Pornography does not only hurt men. Porn enters into our churches and impacts men AND women. When was the last time you heard a sermon on porn in your church? If so, when was the last time you heard it preached to women?
Most female porn addicts feel alone. This could be because the church isn’t talking about it.
Instead of finding freedom, women live alone in shame and bondage. (more…)
Doesn’t my body know that I started to follow Jesus my freshman year of college? Yet, why does it constantly not follow Jesus? My mind. My heart. My body. All connected, and yet all do their own thing. Christian dating is hard. Setting physical boundaries is hard. You can only read so many devotionals, Christian blogs and Bible verses on purity before you begin to wonder, what am I doing wrong? Why is none of this controlling my body?
What do you do if you’ve set physical boundaries and you’re pursuing purity in dating, yet your body is doing its own thing?
Allow me to share my story, one of the many stories where my body acts differently from my heart and mind. Through my story and through Scripture, let’s learn together what to do when our bodies don’t know we are Christians. (more…)
Freedom. We want it, we crave it, yet we think it’s impossible to have.
Even as believers, there are a lot of us living in chains. Slaves to our desires. Slaves to our sin. We have heard of the concept of freedom, but we have never experienced it for ourselves.
Most days we think we can earn this freedom. Maybe if we pray more, do more, or work more, then we will experience freedom, but eventually we run out of steam. (more…)
I’ll never forget how I felt the first time I looked into the mirror after being date raped. I stood there naked, alone and ashamed. I began to question God and his love for me. (more…)
There is beauty in rebellion. When I first started living my life for God, I felt the weight of shame from my past of rebellion. I hated myself and the sins of my past. It took a few years for me to begin to break free from this shame and begin to experience the beauty of rebellion. I’m praying that you will experience the beauty of rebellion and the freedom that comes through Christ. xoxo Joy (more…)
Have you ever asked one of the above questions? First of all, know you are not alone. Countless girls struggle with controlling lustful thoughts, sexual addiction and feel enchained to sexual sins. Secondly, I want to encourage you, you can find freedom from these sins. I used to have the mentality that the only way to rid these sins and experience freedom was through “doing” – pray more, know your temptations, set up boundaries, etc. These things are all important, but “doing” more will not fix the problem. (more…)
Do you spend time thinking of your past mistakes? Do you beat yourself up over your failures?
If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, he has saved you from your past mistakes and sins. We can not keep beating ourselves up. Scripture tell us, “He (Jesus) himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV). God has forgiven you. Jesus died for you and your past. Every part of your past, even the things you hide away in the dark closet of your mind – Jesus died for those sins. Jesus died for our sins to make us righteous. (more…)
Have you ever felt so controlled by a behavior that you felt enslaved to it? You may be experiencing the results of habitual sins.
Habitual sins are destructive. These are sins that feel addictive, controlling, and always present. Most of the time the sin remains in the dark and consequently the person experiences tremendous shame and guilt. Sometimes the sin even begins to define a person and becomes the main issue in their life.
Habitual sins destroy you emotionally and spiritually. Here are a few examples: over eating, lust, alcohol and drug abuse, fits of rage, dependency on a person, constant gossiping, pre-marital sex, watching porn, and masturbation. Regardless of the form of sin, there are many common characteristics one experiences when struggling with it.
