porn addiction and bad reputations

I've had a few people express concern that I am so open on the Internet (my blog and Facebook) about my struggle with pornography. Some are afraid it will cause people to look down on me and write me off. Some are afraid people will take advantage of me, now knowing my weaknesses. And some are afraid it will scare away any potential men in my life, intimidating them.

Admittedly, I've had these thoughts. It wasn't an overnight thing to be able to bare all in such a place where you don't even really know who might be reading. It took four years to be able to share this so openly.

But I have seen so much good come from carefully placing the raw pieces of me in a place where any woman could read it, whether I know her or not--whether she's my roommate or a girl I friended on Facebook because we met once at a ministry gathering. You can reach more people on Facebook than you can at a Bible study leaders training where not all women are present. Sometimes you can speak into someone's life through written word on Facebook more than you ever could stuttering face-to-face. Girls have joined sexual addictions Bible studies because a friend and I weren't afraid of what people would think, because we allowed Jesus to work through our lives--even our lives on Facebook.

There's tact. And there is a time and a place. But since I am unashamed, I would rather take every opportunity I can to reach every possible person in my life than hesitate one moment and miss someone that I could have reached out to because I was afraid of my own reputation.

Bottom line: I want to live in a culture that speaks as openly about its struggle with pornography as it does its compulsive lying, where my struggle with lust is viewed no worse than your struggle with gossip, where her struggle with masturbation is no different than his struggle with excessive eating. And if this is the culture we want to live in--the culture we believe the Church should embrace--then we should be the ones to introduce this culture.

As for me, if it causes friends to look at me with disgust, then alright. If it encourages someone to exploit my weaknesses, then I pray I would be wiser at choosing who I friend on Facebook in the first place. And if it scares away any man who would want to pursue me, then quite frankly, he isn't worth my heartache.

noise

I wrote this song about a month ago, and I have since failed at all recording attempts.

The same feelings in this song are resurfacing again, so I thought I would share:

noise

lead me in this atmosphere--

we linger in the shadow of kings as dreamers to 

forever weave the bones of wayward thoughts.

speak up, won't you please?

all your brain is so bitter, my heart is so bare.

if only you and I could simply close our eyes and 

by and by, heal these goodbyes.

their trains have moved out of my neighborhood,

leaving their white walls but for dirt marks in places I know all too well.

this is the same town, your framed scowls and all I do is stare

into glass canvas, painting old faces--

they're all I think about.

chasing eyes to see if they'll look at me,

chasing words to see if they'll speak to me.

oh and I know you're gone,

oh and I know I'm lost.

chasing years to see if they'll stay with me.

every connection I have has drowned, garbling my words--it's all empty sound,

while the world has picked up a new language. did you intend to tell me?

the words I scream are dead now.

I found fourteen radios--I've lined them up in front of me.

I tuned each one to the different stations we used to scan,

and I'm still listening for your voice somewhere above the noise,

somewhere lost in all the noise.

ugly truths about addiction recovery

i tend to only bear my heart on matters of addiction when i'm feeling on top of things. when i think i've finally claimed this thing called freedom. i don't like to talk about it when i've spiraled down to a point of depression, of almost giving up on ever being on the other side of these bars, when it seems Satan has swallowed the key to my cage.

but the ugly side of addiction and the aspiring recovery process should be exposed too. because as it is, i am in the grieving period again, and to pretend everything is okay is to deny the brutal truths of sin.

it's like this:

trying to rewrite the devil's language into a tongue that includes the vocabulary sin and clear conscience.
it's seeking protection from the very thing that breaks me.
tracing the lines in my mind of the thing i want so bad, all the while blinking my eyes so quickly in hopes of wiping that desire from memory.
it's knowing that my very thoughts are evil, my motives putrid, but they can do no hiding from the Holy of Holies.
it deprives me of sleep.
it haunts my brain.
it plagues my body.
it lays bricks to the wall i've made up between me and God.
it's jumping into the shower, knowing i'm not going to come out clean, no matter how hard i scrub my body.
it's waking up and knowing the remorse carries over from night to day; i can't sleep it off.
it's the doubt that hounds me when i am all the more uncertain that God wants anything to do with me right now.
everything inside of me wants it, and once that is determined, i have become a rabid, hollow-eyed creature that will do anything to get it.

