The Intimacy Crisis In Marriage

Unveiled Wife initially began because of a strain of intimacy in my marriage.  Sex was a struggle in my marriage for many years and it wasn’t something that was easy to talk about.  I felt led to start a page that would encourage and pray for other wives.  As the Facebook page grew, my husband and I realized that there is a large number of wives who are hurting in their marriage.  We thought that if there is such a huge response from wives, where are the husbands?  So my husband created Husband Revolution, a Facebook page dedicated to encouraging and praying for husbands.

Both Unveiled Wife and Husband Revolution have been up and running for several months now.  These pages have given husbands and wives a platform to be encouraged and be an encouragement, to receive prayer and to pray for others, to seek wisdom and share understanding!  It is such a wonderful blessing to see how husbands interact with other husbands and see wives interact with other wives from all over the world.

However, there is a pattern that we are seeing that we must acknowledge.  This pattern seems to be an underlying issue for many broken and sexless marriages.  It all boils down to The Intimacy Crisis.  We have witnessed men seeking advice as to why they feel unaccepted by their wives.  They feel undesirable and some even feel inadequate as a lover. With all the temptation of lust in this world, unfulfilled intimacy in marriage will make it an even greater temptation for husbands.  Some husbands also struggle with desiring intimacy with their wife, and the rejection causes tension in the relationship.

On the other hand, women are brokenhearted that our men have stopped pursuing us.  We are waiting to be romanticized, yet the idea of sex is tangled up with seeing it as a chore, or there is a lack of desire, or other things take priority leaving no energy to even attempt.  We reject our husbands with excuses or emotional baggage we are unwilling to let go of.  We are tempted to seek emotional connections with others who might understand us better than our own husbands.

The Intimacy Crisis In Marriage   sex intimacy in marriage popular posts encouragements for wives    wednesday rant Sexless Marriage enemy Encouragement Christian Community    Unveiled WifeBoth parties have been wounded in some way or another and no one is willing to risk getting hurt again by initiating.  It becomes a vicious cycle of pain resulting in bitterness keeping intimacy out of marriage.  Couples question who’s at fault, who owes who, and unmet expectations, forcing each other into isolation.

This is an Intimacy Crisis and it needs to stop!  The enemy is laughing at us as we sit in our rooms with tears in our eyes.  Marriages are failing left and right, and some of you are experiencing it right now.  Some of you are and have been experiencing an intimacy drought that has left you hanging on by only a thread.  The weight of this burden has not gone unnoticed and its time we stand up and fight for our marriages!  We need to take the initiative whether our spouse is with us or not, to submit our marriage to God.  We need to allow God to transform us!  We need to understand that our spouse is human and that they will fail and won’t always meet our expectations.  We need to be willing to respond in love and to initiate intimacy daily!

Stop worrying about who did what… forgive as God has forgiven you!

Stop judging your relationship on performance… love unconditionally as God has loved you!

Stop expecting a perfect spouse… for everyone falls short, even you!

Stop the vicious cycle of hurt leading to isolation so you can experience an extraordinary marriage with your companion!

Evaluate your marriage right now.  If you or your husband is hurt in someway, physically, mentally, or emotionally, pray right now that God would heal and restore.  Now go and find a way to spend intimate time with your spouse… and if you can’t for any reason, then continue to pray in faith until God fulfills your marriage!  Don’t be afraid to initiate, for even if you get rejected you are showing your spouse TRUE LOVE just as Christ has loved his people unselfishly, sacrificially and at all costs.

God created marriage and he wants yours to not just succeed, but to be fulfilled in every way!

Join The Discussion, Leave A Comment Below!

  • http://unveiledwife.com/ Unveiled Wife

    Can you talk to him about the issue?

