings by clicking here.