what is this freedom you speak of?
for eleven long years freedom has always been that dream i swear i've finally grasped only for it to slip through my fingers again. i honestly don't know what freedom looks like. all i know is it can't look like this -- where it takes three months to climb out of a hole and breathe clean air, but only three hours to fall right back down to the bottom.

even a Taylor Swift song can describe it:
"i knew you were trouble when you walked in. so shame on me now. you flew me to places i'd never been until you put me down. i knew you were trouble when you walked in, so shame on me now - flew me to places i'd never been. now i'm lying on the cold hard ground."

an exact description of addiction. relapses occur because it means returning to something familiar yet with the potential to experience something new and exciting each time. but at the end of it, you're let down, and emptier than ever. it's binding.

for a more literary reference, it's also like Frodo:
"i am naked in the dark, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. i begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades."

the feeling of the Accuser setting his eyes on me, what's left of his hold on me pulling down on my neck, such a heavy burden.

but i so badly want to get up and be restored! could i keep my head above the water long enough this time to see that His hand is still there, outstretched to me? and if i cannot, let it be that He would come in and save me.

She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, "I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now." 
(Hosea 2:7)

I know this language of yours; I used to speak it so well. A fire meant to be pure is not the fire of Hell. Your time's up now. That's enough now. Shut up, get out! Truth called you out.
(Flyleaf)

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." 
--God (Genesis 4:7)

Romans 7:15-25.

night changes many thoughts

I know there's such a thing as seasonal depression... what about nightfall depression? For me, it happens most nights. I'm alone in my room, turn off the light to go to sleep, and suddenly all my fears sweep in, all my insecurities. My mind runs in a hundred different directions, remembering all the things I need to do, all the things I long for, the hurts of that day, the worries of tomorrow, the memories of yesterday... Everything that seemed fine in the daytime is suddenly dark, heavy and scary in my mind.

"Night changes many thoughts."

It's a Lord of the Rings quote I think of on most nights, every time this happens. Most times, the things I think of at night are no more true than during the day. The difference is the darkness, the stillness, the silence of all else but my own thoughts. And suddenly night has changed them.

Sometimes meditating on Scripture helps, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep, begging to God still on my lips. I don't know the cure to this nightfall depression. All I know is that when morning comes, most times I no longer see the demons in my room. Because morning comes, I don't need to fear the terror of night (Psalm 91).

This song summarizes everything. Many nights I fall asleep listening to it, a single lit candle in sight.

When darkness falls at evening time 
And all the world is still 
My heart feels restless, oh my God 
It longs to be filled 

Oh Father rescue me from doubt 
Deliver me from grief 
Let your joy in me abound 
Remove my unbelief, remove my unbelief 

I hear the wind rush through the trees 
A peaceful whistling sound 
But still my soul is not at ease 
And sleep cannot be found 

You are stillness, you are quiet 
You are comfort and peace.

-Jenny & Tyler

when slaves to sex try to free those in sex slavery

One thing that has started motivating me to stay away from pornography is recognizing the ties it has with sex trafficking. Pornography fuels the demand for sex. It trains the mind to believe that sex should be readily available, that as long as it gives us pleasure it can be abused, and that men and women are nothing but bodies to masturbate in.

When slaves to sex try to free those in sex slavery, you make no progress. The people you've "rescued" have no place to go other than right back into the system that demands more sex, tracing its steps back to those days you hide out in your room browsing porn sites.

How can we desire or expect to free boys and girls from sex slavery when we ourselves are slaves to sex? How can we expect to free those who would give anything to not have sex with strangers night after night, when we ourselves throw away our relationships and good use of our time to spend hours searching for sex on the Internet? How twisted is that?

We have become mindless creatures, slaves to our sexual drives. Slaves who could be free, but choose not to. Slaves who are so blinded by their own petty lusts that they can't see those who are physically enslaved by an increasing demand for sex.

How can I be okay with this? How can I ignore the link between my own sin and the oppression of a child here in the US or in another part of the world? How can I give my mind over to something that's not real while real people are being sold into real pain to satisfy a real repulsive desire similar to my own?

I want to see men and women who are not mastered by sex. Men and women who are disciplined and by the Holy Spirit are able to control their cravings. Men and women who are free from their own various poverties (physical, emotional, spiritual) and are equipped to set others free in the name of Jesus.

I want us to gain a larger perspective of the consequences of our sin and take responsibility for it. Jesus has already provided the redemption for our sins; let's throw off everything that hinders (Hebrew 12:1) and join Him in the redemption of everything else that's such a mess in this world.

why you have to keep leaning into cynicism

“I am a great cynic.” 