  • Sarah

    My husband and I will be married 9 years (15 all together) this year. When I met him he wasn’t overly lovey. I thought he was just not comfortable being intimate in front of others. Now, he hardly hugs me. I feel more like his sister with an occasional sexual fling. He has maybe 10x in our Whole marriage inittiated sex. If I don’t then we don’t have it. Well, since my love take is Never filled I don’t feel like having sex very often. I really feel he doesn’t love me anymore but would rather I be his prostitute :-( As a christian and because I love him, I want this to work!! ~Sarah

  • Nikki

    Please pray for my husband and I N&M. We need all the prayer that we can get. We have hurt each other and are in counseling, but my husband says that he forgives and will not forget. we are young, but have been married for 11 years and really need our intimacy restored in order for this to work.

  • Anonymous

    Michelle your story reads exactly like mine. I’ve stopped trying to initiate for fear of being rejected. We’ve not had sex once this year. In the 3 years we’ve had sex probably less than 10 times if even that. It hurts so much. I will pray for you. Please pray for my marriage too. Let’s pray that God will work a miracle in our husbands’ thoughts, that whatever is stopping them from initiating sex or having the desire for it, that He would restore the love and intimacy He intended for marriages. Pray for all marriages going through this. I declare a supernatural restoration in marriages in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen

  • Rae

    so true

  • Mary83

    :/ i have the same problem, it just seems that i don’t interest him that much no more…
    i don’t want our marriage to fail :(

  • MeemsW333

    It’s been so long I don’t even know where to begin. My husband and I have been married 8 years (16 together) I want to seek help but am discouraged to the point that trying is so hard now. It encourages me to see that I am not alone however I still feel VERY alone. We are great friends but sexually there’s nothing there. I have tried many time over the past 3 years but to no avail. Mentally and emotioally I’ve given up and unfrotunately I have no hope in seeing change. God is an awesome God and can turn all things around for good. This I believe, I have surrendered my will and desire to the Lord, Pray He restores my faith in this area, becuase I have none.

  • MP

    Thank you for so eloquently and boldly saying something I needed to hear. We have been caught in a cycle for several months now and we are at a oint where something needs to change. We are planning a getaway this weekend with our girls and my mom, so we already have dates planned each night. I am so thankful that I found this article before our trip. I believe this was definitely a God-ordained discovery. I am looking forward to the changes that my newly directed prayers will being about over the next weeks!

  • Jennifer

    Thank you again for an amazing post. This is what I have been living with for 12 years. I thank God that I have chosen a different path by trying to keep myself set aside for my husband even if he doesnt want me. God see and will bless me. Sometimes it isnt easy but through God’s grace and mercy I make it each day!

  • joyce

    I dearly love my husband. I do not like him however. I absolutely loath being intimate with him because of the way he treats our kids and grandkids! We arr constantly fighting because of his hateful attitude toward them. He picks at every little thing. No affection only orders! I am fed up with his attitude and desperately need a miracle!

  • mama4jc

    My husband left me 4.5 years ago because of this. He succumbed to temptations that were out there where he traveled for work and is still with the woman he left me for. Our family was destroyed because of this. Get help if you can still save your marriage.

  • Stacy

    Love, love, love these words.

  • Michele W

    I live a sexless marriage.  3 years now.  I know my husband loves me as a person.  He appreciates me and gives me encouragement.  My husband does not know how to love me as a WOMAN.  His idea of any intimacy involves a peck, a hug, and a hand being held.  And for no more than 5 minutes.   I have prayed for patience and guidance.  Most days, I am okay.  I love him so very much and he is such a doll to me.  He just is NOT attracted to me intimately whatsoever and has told me so. He says to keep praying, that God knows no time.  
     I feel lost as a woman.  I feel more like a robot now.  I don’t even know how to act as a woman.  On the days I DO fix myself up, he doesn’t even notice and if he does, it’s a casual remark of….”Oh you look nice”.  Like a friend would say to you, NOT a husband.  I know that there is no other woman, however I do suspect the alternatives.  Even though they may not be the REAL DEAL, it’s still hurtful to know some Stranger is getting what I deserve intimately.  With Jaki’s comment below, I have heard almost Exactly word for word from my husband about the human nature and I should pray for him and deal with it.  I just don’t know how to deal with it anymore and I am asking for prayer, guidance and counsel..   Thank you.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578791386 Jaki Adams

