Love means truly forgiving and forgetting hurts caused by your spouse. This can be difficult, especially after abuse or infidelity, but many couples overcome such challenges, often emerging stronger. Forgiving allows your own healing, freeing you from bitterness that harms health and peace. If your spouse is repentant and working to change, embrace forgiveness and don’t let past mistakes control your future. Love keeps no record of wrongs; it protects and heals.

Love’s goal is to create a safe, happy environment where your spouse feels protected and valued. Abuse contradicts true love, as it harms rather than shields. A loving home is a refuge, not a place of pain or fear. If you genuinely love your partner, you will never harm them physically, emotionally, or sexually. Showing love means turning your arms into a sanctuary, not weapons, fostering trust and comfort in your relationship.

Trust is essential to love; it does not assume the worst without reason or base suspicion on gossip. Without trust, relationships crumble under jealousy, spying, and control, sometimes leading to stalking. If trust is broken, such as through infidelity, seek counseling and rebuild trust gradually. True love hopes and perseveres even during hardships, believing that obstacles and setbacks can lead to growth. Love persists and never surrenders to despair.

True love never fails; it can revive even the most troubled marriages if given a chance. Whether you seek forgiveness or fear giving a second chance, love’s power heals and restores intimacy and connection. Failing your spouse through cheating or abuse is the real failure. Embrace love’s principles as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8—patient, kind, enduring—so your marriage flourishes through every challenge it faces.