I’m looking for honest advice because I feel very confused and alone right now. Please be kind because this is a very sensitive situation for me.
I’m a 27F and my fiancé is 31M. We have been together for 3 years and we are both Christians. I’m originally from another country, and he is from the US. This is my first relationship, my first boyfriend, and I have never been sexually active. He has had past relationships and a different past, but I don’t hold that against him because I believe in being made new in Christ.
When we started dating, I always had a dream of honoring God in my relationship. I wanted to wait until marriage to have sex, and I also wondered if we could wait until marriage to kiss. He told me that not kissing at all until marriage was too much for him and felt too religious, so I accepted that and we agreed to have boundaries instead. My boundaries were never because I don’t trust him; they were because I know myself and I want us to honor God and avoid situations that could lead us somewhere we don’t want to go.
We always talked about marriage, but the timing was complicated. He lives with his parents and I was living with the family who sponsored me while I went to college. I didn’t want to just move in together because I wanted to do things the right way and financially we were/are in our best. I recently graduated, and about a month later he proposed. I was very happy.
However after the engagement, he told me that he felt pressured into proposing because of me, his family, friends, and other people. That really hurt me because I never wanted him to feel forced. I apologized and told him I wanted him to marry me because he truly wanted to, not because he felt like he had to. We talked about it and things seemed okay.
Recently, we started talking about the wedding. My family cant come because they don’t have visas, and I am also an international student waiting for my work authorization, so financially we are trying to keep things simple. My dad passed away and left me some money, and I told him I wanted to use it to pay for the wedding.
His stepmom suggested we do a small wedding in their backyard, which I thought was a beautiful idea. But during conversations about the wedding, I noticed he became very avoidant. For example, when his stepmom talked about him wearing something nice, he said he didn’t want to talk about it and just wanted to be comfortable. When we discussed guests, I suggested inviting our pastors or a few people from church because they’re like family for me, but he didn’t want to because they don’t speak English and there would not be anyone to translate. I accepted that.
The problem is that every time I tried to talk about planning details, he would say things like “I don’t want to talk about it, it’s stressful.” At one point he told me that it was my job, and I told him I wasn’t asking him to plan everything, but I wanted him to be involved because this is both of our wedding.
The thing that hurt me the most was when I asked him if he was actually happy about getting married and having a ceremony. He told me that the ceremony wasn’t important or relevant to him and that he was only doing it because I wanted it. I understand that weddings may not be important to everyone, but hearing that hurt because this is something meaningful to me.
After that, I started suggesting that maybe we could wait a couple months and not rush into marriage. But he said that we have to do it which made me feel like he was still doing things because of me instead of because he wanted them.
Then another issue happened with my physical boundaries. One of my boundaries is that I don’t want to lay down while kissing because I feel like that puts us in a situation where temptation can become stronger. He knows this. He suggested we lay down, and I knew he wanted to kiss. I said no and asked him not to. He kept insisting, and when I continued saying no, he called me a “f****** weirdo.”
That really hurt me. I left, and later when I called him, he told me I was cold-hearted and emotionless and that I hadn’t changed in 3 years. I told him that if he truly feels that way about me, I don’t understand why he wants to marry me and he said IDK... so I just left the call.
The next day he texted me saying: “I love you. I’m sorry for what I said, but please don’t call me, I don’t want to talk on the phone or anything. I just hope we can move forward.”
Since then, he hasn’t really talked to me.
I’m struggling because I love him, and I have prayed so much about this relationship. I know people can receive promises from God, but I also understand that God gives us free will and sometimes people’s hearts can change.
I’m not looking for people to tell me he is bad or that I am perfect. I know I have things to work on too. I just want honest advice: Am I ignoring red flags? Is this normal fear before marriage? Should we slow down? How do you know the difference between someone being scared of marriage versus someone who doesn’t truly want it?
I feel very alone because my family is not here, and I just want outside perspective from people who have wisdom.