The need for a partner

[Xtian]

I wish I could remain single but my body keeps warning me to get a mate. Could this be how Adam felt that a soulmate was made for him? 🤔  

[Dages]

Matt 6:33
Focus on Jehovah and the ministry and you'll get what you need in due time. 

[Ishaya]

It's always adviseable to know yourself and know what works for you and be realistic.

[Hope]

I believe what's most important is to consider what we have to offer a mate. They not just for us; we're for them. Will we - our personality, spirituality, maturity, circumstances - be beneficial to someone else? Especially for a brother - are you ready to head a household and be responsible for all who live with you?

 

If we can unselfishly say, "yes", that's when we should go looking for a mate. It's much beyond what our bodies can tell us.. 🤨

[ChrisW]

2 hours ago, Hope said:

It's much beyond what our bodies can tell us.. 🤨

I was thinking it and you said it.  🙂

[minister159]

Singleness is a gift that not many can make room for. The desire for a mate may not be synonymous with marriage either. A very necessary component for a happy and successful marriage is compatibility. Unfortunately, many act in haste and repent in leisure. You can't "fall in love" with just anybody but there needs to be more than just chemistry, as Hope mentioned. A wise man once said, "Measure twice, cut once." Another man, not so wise, once said the definition of marriage is, "A mutual misunderstanding."

Think about it!   

[Barbllm]

Your body wanting something isn't inherently wrong, keeping within Jehovah's moral standards.

 

However, marriage is about far more than sex. It's about sharing your life with another person. This involves your heart and your brain. 

 

[Kiana Williamson]

The title of this forum had me thinking about my life. I always dreamed of being married to the perfect man just for me. Once I hit my adult teen years, a huge shift happened for me: military, injury, finding "love," finding jobs, dreams of the future shattered entering the "real" world, going to school, surgeries, living life selfishly and naively, betrayal, finding the truth, breakup, living for Jehovah, "searching" for an eternal mate, my zeal reduced to a mere lone ember, shepherding calls, my health going downhill — and here I am.

 

I do not have the energy or the desire anymore to think about looking for anyone as an eternal partner.

 

There is so much I realized you have to think about and crucial steps to take before eventually getting to sexual relations. Is this person interested in me? Do I know enough about this person to want to start dating them? Are they well in health or not? What does the congregation think about them? What do they like or not like? What are their spiritual goals? Are our goals compatible? Do I have the qualities that will potentially help my future mate? Am I spiritually strong enough to help my partner in whatever situation may come our way (illness/condition, financial, physical, emotional)? Do I have the maturity to care for another living being besides myself and the mental capacity to handle attitudes, fatigue, depression, or any other characteristics my potential partner might display? When dating is going well, do we have family obligations and how would we handle future ones? Do we want children, and how many? Where will we live? Which congregation will we attend after marriage? And so on...