Help! I know I'm called to marriage but i'm aging and my partner is far from ready!

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I agree with you regarding fears about fertility, but as you age you may be more at risk for certain medical complications. However, that to me isn’t big enough risk to justify rushing into marriage with someone you’re not sure about, since in Catholicism you don’t get a do-over and must stay married till one of you dies.
 
Sometimes I think the medical complications are related to the “culture of death” - people saying things like “it’s better for a down syndrome (or whatever) child to be killed / never conceived in the first place than to be born”. In the past people would have more had the attitude that you take whatever you get.

I also say this because the increase in chance is tiny, like from 0.1% when you’re 20 to 0.2% when you’re 30. Or even if it went up ten times to 1%, is it really worth redesigning your whole life around a 1% risk? Only if you believe that bringing a sick child into the world is a very bad thing to do
 
not looking for a job, consuming dangerous substances etc. people are what they DO, not what they SAY. You know who a person is by their actions.
So, you left Islam, you found a single man (who is a jobless, drug user - makes one wonder how he pays for drugs with no job) and you feel he is the ONLY chance you have for marriage.

Please, get some counseling.
One question though. If he wasn’t the one, why on earth did God intertwine us so badly we only have one another and have gone through all these journeys together?
Lots of times we give God credit/blame for simply natural things. We date someone, we commit sexual sins with them, we develop natural chemical bonds (another thing that tells us why sexual acts are reserved for marriage, we get bonded to people in the wrong way. Oxytocin: The Love and Trust Hormone Can Be Deceptive | Psychology Today)
Was i supposed to “use” him to be lead to christ, and then kick him to the curb?
Once in Scripture did God call someone to do “missionary dating”. The prophet Hosea was commanded to marry a prostitute to demonstrate God’s love.

Thing is, us regular folks are not prophets. God does not call us to date people in order to save them.
he was the one who lead me out of every heresy.
It is the Holy Spirit, not people, who lead us to God. We people are told to do good works to show people how good our Heavenly Father is.

Heck, there were many priests and other lay Catholics who helped me see the truth of the Church. That does not mean I was meant to marry any of them.
it’s a fact that had i left him, i would not have been catholic today.
We cannot see the future this way. The Holy Spirit can work through people, heck once God spoke through the voice of a donkey!

This man is not the Holy Spirit incarnate. He is a human being. And honestly, how can he have been the sole reason you are entering the Church if he is not part of the Church himself?
i’ve already commented about therapists here, perhaps you havent got to that post yet, thats fine. but i have a problem with therapists. one of the problems being that they immediately suggest getting rid of the guy, everything is toxic for them, mortification is toxic for them, charity also. Anything founded in christ’s truth that involves giving up of yourself, suffering for god or another person, they will consider problematic
Mortifications are something we only take on with the guidance of a solid spiritual director (aside from small mortification, like eating cold bread for breakfast when we want it hot and buttery or giving up chocolates for Lent).
 
Us, too. We lived in different States. Talked, Texted & FaceTimed daily. A month later, the first time we met in person he proposed. 4 months after meeting in person for the first time, we were married in the Church. When it’s the right man, everything just falls right into place.

From everything you’ve described, it seems you & God aren’t on the same page as to which man is to be your husband. God will allow you your free choice to waste your life trying to make it work with a different man that’s not the one He chose you for, but do yourself the favor: Don’t waste your time and youth on the wrong man… it’s time you’ll Never get back and in the long run, when you meet the right man you’ll truly regret from the bottom of your heart every moment spent with, and even just thinking about, this wrong guy. It’s not worth it. And if you do marry this wrong man, you will eventually meet the right man & will know it But it’ll be too late, like someone else here said, there’s no do overs… marriage is for life.
 
drug user
he is not a drug user! Stop guys with this misconstruing of what i said, i said he has some issues with his health, eats unhealthy, smokes alot of tobacco etc, and is currently unemployed, i’m not saying he is a bum nor addicted to any drugs! Don’t take it to the extreme here.
 
he is the ONLY chance you have for marriage
i never said he is. i just dont want anyone else, we fit together like a glove, and have been through hell together, and survived it, he has done plenty for me, don’t misunderstand, please. That he is unemployed doesn’t mean automatically he is not fit to be a father or a husband. There are many factors involved as to why that happened. He has had jobs before, and has good merits. Please read carefully the previous posts before you spew out such severe judgements on us both.
 