Would you believe those words came from someone who advocates on behalf of the poor and the oppressed on a daily basis? Believe it or not, there are days when even the ones telling you to have hope for the end of poverty have trouble believing it themselves!

Cynicism is hard to avoid when there’s so much injustice in the world and it seems like it’s not going away. We have the statistics to prove that we are making definite progress, but when you’re still face-to-face with evil, it all seems so much bigger than any numbers could tell you otherwise.

I had the chance to sit down with Jayme Cloninger, Manager of Public Policy with Feed the Children, a faith-based nonprofit providing hope and resources for those without life’s essentials. At 24, Jayme describes herself as a “human rights and social justice activist” and a “faith-driven, passionate dreamer.”

To be completely honest, I was fairly intimidated by her passion and intensity! When I asked her how she addresses the cynics around her, it was a pleasant surprise to hear that there are days when she is in fact one of them.

“There are days where I am a great cynic,” Jayme told me. “It is overwhelming. Do I actually believe hunger will ever end?... I’ve seen things that are terrible and perpetuate incredible injustices and exploitation, that take the lives of so many innocent people and basically wreak havoc and Hell on earth.”

Is injustice a glimpse of Hell on earth? For Jayme, injustice is how we experience Hell everyday. And if it’s all around us, how do we experience hope? By remembering that there is also Heaven – the kingdom of God is near, and in that promise we find redemption and hope.

“This is where I stay really close to the Christian faith because of the role of Christ, as a believer in Jesus Christ and the life that He led,” Jayme said. “Jesus is someone who interacted with cynicism everyday, interacted with an unjust system – He exploited Himself on the cross for that! Because He dove deep into that, He was able to redeem it.”

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He came across people who doubted His authority, His power and His love. How could someone who appeared as lowly as Him possibly be the Messiah they had been waiting for? Even when they saw hope face-to-face – they saw Him heal their diseases, cast out demons, raise the dead to life, and touch the unloved – they let their cynicism overcome what they saw with their own eyes. Even Jesus’ disciples doubted Him! And when Jesus was crucified and darkness surrounded, cynicism peaked and all hope seemed lost.

Can we relate in our own cynicism about the end of extreme poverty? Then let’s remember the next chapter in the story – the resurrection of Christ. Many cynics were silenced then!

Photo: Jayme Cloninger with a little girl in the Philippines. 

“I’ve seen realistically the power of the resurrection,” Jayme said. “I’ve seen it in the Philippines, I’ve seen it in Mozambique, I’ve seen it in my own heart, I’ve seen it in my family’s… There are terribly systems, but there is hope.”

No one is beyond the reach of the power of the resurrection of Christ. And if we can believe that, why can’t we believe He can also redeem extreme poverty and injustice? As Christians, we are called to believe this. We are called to hope. But where do we begin? We start right where we are – in the middle of cynicism.

“Because we as Christians are called to live out a life that seeks redemption, we are called to question cynicism,” Jayme said. “We are called to question it on the grounds of hope and on the grounds of redemption… I think the enemy, per say, is cynicism, and I think God is with us in that. I don’t think God leaves us there. A lot of times [cynicism] is where I don’t feel God, but I think that the moments when I don’t feel God is when God is working the most…”

When she said that, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus on the cross, crying out to the Father, “Why have You forsaken me?” It is my belief that in that moment, He could not feel God – He took on our full punishment for sin through separation from God in that moment. But just because He couldn’t feel God with Him, does that mean God was not working? Our whole faith depends on the hope that He indeed was!

In a similar way, cynicism is a hard place to be, but because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can trust that God is with us and that He is still working. We don’t need to be afraid of cynicism. 

“You have to ask those hard questions that lead you to cynicism,” Jayme continued. “Questions will lead you to cynicism. But it can also lead you to apathy and inaction. But you can’t give up. You have to lean into those really, really hard questions because that’s the only way you’re going to come out of it with hope. You have to lean into the tension to find the hope – you have to. That’s what the role of Christ was in life.”

Here’s the truth: There are many days I’m a cynic. Maybe you are too. But this girl is going to keep leaning into it, and I'm not going to give up and remain in the cynicism – I'm going to come out of it with intense hope that we can end extreme poverty. I pray you’ll keep leaning into it too!


