If you’re struggling to build success in your life, find yourself surrounded by small-minded people, or feel like the community you’ve cultivated fails to bring about the best in you, I want to challenge your perspective on friendships today! In fact, I believe this key is so powerful that it can unlock, activate and propel you into greater kingdom impact in every area of your life!
Churches are becoming afraid to offer us support since any approach suggesting emotional healing or restoration in one’s sexuality could be called “conversion therapy,” or worse, anti-LGBTQ hate. We Christians who have experienced LGBTQ, whether openly gay or closeted in our churches, wrestle with our public response to Christ. The uproar over so-called “conversion therapy” reveals the painful challenge of that pursuit.
“For me, Playboy was my gateway into full on pornography addiction. My dad had a Playboy left out at age five and it’s affected almost every choice I made for the rest of my life…. From age five till now, having to kick the habit and it just presents itself in the open like it’s okay and I stand up and say, ‘No, it’s not ok.’” 1
If you’re reading this and you currently struggle with porn, masturbation, or any other sexual sin, God has a plan for you. Jesus died so that you wouldn’t have to be a slave to addiction. He took that with him to the cross so you could be free.
Many marriages and relationships are suffering right now due to the prolonged effects of this pandemic. Patience is wearing thin and ironically, even though we are spending considerably more time together than ever before, our loved ones can still experience surmounting loneliness.
It’s easy to spend so much time trying to find the right one, that you lose yourself in the process. Take the time to get to know yourself, so that you can get to know what kind of person will be a good fit for your life, and what kind of person won’t be.
Let’s talk about sex…specifically sex AFTER kids. Because we all know there are two kinds. If you are one who’s libido continued to climb after kids, if you are one who desires it regularly and if you continually feel sexy…
What causes you to get triggered? How do decisions you make pre-marriage impact your marriage? The pain or the pleasure during your first experience of an event creates a mental pathway that your brain later takes you down because it's the path of least resistance. This means EVEN if the situation isn't the same your brain/body can still react as if it is. This week's podcast feature's our directors, Cole and Caitlin Zick as they dive into the science behind sexuality and the scripture, and go after helping you become consciously aware of your subconscious "why", so you can know why you do what you do, feel what you feel, and how you respond the way you do. It’s now on all streaming platforms and YouTube!
Porn, and sexuality in general, can be very sensitive and personal topics. Consider how people tend to get pretty defensive and have the most emotional response to personal topics. Bringing porn up in terms of how you are involved with the movement in your life could be a softer opening to the topic. Talk like you’re telling your own story, and they’ll ideally respond with theirs.
Once punishment is off the table, however, how do we move forward? First, we need to establish that both people in the relationship have the goal of restoration and are ready to do the challenging work of restoring connection and rebuilding trust. If the offending party is not repentant, or the injured party is not willing to forgive, they won’t be able to move toward each other.