we get bonded to people in the wrong way
we didn’t bond merely on sex. Sex was one factor, now that we are not having sex, for God’s will, we are still bonding. I’m not gonna continue reading your post, you clearly have got it all wrong about us.
 
the first time i met him, i had to do so in secret or i would’ve been punished in unthinkable ways because he was christian. Don’t any of you guys know what christian persecution is and how that changes the circumstances for dating!?
 
we weren’t even catholics then, we didn’t even know we needed to get married.
 
seems you & God aren’t on the same page as to which man is to be your husband.
i had prayed for a husband and 3 months later god gave me one, who also converted me into christianity, so don’t say we weren’t on the same page.
 
every moment spent with, and even just thinking about, this wrong guy.
There are first of all no other men i’ve met, because i’ve had to live in isolation due to apostasy violence. Second, having experience in dating is not wasting time, it’s learning how to choose the right partner, and if it takes a couple of failures, then so be it. Not all people are naturally prudent, or have natural knowledge of the self. Some of us were extremely sheltered and lived under severe perfectionist parents who controlled our every move. That’s not a way to mature, even women have to learn to think for themselves/make a good judgement for the better of their souls. As a muslim, I did not know the will of the Lord, it’s only natural I made wrong decisions, so it’s only now recently that I’ve learnt what God’s will is. So cut me some slack, you and some of the others who have commented here now. I haven’t wasted time that was spent on my salvation, which this man lead me to, actively, for 3 years. Don’t twist things. I have experience with men prior to him, i had 2 bfs before him, as a moderate muslim, and i knew then they were wrong, from the start, and also ended it when i saw no way out. With this guy, miraculous and wonderful things have happened for my soul, constantly, so it’s pretty logical to be certain in your heart that he is the one, especially when i have prayed for years on if he is the one, and God keeps doing something that brings us closer, through affection, communication, understanding or the faith.
 
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I take to heart the advice given by those who seem to understand better what is going on in my life. These recent posts have been full of misunderstandings and false assumptions and severe judgements.
 
There are many things i haven’t even mentioned here, such as that he agreed on that we should never sleep under the same roof, until marriage. He agreed to come all the way to the mass in my country, to meet the priest, the parishioners, and attend once a month, sleeping over at THEIR place, people who he doesn’t know, just to do the right thing. And not push sins on me. That’s a man who cares about your soul, not to get into your pants, neither was he a bum when he was here, helping me out, he always offers help when i clean, he carries the heavy loads of groceries, he helps me when i get sick. I won’t accept any bad mouthing about him here, I didn’t come here to berrate him, I came to find out what questions i have not yet asked myself to make a good judgement on our relationship, if i should stay or leave, and i have got the answers by those who commented first, who gave prudent answers from both sides of the spectrum.
 
If God gave you a husband 3 months after you began praying for one, then how is it you’re not married and posting here that the man you’re with isn’t ready for marriage? As someone not emotional involved in your situation, I can tell you that this doesn’t make sense from an objective perspective.

Please understand that it’s 100% possible to confuse your will with God’s Will when it comes to relationships, especially when Faith is in anyway involved, like for examples couples who convert together or meet in church, etc. Remember God wants everyone to reach the fullness of Faith and can use any situation (sinful or not sinful) to bring that about.
How can you know 100% if this man you want to marry really is God’s Will for you vs just your will? Fast and Pray while keeping and living out the Catholic Faith in full.
 
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f God gave you a husband 3 months after you began praying for one, then how is it you’re not married and posting here that the man you’re with isn’t ready for marriage?
Because our circumstances involved that my life was in danger, i had to make huge changes to everything that was my life, abandon my own family and other traumatic things that require big rearrangements. Move cities, abandon belongings, poverty, homelessness. It was rough, whilst converting and then converting again, it wasn’t exactly a circumstance ripe for a wedding to take place, and not only that, we hadn’t yet recieved the insight from the catholic faith that marriage was necessary. Prior to that, we went along with the protestant faulty belief that marriage was not necessary for two people to be considered married, but rather sex united two people into one flesh and they would automatically be considered married. There was also another faulty belief, that we didn’t need to marry, nor soon. Many wrong ideas, we also didn’t believe at the time, again due to faulty beliefs, that sex before marriage/childbearing before marriage was even wrong. Many things were out of place, God had not yet brought us to the full truth. It took a couple of years for me to even get on my feet, and he was at the time in bad mental health, and obviously due to my crisises, so was I. There was focus on survival and recovery. We knew and were determined from the start that we wanted to spend the rest of our life together. Now recently, we have entered our catechumens. I’ve already mentioned some of this in previous posts, that’s why it’s important you read the whole post if you’re gonna comment.
 
