Angie’s Marriage Column - Wednesday – September 12, 2007
Spouse Keeps Walking in and out of Marriage

 

 

Marriage Question: Angie, how do you persevere to continue to pray for your spouse when he wants out one minute and spend times with you the next - am I wrong to keep letting my spouse walk in & out of my life?

 

Response: No you are not wrong at all in having those feelings. I think it would be hard to live with someone who is wishy-washy about their attitude toward their marriage, which sounds like your husband is. Either that, or he is afraid to get too close in fear of getting hurt for one reason or another. You have not given me very much info to go on and so I can only speculate why your husband would want to work on the marriage one moment and walk out on it the next. 

 

Your husband seems very confused to me and since I am not sure what to say about that at this time, I can only give you the added encouragement to keep yourself spiritually aware by staying focused on Christ. It is not by your own power of perseverance but by asking the Lord to help us in our weakness and He then blesses us with the Power of the Holy Spirit within us, which gives us the faith and strength to persevere.

 

So that's why it is so important to stay focused on Jesus Christ for your attitude and actions in the marriage. We are actually powerless to be the loving and forgiving people to our spouse without Christ in our hearts and minds on a daily basis.

 

Communicate with your husband about his indecisiveness. I would have a good talk with your husband and see why he is behaving lackadaisical and confused about his position in your marriage. Express your feelings about this situation in a good way, always keeping the conversation geared toward yourself by using “I feel” words. You want these conversations to be productive and resolve the issue, and it can when you use phrases such as those listed below.

 

"I feel like…"

"I would like to know…”

"If I could…"

“I wish that I…”

 

 Try and not use finger pointing and accusing phrases as these below. This will not help your husband to come out with his feelings but will keep him tight lipped and he will probably walk away.

 

"You are like…"

"You make me feel…"

"What is wrong with…?"

"Why are you so…?"

"I can’t stand it when...”

 

When you speak in a finger pointing way, or in an accusatory manner, he will shut down and not give you any real answers. What you want to do is first express yourself in a good, productive way, so he will want to return the favor. You see how that works?

 

For an example:

Say---"I feel that we should try and spend more quality time with each other so we can have a more fruitful marriage, what do you think?"

                            

Don't say --- "You should try and spend more time with me, that's what I think!"

                            

Say--- "I think that every time you leave, it makes us more disconnected from one another, and I feel that for me, I could love you more if we could spend more time together.  What do you think?"

                            

Don't Say---"Every time you leave, it makes me disconnected from you. Don't you love me? Why don't you want to work on our marriage? I have a hard time loving you because you are always walking out. What's wrong with you?"

 

Of course, I do not know your circumstances, so you will have to be ready and prepared with what you are going to say. Communication is a very important part of marriage, and so much frustration and confusion can be totally eradicated by productive communication between spouses.  Ask God to give you the words to say and the faith to continue persevering for your marriage. Work on spending more quality time together doing those things you both enjoy.

 

Article Resources:

 

Choosing to Work on Your Marriage

 

How To Apply Productive Communication into Your Marriage

 

The Rock of Love For Marriage

 

 

Scripture References:

 

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Roman's 5:3,4 NIV)

 

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. (Hebrews 12: 1,2 NIV)

 

 

Until next Wednesday, Take care and God bless! -- Angie

 

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