How to Overcome Sexual Shame: Check out this video from my talk at the adolescent girls ministry, Four ThirTeen Youth Ministry. In this video, I briefly share my story. Then we look to Genesis to see how God created us as sexual brings and how Adam and Eve first experienced sexual shame. Lastly, we will look at three ways we can find freedom from sexual shame.
Did you know that JP Ministries offers a free 6 day Bible reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app? (Click here to start the plan.) Attached below is a sneak peak of the plan. Here is Day 2: FREEDOM Through The Holy Spirit.
Without a relationship with Jesus, freedom from addiction is practically impossible. When you become a true follower of Christ, the Holy Spirit takes root inside of you and gives you the power to become who God created you to be and break free from addiction. The Holy Spirit connects us to God in the most intimate and powerful ways possible.
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Have you wondered when sexual shame first entered the world? In this blog post we will look at the creation story and the fall to see how sexual shame entered this world. Then we will discuss how biblical community is a key factor in finding freedom from sexual shame. I pray that you will feel encouraged and challenged to enter into community and share your story with trusted and safe people.
In the Garden of Eden, God created Adam, and God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18). Then God created Eve. Then, God saw all that he had made, and he said that it was very good (1:31).
Adam and Eve fully knew and loved each other. They walked around naked and felt no shame. They took pleasure in one another. God blessed them and commanded them to be fruitful and increase in number (1:28). God created them to have sex, to enjoy one another’s bodies, to live naked and unashamed.
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With a past filled with sexual abuse, promiscuity, and an unhealthy sex education, I lacked a healthy view of sexuality. The biggest lie that I believed was that I was sexually broken.
My view of sex was far from the truth that God promises in His love letter. I had two distorted and conflicting views of sex:
Addicted to pornography? Desiring freedom but feeling alone? Looking for a new devotional? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this new and FREE resource is for you. This inspiring reading plan on Bible.com is for women that struggle with pornography and seek FREEDOM. God has created each of us with a desire for intimacy. We often seek to satisfy those feelings with fantasy and pornography that leave us feeling guilty, empty, worthless, and trapped in a vicious cycle. This cycle of sin robs us of the joy and freedom we were designed to live in. (more…)
Five years ago I thought I would never heal from the rape I experienced my freshman year of college. My nights were filled with tears and my days were filled with doubts. Why did this happen? Does God allow rape? (Check out the answer to this question on Bible.com.)
With countless unanswered questions and tears in my eyes, I surrendered my life to Jesus. I still doubted that he could heal me, but I believed I needed a Savior. On my own, I would never find healing. My heart was a wreck and I needed Jesus to give me a new one.
Maybe you, just like me, often wonder, is healing even possible? How do I find healing? Could Jesus really heal me from the pain of sexual abuse? Let me share one important truth with you… (more…)
In high school I was a religious hypocrite, yet I had no idea how I was damaging the gospel. I grew up going to church, but the gospel I heard was you have to be a good and perfect Christian to get to heaven.
This was an impossible goal to reach. As hard as I tried, I could never be sinless. And so I lived in this cycle of addiction. I lived in bondage. I would try to be perfect, fail and turn back to sin.
The cycle went on and on.
Living in bondage was exhausting.
I was a religious Pharisee. I told people that I was a Christian and that I felt called to be a pastor, my church even let me preach on youth Sundays, yet I didn’t even know God. One day on the way to school, I was walking up from the parking lot with my boyfriend and he looked at me and said, “You’re a bad Christian.”
I had no idea what it meant to be a Christian. My church added to the gospel and because of this, I believed I needed to earn my salvation.
Maybe you, just like me, sometimes still think you have to be a good perfect Christian woman. Maybe you’ve lost sight of God’s grace. These desires actually make us slaves. We become slaves to our sin and lose our freedom. Why is it that we allow ourselves to be burdened again by slavery instead of living in the freedom that Christ has freely given?
You are I are living our lives like the Christians in Galatians.
In Galatians 5:1 Paul says “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (more…)
The moment of temptation right before you sin happens in a matter of seconds. The enemy wants you to sin. He wants victory over your life. The good news is that God has promised us that no temptation is too big or too strong for us to conquer. In this post, I hope to provide practical tips and encouragement through Scripture to help you become more like Jesus, fight temptation, and experience freedom. (more…)
This summer, I packed up all my stuff in my Subaru Forester and traveled half way across the country from Tampa, Florida to Dallas, Texas. I left what I knew for the unknown. I left a community that truly loved and encouraged me every single day. The decision I was making did not make sense. Why would I leave my college community and church family to go to a city where I knew not one soul? (more…)
I sat with a friend as she cried and poured out her heart, “How can I believe that God loves me and will meet my needs? I’ve been single for years. I want to be loved, accepted and valued by a man.”
My friend is not alone in her thoughts. Many young women struggle with singleness and trusting God during this life stage. I believe the root heart issue to my friend’s questions is trust. My friend is not trusting God to meet her needs and satisfy her longings. My friend is not trusting that God’s love is enough. My friend is not trusting that God loves her, accepts her and values her, more than any human man ever will.
How often do you feel like my friend? For me, I know those thoughts seep into my heart and mind almost every day. I’ve discovered that spending time with God, in His word, is the answer to most of our problems, especially our trust issues. I realized that the days I struggle trusting God most are the days I don’t spend time with him.
Do you trust in God’s plan for your life? Do you spend time with God on a regular basis through reading the Bible or praying? (more…)