What Your Husband Isn’t Telling You

“What Your Husband Isn’t Telling You” catalogs the many secrets men keep from their wives. If your husband is typical:

• He often feels he can’t tell you the truth or you’ll become upset.
• He’s happiest when he’s competent and in control of a situation.
• He is at his core a protector and provider. These are the two roles Adam was assigned at the fall of man. Your husband wants desperately to succeed in these two roles
• He and his friends compare wives. And the man with the best looking wife wins.
• He’s afraid to admit weaknesses or fears, especially to you.
• He keeps a sexual scrapbook filled with images and memories. Most men would love to be rid of this scrapbook.
• At work he’s a genius. At home he’s a dunce.
• If he shares his true feelings with his guy friends he’ll be ridiculed.
• He’s tired of being seen as 100% of the problem in your marriage.
• He experiences God more fully outdoors than he does in a church building.
• The key to his sexual enjoyment is your enjoyment. If you’re having a good time, he’s having a good time.
• He hates having to read your mind.
• He sometimes feels unappreciated at home.
• He’s less excited about church than you are. He feels that you are the expert in religious matters, and he’d rather defer to you.

Let’s go back to that first one: He often feels he can’t tell you the truth or you’ll become upset.

Believe it or not, many wives train their husbands to conceal the truth from them. When I share this with women they are shocked. Yet it’s true. Here’s how it happens.

Let’s say Patrick decides to tel his wife Janna the truth about a situation in the office. “There’s a woman at work who is flirting with me,” Patrick says. “I want to stay faithful to you honey, but I’ve got to admit I’m struggling. I need your help.”

How does Janna respond? Silence. Pouting. Depression. Anger.

“What, am I not good enough for you?” she cries. “Am I too fat and old and frumpy for you?” Janna weeps and wails, locking herself in the bedroom.

Patrick faces a minimum sentence of a night on the sofa. And a maximum sentence of divorce.

So Patrick learns to keep his true feelings inside.

Does this really happen? Just ask your husband, “Does this dress make me look fat?” Observe the terror in his eyes as he calculates the damage to his marriage if he tells you the truth.

Imagine you’re housebreaking a puppy. Every time he soils the rug he gets a swat. But if he does his business outside you lavish rewards on him. Eventually the puppy does what he’s trained to do—not because he wants to, but because it’s the only way to avoid punishment.

Now, imagine you’re training a husband. Every time he tells you the absolute truth he gets a swat. But when he conceals his true feelings, you lavish rewards on him. Eventually he begins carefully managing what he tells you—not because he wants to, but because it’s the only way to avoid punishment.

When you penalize your man each time he reveals his true feelings, here’s the message you are sending: “If you want your life to be hell, tell me the truth. But if you want things to go smoothly, lie to me. Tell me only those things that won’t upset me.”

Don’t misunderstand: I am not blaming women for every communication glitch in marriage. Husbands do the same things to wives. I know women who can’t tell their husbands the truth because they’re afraid their men will explode. Women suffer too. I get it.

I’m simply asking you to open your eyes to the possibility that you are contributing to your husband’s silence. You may have unwittingly trained him to hide his true heart from you.

So how can you unlock your husband’s true heart? Make him this promise: “I will never punish you for telling me the truth. Even if you say, “I’m having an affair,” I will not retaliate in anger.”

What? How can a woman NOT get mad if her husband says he’s having an affair?

Of course, you have every right to be furious if he admits to infidelity. You even have a right to divorce him (Matt. 5:32).

You’re not giving him a pass to do whatever he wants – you’re promising to hear what he has to say, without shutting him down.

Weeks or months may pass. Then one day he’ll take a chance.

• “Sweetheart, can we talk about our weight? I’d like to help us both get in shape.”
• “I’ve been thinking about quitting my job to pursue my dream.”
• “Let’s talk about how we discipline the kids.”
• “I’d like to spice up our sex life by trying some new things.”
• “I’m feeling unsupported at home.”
• “I’m worried about our finances. Can we make a budget and stick with it?”

These are not fighting words. These are not accusations. They’re your husband’s true feelings.

At that moment you’ll have a decision to make. You can erupt in anger and shut him out. You can descend into a depression for having failed yet again. You can go into the bedroom and pout.

Or you can calmly listen to what he has to say. Thank him. Hear his concerns and take them to God in prayer. Do what you can to meet his needs.

So here’s your precious key – if you really want to know what your husband is thinking, learn to receive the truth with grace. Hear what he has to say without punishing him.

Train your husband to tell you the truth. It will open you to a level of intimacy you’ve never known.

Click here to order your copy of “What Your Husband Isn’t Telling You.”