*Photo: A silk dyer in India. Whole families are enslaved in the silk industry, forced to work with toxic dye. Part of the Modern Day Slavery collection by Lisa Kristine. 

the forgotten role of Jesus

Have you ever looked at a group of advocates on the side of the road and gotten an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach? Or seen a street preacher on the college campus and quickly ducked away, not wanting to be associated with him? Maybe the girl posting all sorts of causes and petitions on her Facebook wall annoys you.

I’m not sure what it is – something about them being too out there, too controversial, too “hippie.” When I get this anxious feeling, it’s often a standoff between “Stop it, you’re way too extreme” and “I wish I had the guts to do what you’re doing.”

Reconciling two different sides of Jesus 

For a lot of Christians, advocacy is the line between the two seemingly opposing traits of a Jesus-follower – leading a peaceful, quiet life vs. standing up for truth, even if it means being in the middle of an uproar. We see these two sides of Jesus, and we are drawn to both but aren’t sure how to reconcile them. He was a man who remained quiet in the face of His accusers (Mark 15:3-5), who respected the law (Matt. 22:21), who tried to keep things quiet and often withdrew to lonely places (Luke 5:14-16), and who urged us to be peacemakers (Matt. 5:9). We also see in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 that we are encouraged to lead a quiet life, and in Romans 12:18 we are commanded to be at peace with everyone as long as it depends on us.

But Jesus was also a man who stirred up controversy (John 8:54-59), who turned old commands inside out (Matt. 5:17-48), who rebuked the evil-doers and hypocrites (Matt. 23:13-39), who cursed fig trees and overturned tables (Mark 11:12-25), and who said He did not come to bring peace but a sword (Matt. 10:34). We are told in Romans 12:1 to not conform to the patterns of the world and in Acts 5:29-42, we see the apostles preach the Gospel, even when authorities told them to stop and persecuted them.

Seeing advocacy as part of the Christian life 

As Christians, we struggle to reconcile these different aspects of the Christian life, and then you throw advocacy into the mix and we are even more confused. To many of us, advocacy looks like causing a stir, standing up for things that are too extreme, being overly convicted to boycott anything and everything, and talking back to authorities.

But what if we saw advocacy as a part of Jesus’ ministry? What if we could stand up for what is right and be respectful and gentle as we do so? Jesus was the perfect advocate, humble and gentle in heart while bold and truthful at the same time. What if we dared to look at the dictionary definition of advocacy – to plead the cause of another, side with, vindicate, recommend publicly – and compare that to the example Jesus set for us in His advocacy for the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, and the oppressed, the example we see in the heart of the Father?

Advocacy Associate with World Vision, Amanda Mootz, said, “There are thousands of people out there who don’t have a clue, who haven’t heard that advocacy is a part of God’s heart – that justice is a part of it, and justice requires advocacy… We’re not just acting out of a conviction and makeup out of ourselves and trying to convince that person to believe our conviction. We’re looking at what Scripture says, that this is what we are compelled to do based on our identity. So we have something else to point to and to at least start from.”

Amanda went on to say that it might be difficult to convince people to care about, for example, conflict minerals in their phones and the part they play in contributing to unjust systems. But if you treat advocacy as a part of the Christian life, there arises a Christ-like motivation behind it.

“They might not care about what’s in their phones, but what they know how to care about is their spiritual life and their faith life,” Amanda continued. “So if you can start with them in that realm, then you can slowly branch out into understanding that God’s heart is bigger than just their little church world.”

With the corrupt systems of today, advocacy for us includes becoming informed, rooting out the things in our lives that contribute to injustice and even giving up those things and changing our lifestyle.

“We need to have integrity in that we can’t ask the government to do something we aren’t prepared to do ourselves,” said Jason Fileta, president of Micah Challenge USA.

Like any other aspect of our Christian lives, becoming like Jesus in His advocacy role is a process. It is the fruit of our intimacy with Christ and is developed over time.

“Advocacy really is a lifestyle… I love the idea of thinking about advocacy as a spiritual discipline, and that requires sacrifice,” said Jayme Cloninger, Manager of Public Policy at Feed the Children.

We can’t pick and choose which roles of Jesus we want to try on. If we are to pursue Christlikeness, we have to look at the complete person of who He was and strive to be like Him in every way as we continue to abide in His grace every day.

Jesus the Healer.
Friend.
Teacher.
Shepherd.
Servant.
Advocate. 


 *Photo: “Music for the Masses.” CC image courtesy of CoreForce on Flickr.