Growthtrac Community

[wendysue]

What determines whether a relationship can be defined as being an "emotional affair"?

[SAM]

1) Bonding your heart to another - not your spouse.

2) Forsaking your spouse and replacing them with another.

3) Sharing intimate details and feelings with someone of the opposite sex.

4) An emotional hook - the inability to think of nothing other than the other person and to start putting them in a better light than your spouse.

5) Fantacising about the feelings of romance.

6) Thinking God won't notice your disconnection from your spouse.

7) Less prayer, less time in church, less time reading God's word because you want your thoughts/sin hidden from God.


Lies the Evil One can feed you -

1) Why are you denying yourself such pleasure?
2) You know you can't live without him/her, so why are you trying?
3) How can you deprive yourself of a least some daily contact?
4) Just a little contact can't hurt.
5) How can you be so cruel to him/her by ignoring them?
6) Don't you care about their wants and feelings?
7) Don't you care that they need you more than your spouse does?

And the list goes on and on.

Hope that helps!

[wendysue]

Thanks for defining an emotionl affair. I was being sucked into one this summer with a friend from church, but with prayer and counseling and the protection of the Holy Spirit, I was able to avoid the complete downward spiral of temptation. I feel as though now I am "in recovery" and am trying to understand what exactly happened. I am setting up boundaries so that it doesn't happen again. I have learned a lot about spiritual battle with temptation, and myfaith and my marriage has been strengthened through the whole process, but it was very difficult. It is reassuring to hear that other Christians have been through similar situations. I have gained further insight by reading the posts on emotional affairs. Thank you. I pray for all of you who experiencing the consequences of emotional affairs.

Wendy