• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
  • We hope the site problems here are now solved, however, if you still have any issues, please start a ticket in Contact Us

  • The rule regarding AI content has been updated. The rule now rules as follows:

    Be sure to credit AI when copying and pasting AI sources. Link to the site of the AI search, just like linking to an article.

Two steps forward, ten steps back

dust2dust

New Member
Aug 13, 2007
2
0
✟30,112.00
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
In Relationship
Hello All!


I'm in a relationship with a man that has been married twice before, both times ending because his significant other cheated on him (he suffers from ED and he used to have a severe anger problem). ( I know, I know, divorce is bad.... but I'm willing to look past his past, as it were)

Back to the situA on hand. We've been together for 2 years, and during the last few months, he has come to an end of himself and has really been searching after God. He was a Christian before, but only knew the vengence and scary side of God. He's never known God as a caring and loving Father. He's been going to my church and has shown a complete 180 turn around in his attitude towards me and other people.
He's even mentioned the subject of marriage, something he had shied away from even having casual discussions about in the past, and if we had the discussions, it was alll negative. We've begun talking about marriage in a very positive way, until last night...everything backtracked.

We were at church and I wanted to show him the fellowship hall because I figured that would be the best place to have a reception....not being pushy, just seeing what he thought. He knows I already have things planned out for a wedding (stuff i've had since i was like 10) and he knows me and my two younger sisters enjoy watching Bridezilla, etc on tv (haha). And when we do get married, i want him involved, not just sitting bored on the side lines... and he's even said himself that when we get married he wants a real ceremony because his other marriages were at the county courthouse.....
at any rate, I showed it to him and he seemed very....fidgety and wanted to go back into the sanctuary and sit and he didn't even really look at the room. I was like, well okay thats fine. and didn't think anything of it until we were eating after church and I told him "I hope you didn't think I was trying in any way to rush you or push anything on you. I just wnated you to see the room and tell me if you thought it was pretty or not." and he goes, "oh no, its a beautiful room.....I was just tired and wanted to sit down". So I kinda just shrugged it off....

Later that night when we were sitting watching tv, we were watching som commercial about an evil wife and a whimp of a husband, and i was like, man, I hope I'm never like that when i'm a wife." and he asked me, "Why do you want to marry me any way?" and I explained to him, "You know that pull in your chest when you were little and you wanted something SOOOOOOOO BAD that you could feel it ripping a hole inside your heart?" and he said yeahhh, and I said, Thats why. When I think about you and I think about our life together as being married, thats how I feel... I ache inside... i want that blessing for us so much. Is that how you feel for me?" and he said, "No, all I feel is fear. I think of all my failures and I just can't fail again..." and so I said "Well, I will tell you this, if you look to me for all your answers, you will fail. I will fail you. If we look to God, and keep our eyes on him, we won't. it's that simple" and he just kinda shrugged and fell silent.

I'm just really confused.... I'm not being pushy, I've let him come to this marriage thing on his own, but he knows since we began our relationship, i dont date to date. I date because I know God has the man I'm supposed to marry out there, andI truly feel my significant other is for me. I do realize he thinks lowly of himself and I don't want to be married until he's emotionally and spiritually ready. I'm willing to wait as long as it takes, unless God tells me otherwise.... but does that make me wrong for looking around and not waiting til the last minute to make plans for that day? I guess I should keep my plans to myself until he actually asks me.... i dont know
I've always been looking for the best deals, because we will be paying for this wedding ourselves, and I've never let on to him that I have been looking...

I'm not sure whats going on, but he seemed to be making such,.... i guess progress, that i thought i could bring up the subject to him myself, since he had mentioned he wanted to be married to me....

grr. Help. :confused:


 

porterross

I miss Ronald Reagan
Jan 27, 2006
10,720
4,179
61
just this side of Heaven
✟52,331.00
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Libertarian
Uh, oh. Sounds like he's sooo not ready and that should be a huge concern to you. Having been married before myself, I can tell you that if I felt the least bit apprehensive about committing to the person I was seeing, it would be a huge red flag.

This isn't to say he won't come to be more confident in himself as a mate and the two of you as a couple, but given that he is focused on buidling his relationship with God right now, it might be wise to allow him the time to come to terms with that first. That may or may not be a long process, but it will, and should, be an intense undertaking for him.

I don't know how old you are, but I do know that you want to commit to him so badly that it hurts, is a bit troublesome, IMO. I would pray for you a more mutually balanced and deeply rooted sense of love rather than an emotional desire.

Please don't get so wrapped up in having a wedding and being married that you ignore the obvious warning signs of someone who doubts his own willingness to be the kind of husband you desire right now. It sounds like he's giving you all the signals of his doubt about a commitment as gently as possible. Were it me, I would back off as far as I could without completely letting go....yet. :pray:
 
  • Like
Reactions: PassionateOne
Upvote 0

PassionateOne

I say it, as I see it
Jan 13, 2007
1,840
445
Texas
✟34,187.00
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
Uh, oh. Sounds like he's sooo not ready and that should be a huge concern to you. Having been married before myself, I can tell you that if I felt the least bit apprehensive about committing to the person I was seeing, it would be a huge red flag.

This isn't to say he won't come to be more confident in himself as a mate and the two of you as a couple, but given that he is focused on buidling his relationship with God right now, it might be wise to allow him the time to come to terms with that first. That may or may not be a long process, but it will, and should, be an intense undertaking for him.

I don't know how old you are, but I do know that you want to commit to him so badly that it hurts, is a bit troublesome, IMO. I would pray for you a more mutually balanced and deeply rooted sense of love rather than an emotional desire.

Please don't get so wrapped up in having a wedding and being married that you ignore the obvious warning signs of someone who doubts his own willingness to be the kind of husband you desire right now. It sounds like he's giving you all the signals of his doubt about a commitment as gently as possible. Were it me, I would back off as far as I could without completely letting go....yet. :pray:

Yes, I agree with porter. :wave:

It sounds like your pretty reasonable in telling him not to look to you for the answers for his fears, but to trust in the Lord. But, if I were you I wouldn't keep planning a wedding (in the back of your mind) because it sounds like it's not going to happen with this particular guy. And maybe God is trying to show you the 'signs' of the that. And, unfortunately, if your bf has low self-esteem there will be nothing you can do to change that....it'll will have to be up to him.

I know this isn't the advice your looking for....JMHO.

:prayer: for you guys!
 
  • Like
Reactions: porterross
Upvote 0