    i think most of the reasons why husbands don’t want to have sex with us wives, is because they have alternatives-porn, facebook, pictures, etc. or maybe because we are not attractive to them anymore, don’t have enough private time, or could be because of the recent fights. whatever it is, i don’t think it’s an excuse to ignore us. i believe that if you love your spouse, you would do anything to make the relationship work. unfortunately, most wives are unloved because men would simply reason out that it’s their human nature to be like that, it is really unfair that us wives would be the one to always suffer-that we should always be the one to try to understand the behavior of our husbands, that we should be the one to make more adjustments..why can’t they do the same for us if they truly love us, instead of focusing their attention to other sexual objects. don’t they know that we have sexual needs too?? why do we always need to exert that much effort to please our husbands so that we could AT LEAST GET WHAT WE NEED, and why are we the ones to always make the adjustments and sacrifices? why not them also?

  • Frustrated Wife

    My husband and I have been married for 4 months. Sexual attraction has never been a problem for us. However, since my husband started working this new job, we hardley ever see each other. When he gets home I am already asleep. When I wake up he is still asleep. We miss each other in the afternoon. He only has one day off a week, so we try to be intimate then. I am just getting frustrated because we are not having sex. This is very recent so I don’t know how to approach the subject with him without hurting his feelings. I have told him I feel like the man in this situation. I want him all the time, and it is extremely frustrating when we can’t even make time once a week! I don’t know what to do. I feel terrible because of this and I don’t know how to fix it!

  • tashamaree

    Try Natural Family Planning to achieve or avoid pregnancy – and trust in God and His ability to provide! I think you both are holding on too tight and it’s squeezing the life out of what should be natural and free :)

  • Aidelysburgos

    What if there is a cont. Cycle of drug abuse n verbal abuse… She a wife cont. To keep giving chances after chance or let go??

  • Elance

    I am praying for you both!

  • IBelong2JC

    My husband and I will reach our 25th anniversary this July.  If not for God’s intervention, I would hate to think where we’d be.  We haven’t been intimate for over a year now.  I admit that I am rejecting him because I feel he has chosen to put something else first in his life which is a marijuana addiction.  He is saved but he has been struggling with this for years and it’s come between us. I’ve drawn closer to the LORD because of this and he has admitted that he feels like he’s competing with Him, is utterly alone and is inadequate. He shared that he wishes he could have the same kind of faith in God that I have.  Part of of the reason is his struggle to find a steady job and not being able to fulfill his role as a provider.  And yet there is no doubt that we very much love each other…we manage to find other ways to be “intimate” by expressing our love for each other – daily.  Sometimes it’s sending impromptu text messages, going on walks, holding hands, watching a movie together, etc.  Still, I know that we’re really missing out by not being physically intimate.  My desire is that my husband’s relationship with the LORD is renewed and that He continues to show me how to be self-less.

  • Sparks6983

    I feel in the same position. Has anything helped at all?

  • Anonymous

    It has been a daily battle for me since the day we got married just over 10 months ago. My husband absolutely does not believe in birth control. He also believes that we are called to have a celibate marriage until God blesses us with the resources to raise a child. He frequently claims that he is too busy to even engage in foreplay once or twice a month. I am not opposed to using birth control, because I know that we cannot financially afford to have a child right now. I have to be deliberate in kissing him hello and goodbye, as well as hugging him, otherwise I would not ever be touched. He had not said anything about us not having sex after the wedding prior to us taking our vows. Lately, he has taken to shutting me out of most of his life. I’m starting to wonder if he loves me at all and if this marriage was a mistake. 

