When Your Husband Is Addicted to Pornography: Healing Your Wounded Heart by Vicki Tiede

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Vicki Tiede's book entitled "When Your Husband is Addicted to Pornography: Healing Your Wounded Heart" is a warm, gentle companion for those who are suffering from the carnage of pornography. Vicki's use of Scripture passages are well selected, and sensitive. Happily, none of the verses used are cliche and they cover the fullness of the canon (my one regret about this book is the absence of a Scripture index). Her compassion seeps through these pages, even when she offers correction and/or encouragement.



She warns readers in the introduction that this book is not a book to 'fix' one's husband, and neither is it for those who are at the extreme end of sexual perversion-which has led to violence and/or extra-marrital affairs. Although, this book will be beneficial for the extremes, she recommends other resources and pastoral counselling to address these issues.

I picked this book up because I wanted to get a better understanding of how women cope under the weight of betrayal. With fear and trembling, I acknowledge that by God's grace alone, I'm in the other fifty percent of men who do not have a porn addiction (on page 102, Vicki cites a breathtaking statistic that about 20% of Christian women and 50% of Christian men have a pornography addiction). Knowing that porn is a nightmare for a lot of people, I hoped to understand the crisis better. The realism of sin is first-hand for the author, as well as the hope and healing she has experienced through her Redeemer.

The book is divided up into sections of time, which for some people, will be very helpful. If read daily, a person could work through the Bible study that is interspersed in 6 weeks. In the first three weeks, Vicki re-establishes hope in God, surrender to God and learning to trust the One who can heal. The forth week is the heart of the book as it helps you recognize your true identity. In the last two sections, she helps the reader understand the value of brokenness in the plan of God, and then how forgiveness works itself out.

We all need hope, and the first person sections of the book, are intended to let you know that others have walked your road before, and have recovered. Here are a few excerpts:

I believe God is able to meet my greatest needs as I deal with my husband’s addiction to pornography, and that he is in the process of doing that even now, but I’m not sure exactly what that looks like . . . sounds like . . . feels like. Most of the time I feel hopeless and overwhelmed. There are occasions when I feel a glimmer of hope that “better” is possible, but it’s rare. —Amy

Until my husband and I attempted to refinance our home, I had no idea about several credit cards he had opened, with charges in the tens of thousands. For years, those bills had been going to a post office box, which was also news to me. My husband worked a lot and traveled often, and I knew something was wrong in our relationship, but I never dreamed he might be addicted to pornography or that his addiction had grown to include paying for sex with prostitutes.  Despite all of this, I know that God is for me. He is all powerful and able to meet my needs, often before I even know what they are. God can do anything— even repair this marriage. —Hannah

In the course of pornographic destruction on a marriage, most women will tend to loose their sense of identity. This is the highlight of this book, as Tiede helps women recognize that they get their true identity in the eyes of God alone. Most women want to be pursed and chosen, and if they are believers, Vickie shows them that they have been.

Vicki's viewpoint on forgiveness might be different than what some have been taught through the years. Tiede is careful to differentiate an attitude of forgiveness and the act of forgiveness. The act of forgiveness, according to Vickie, should only be granted to those who are repentant as Christ forgives the repentant. Yet, the attitude of forgiveness should always be on hand to extend to those who are genuinely repentant. There is safety in this position.

I highly recommend this book for all women who have felt the destructive power of pornography. If you purchase this book, take time to talk with a trusted Christian friend for support and prayer. You not only need the help offered in these pages, you also need fellow believers to be instruments in the redeemer's hands.



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