the man you’re with isn’t ready for marriage?
When we met, we were both in the bottom of the barrel, I had many issues, so did he. We didn’t see it as a reason to break up. We thought we’d grow together, alongside eachother. He has changed in many many ways, internally, his character, on this journey. He is lacking the courage to take the responsibilities of fatherhood and marriage for his own personal issues from his past–childhood trauma and other things that causes that fear and a complete misunderstanding of who he considers himself to be and what he considers himself capable of doing. So he’s been struggling with taking some steps, however he has reached out to professionals. Lately we realized medical help might not be his way to go, but rather his spiritual growth/relationship with God who can heal and repair all things. He has therefore begun his catechumens. He is still enrolled, he still attends his lectures, but he is, as said, struggling, and I had an issue (the point of this post) with my aging and fertility, and whether i should wait or not. Clearly, many questions need to be asked, which I have already recieved by other commenters, to make a sound judgement.
 
How can you know 100% if this man you want to marry really is God’s Will for you vs just your will?
I’ve been convinced up to this point of this because the things God wants in a man, he does fullfill many of the criterias, except that he does not yet have a job. That doesn’t mean he will never get a job, that’s the thing, considering he’s had one before. It means he has struggles, and I and the parishioners have thought that perhaps if he keeps going with his catechumens and opens up to the priest when he’s ready, he might recieve some clear guidance towards the fullfillment of his marriage vocation, how to gain the courage to get and keep a job, and not live in this constant fear that he perhaps will not be enough for me/a family.
 
Currently, God has placed a ridge between us physically, that we do not enter into opportunities of sin, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that God wants us permanently apart. It can also mean that since we both are parallell catechumens, we might have to focus on our individual growth for some time, and not invest too much in eachother, only meet at mass etc. That’s something God might will, God does not will two people who are clearly fit for eachother, and have walked the faith journey so closely knit in such miraculous ways clearly arranged by God (it’s God who makes miracles, not our will) suddenly be torn apart, when he wants to see catholic families succeed in this day and age, and both of us have a burning love on equal footing for marriage/family life. Just because one of us is slantering behind, struggling with some practical issues, does not necessarily mean that God wants us permanently apart, he might want something else, he might be testing my faith and patience, perhaps wants me to love him more, wants me to focus on my conversion, and what have you. Many saints were completely unfit to be even faithful, living as prostitutes and other sinful ways prior to their conversion, and had to undergo real hard processes in order to change and abandon their old ways. It’s not always a simple road to marriage, that’s what I’m saying. Some find their partners and can marry immediately. Some go through hell first, for some years time, and then are fit to even be called catholics, before they can get married.
 
Finding a faithful catholic who agrees with all your values and beliefs and walks with you to salvation is as rare as finding gold, here where we live in Scandinavia. We are extremely rare here, there are 4 people normally in our parish. It all seems too coincidental that him and I end up in the same framework of life, to immediately exclude him as “not fit for being my husband in the future”.
 
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You’ve been through a lot. What I suggest is that you and he sit down with your priest and talk about it.

You may have been consciously or unconsciously putting pressure on him through this narrow view of Catholic husband and fatherhood. This idea that he has to be sole provider, have tons of kids, and high-paying jobs. Or he may not have gotten this from you, but from other ways like YouTube. He may have unreal ideas. These are not realistic expectations. And they could be scaring him.

The picture that you painted of him was not very flattering. This obviously may not be the whole picture, because it is hard to do that in an Internet post. You clearly have expectations and you want to be married. That is the heart of this. You need to decide if he is the right person for you, and has the sort of character that would make a good husband and father. Beyond that however you both have to be ready for marriage. And if he’s not, you have to either be willing to stay with him knowing that or you have to be ready to walk away.

Beyond that however you both have to be ready for marriage. And if he’s not, you have to either be willing to stay with him knowing that or you have to be ready to walk away. You aren’t the first woman in the world to be ready for marriage, when the man is not.

So that’s why discernment with your pastor is a good idea.
 
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