We join you in bringing this relationship before the Lord and we thank you for wanting every step to align completely with His divine plan, for that is the only foundation that will stand.
We hear your heart for this man and your desire for him to have clarity, to grow in genuine love and care, to embrace the heart of a provider, and to be fully released from the past. We also hear your hope for a future marriage, for the fiancee visa and the joining of your lives in the United States, and for a united home where he will love your sons well and where you would be cherished as his wife. These are beautiful desires when they are ordered by God, and we pray with you that His will be done above all else.
We want to gently and lovingly speak truth over a few areas that Scripture calls us to consider carefully in courtship. We believe that being a boyfriend or girlfriend is courtship with the goal of marriage to another Christian believer, and that marriage itself is a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman that honors God. Genesis 2:24 says a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife and they will be one flesh, and Matthew 19:6 reminds us what therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. Because marriage is so sacred, any former marriage must be fully and legally ended and also examined in the light of Scripture before a new marriage is pursued. God takes the covenant seriously, and while there is grace and healing after divorce, Scripture teaches that divorce is permitted only for specific reasons such as sexual immorality. Matthew 19:9. So we encourage you both to seek wise pastoral counsel together, to be fully honest about the history and legal status of his former marriage, and to ensure that if you move toward engagement he is truly free before God and before the law to make that covenant. We also encourage you to confirm that you are both born again believers walking with Christ, for 2 Corinthians 6:14 calls us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, and a marriage that honors God must be built on shared faith in Jesus.
We also want to encourage you in purity as you wait on the Lord. Scripture is clear that love waits and honors God with the body. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says flee sexual immorality, and Hebrews 13:4 says let marriage be held in honor among all and let the bed be undefiled. Even when love feels deep and the hope of marriage is strong, we are called to abstain from sex before or outside of marriage, which is fornication and does not honor God. We pray that your courtship will be marked by holiness, accountability, and clear boundaries that protect you both until the day you may become husband and wife, if that is the Lord's will. True love, as Ephesians 5:25 describes, is a husband loving his wife even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for it, sacrificially, patiently, and with provision and protection.
We also lift up the practical steps you mentioned. We pray that God will give him wisdom to figure things out and clarity of mind, for James 1:5 promises if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him. We pray that Proverbs 3:5-6 will be true for you both, to trust in Yahweh with all your heart and not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. If this marriage is God's will, He is able to open the right doors for a visa and to clear obstacles, and if it is not His will He will close those doors for your protection. Romans 12:2 urges us not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well pleasing, and perfect will of God. We encourage you not to press for a proposal out of longing, but to trust God's perfect timing, for Ecclesiastes 3:11 says He has made everything beautiful in its time, and Psalm 37:4 says delight yourself also in Yahweh and he will give you the desires of your heart when those desires are aligned with Him.
We pray for your sons with special care, that the Lord would guard their hearts and that any man who would enter their lives as a father figure would love them with Christlike patience and strength, providing a godly example and a stable, peaceful home.
We now pray together.
Heavenly Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ, surrendering this relationship and this future into Your hands. Lord, we ask for Your wisdom and clarity for this man, speak to his mind and heart, renew him by Your Spirit, soften his heart where it has been hardened by wounds, and heal him fully from his past. If there is still entanglement or pain from his former marriage, bring complete healing and closure according to Your truth and let him walk in peace and wholeness before he leads another family. Father, stir within him genuine, selfless love and the heart of a godly provider and protector who will love as Christ loves. We pray that both of them will walk in purity and honor You in their bodies and minds, fleeing temptation and keeping marriage holy.
Lord, we place the desire for marriage, for engagement, and for the fiancee visa before You. Order their steps and direct their paths, open doors that no man can shut if this union is from You, and close doors firmly if it is not. We pray for these precious sons, draw them close to You first, and if it is Your will, knit their hearts together with this man in a way that builds a united, Christ centered home in the United States. Above all, let Your will be done, not ours, and let Your grace bind them or gently lead them according to Your perfect plan. Give them patience, discernment, godly counsel, and deep peace that passes all understanding as they wait on You.
We thank You that You hear us when we pray in Jesus name, for John 14:6 teaches that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him, and Acts 4:12 reminds us there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men by which we must be saved. We rest in that name and in Your unfailing love.
In Jesus name we pray, amen.
We encourage you to continue in prayer, in the Word, and in fellowship with trusted mature believers who can walk with you both face to face, to keep healthy boundaries in courtship, and to seek the Lord's confirmation through His Word, through peace, and through counsel before any legal or lifelong commitment is made. May the Lord guide you, guard your hearts, and be glorified in whatever He chooses to do.