  • Cvett84

    My husband fixed our sexless and intimacy issue nearly 30 years ago. He just won’t be intimate or have sex with me. Thats his way of fixing our problem. For 30 years I’ve been lonely, depressed, unloved and just plain terrible. All he says is get over it, find something else to do.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Grace-Bloodsworth/1343780705 Grace Bloodsworth

    Thank you for the honesty, prayers and encouragement here.  I have to praise the Lord for completely turning around a really negative time a few days ago.  So easily marriage crumbles into a system of “I owe him, now he owes me”, and that will never bring joy or good fruit.  The only way out for me was turning my focus away from my husband to God and when I saw how good He has been to me, and that He is the source of any good I may be able to do for my husband, and that He was willing to give me real love and grace in a time of testing- it was wonderful!  Now my husband and I are getting closer too.  Pray for me to make and keep Jesus first in my life.  Without Him I fail.

  • Mandyjoy27

    This is exactly the situation in my marriage. He doesn’t always reject me, but when he does…..wow it really hurts. While reading this, one part really stuck out to me…..” The enemy is laughing at us as we sit in our rooms with tears in our eyes.” I must admit this was me just the other night; sitting alone in OUR room crying because my husband had rejected me the night before. I pray that this intimacy crisis ends in our marriage, and we both have the stregnth pursue the marriage and intimate relationship God intended for us, ALL OF THE TIME.

  • Tiffany

    This is definitely relevant to my marriage at the moment. I know my husband feels rejected by me, but I just can’t find the will to even want the intimacy. I love him with all my heart, but if I could get rid of the sex, I’d be just fine. I know it stems from bigger issues, but so far they haven’t been resolved, and he can’t help with that. I keep praying, that’s all I can do at this point, I believe.

  • Stelpat

    Every negative voice saying my marriage will not stand, i command u in the name of Jesus, be silenced for evermore. Amen. Pls join me in prayer.

  • cloeybee

    The blessing of intimacy with our spouse is such a precious gift from God. If we could train ourselves to think of our spouse before ourselves, it would surely reciprocate and flow into other areas of our marriage.

  • cloeybee

    The blessing of intimacy with our spouse is such a precious gift from God. If we could train ourselves to think of our spouse before ourselves, it would surely reciprocate and flow into other areas of our marriage.

  • Stacy

    I really enjoyed reading this. Me and my husband have 2 boys 1 & 5. . They always keeps us  busy .By the time I meet their needs I feel spent and it causes issues with me and my husband .I pray for this as well. 

  • guest

    god please help our relationship as we are not talking with each other and i really want to talk to him, but there is something  that is stoping me from moving ahead

  • Brandi

    Hello, this is exactly what my husband and I are going through… I have no clue why my mind has a mental roadblock when the time for intimacy comes.. It makes us both isolated from each other and bitter.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1671704560 Shari Washburn-Irish

    I wish my husband could understand this too…. the cycle can be broken!

  • http://www.unveiledwife.com Unveiled WIfe

    good point Karen! I noted in paragraph 3 and I pray for wives who struggle with husbands who reject them. 

  • Guest

    I was wondering if someone was going to mention that.  I’m going through the same thing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1280185599 Jamie Scott Whitaker

    Hi Karen.  If you will take another look at paragraph 4, you will see that the issue of husbands also rejecting wives is mentioned.  If you are going through this in your marriage, I pray for you to get through it.  I know its difficult but don’t give up hope.  God Bless you and your marriage!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1280185599 Jamie Scott Whitaker

    Karen, if you will take a look at paragraph 4, you will see that this article addresses the point you brought up.

  • Karen

    please note that husbands reject wives also….

  • Karen

    please note that husbands reject wives also….

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My name is Jennifer and I began this BLOG to share my journey as a wife, unveiled, uncovered and wide open, to purge my heart of the pain I have encountered AND to encourage other women in the world who are, have been, or will soon be wives... READ MY STORY HERE
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