By 'Sharon'

My long journey to HARVEST USA began more than 10 years ago.  It was then that my husband confessed to me that he had a problem with pornography.  He told me that it had started when he was twelve years old.

Married for five years then, I had sensed that something was amiss in our relationship. Something was drastically impacting our ability to relate to each other both emotionally and physically.  His confession made sense to me, but it also devastated me. 

I had been raised in an evangelical Christian home.  I had no previous exposure to issues of this nature.  My husband was resistant to counseling.  This was extremely painful to me.  He took the attitude that, “we’ll solve our own problems.”  What little counseling we did receive was harmful, especially to me.  I was basically told that I must be sure to keep having sex with him and this would, eventually, solve his problem.  This further exacerbated my feelings of blame and shame. 

Along the way, many unanswered questions lurked in my mind.  What was the matter with me?  Why did my husband need to look at other naked women?  Why hadn’t just getting married cured him of the pornography problem as he had thought it would? What if my husband got involved with or decided to leave me for one of these other kind of beautiful women? 

There seemed to be nowhere for me to find solace.  I felt obligated to protect my husband’s reputation, so I hid our problems and his for years.  I didn’t feel that I could walk up to a girlfriend at church and say, “My husband struggles with pornography; what does yours struggle with?” 

I felt that this was one of the Church’s unacceptable, politically incorrect sins.  I also didn’t share this situation with my own parents or friends.  Nor did I feel that I could actually talk with my husband about it at all. He had rejected the idea that he might actually have a sexual addiction.  To my husband, the pornography wouldn’t really be a problem --- unless I let it be – unless it bothered me. More blame.  I was also angry that God had allowed me to marry a man with this addiction, although I had prayerfully sought His will in seeking a marriage partner.

It was as if I was in a car being driven along the interstate.  My husband was driving.  I kept asking him to stop – to get off at the next exit, or the next, or the next.  Yet he was committed to traveling on the same dangerous route unabated.  This left me feeling unprotected and insecure. 

The loneliness, together with his refusal to seek help, led me into a state of denial for years.  I always knew the problem was there, but felt paralyzed to effect any change.  My motto became to make the best of my marriage and family life and continue trying to keep it together with my three daughters.  I lived in this place for over ten years!