One Step
One Step
SIXTH IN BEGINS WITH ONE SERIES
The One Decision to surrender my fears and secrets to Jesus brought my first understanding of grace.
I expected Christi to kick me out of the house and to lose everything. Instead, I found I was not alone. My wife was willing to fight for our marriage, and my small group provided a safe place for transparency.
Making the One Decision brought me to a crossroads between my past and future. I could hope God had me, or I could do all the right things, but I never fully trusted that He would lead me through life's daily fears.
My surrender to Jesus required me to trust Him with my secrets, but now I needed to take the One Step of trusting Him with every day of my life.
It started within hours of my confession. I joined an online accountability program, and we were signed up for marriage counseling.
The most straightforward and most significant step came in my routine. My mornings now begin with putting action to my trust in a quiet time of prayer. My lunch hour, which I would typically spend seeking out or talking to inappropriate people, was now spent leaving work, parking under a tree at a nearby park, and reading the Bible.
Something was different. The times of prayer and reading no longer seemed like a checklist item but a part of a relationship with Jesus.
When I share my story, I use the analogy of two hands. Imagine holding onto a rope with two hands as you are falling off a cliff. Jesus is there with you, asking you to let go of the rope so He can show you that you are safe. But in fear, you only let go with one hand, still trusting what you see and not trusting what He asks of you. There will be a point when your strength to hold the rope will give out. It is not until you give Him both hands, letting go of the rope, that you realize He already has a plan in place to keep you from falling. However, you cannot see the plan until you trust Him 100%.
As the days turned into weeks and months, I gained a new understanding of how I was defined. I believed my actions and my thoughts defined me. Taking the One Step allowed me to understand that I was defined by Jesus.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2
Change was no longer based on my ability to be perfect. Change was defined by my daily trust and surrender to Jesus Christ.
In the book The Game Plan, Joe Dallas talks about sexual purity and sexual sobriety.
We always fail and still can fail when all we focus on is the goal of purity. We are all sinners, and when we sin, if our only focus is purity, we will see ourselves as failures. The typical response is to believe we must start the journey from the beginning.
This is not the reality Jesus gives us in our surrender to Him.
Sobriety is another story. The Bible tells us that God’s mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). What if we focused on the grace found in today's sobriety instead of on the goal of purity?
It starts by seeking Him FIRST, asking Him for grace throughout the day, protection from temptation, and giving thanks for His love. Your day is no longer focused on what you will not do to achieve the goal but on the one who will lead you to it.
You will find success in the grace of the day. When you do this daily, taking the One Step of daily sobriety, you can look back and see you are walking a journey of purity. Even if you stumble, you get up, confess, thank Jesus for His forgiveness, and continue the journey.
A life that was once defined by One Day, which led to One Lie and grew into One Fear, is now changed by embracing the One Possibility of change, making the One Decision of surrender, and taking One Step of faith. Where does this lead?
One New Life!
Contact us at info@changinglanes.org to discover how your life can be changed.
The One Decision to surrender my fears and secrets to Jesus brought my first understanding of grace.
I expected Christi to kick me out of the house and to lose everything. Instead, I found I was not alone. My wife was willing to fight for our marriage, and my small group provided a safe place for transparency.
Making the One Decision brought me to a crossroads between my past and future. I could hope God had me, or I could do all the right things, but I never fully trusted that He would lead me through life's daily fears.
My surrender to Jesus required me to trust Him with my secrets, but now I needed to take the One Step of trusting Him with every day of my life.
It started within hours of my confession. I joined an online accountability program, and we were signed up for marriage counseling.
The most straightforward and most significant step came in my routine. My mornings now begin with putting action to my trust in a quiet time of prayer. My lunch hour, which I would typically spend seeking out or talking to inappropriate people, was now spent leaving work, parking under a tree at a nearby park, and reading the Bible.
Something was different. The times of prayer and reading no longer seemed like a checklist item but a part of a relationship with Jesus.
When I share my story, I use the analogy of two hands. Imagine holding onto a rope with two hands as you are falling off a cliff. Jesus is there with you, asking you to let go of the rope so He can show you that you are safe. But in fear, you only let go with one hand, still trusting what you see and not trusting what He asks of you. There will be a point when your strength to hold the rope will give out. It is not until you give Him both hands, letting go of the rope, that you realize He already has a plan in place to keep you from falling. However, you cannot see the plan until you trust Him 100%.
As the days turned into weeks and months, I gained a new understanding of how I was defined. I believed my actions and my thoughts defined me. Taking the One Step allowed me to understand that I was defined by Jesus.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2
Change was no longer based on my ability to be perfect. Change was defined by my daily trust and surrender to Jesus Christ.
In the book The Game Plan, Joe Dallas talks about sexual purity and sexual sobriety.
We always fail and still can fail when all we focus on is the goal of purity. We are all sinners, and when we sin, if our only focus is purity, we will see ourselves as failures. The typical response is to believe we must start the journey from the beginning.
This is not the reality Jesus gives us in our surrender to Him.
Sobriety is another story. The Bible tells us that God’s mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). What if we focused on the grace found in today's sobriety instead of on the goal of purity?
It starts by seeking Him FIRST, asking Him for grace throughout the day, protection from temptation, and giving thanks for His love. Your day is no longer focused on what you will not do to achieve the goal but on the one who will lead you to it.
You will find success in the grace of the day. When you do this daily, taking the One Step of daily sobriety, you can look back and see you are walking a journey of purity. Even if you stumble, you get up, confess, thank Jesus for His forgiveness, and continue the journey.
A life that was once defined by One Day, which led to One Lie and grew into One Fear, is now changed by embracing the One Possibility of change, making the One Decision of surrender, and taking One Step of faith. Where does this lead?
One New Life!
Contact us at info@changinglanes.org to discover how your life can be changed.
Posted in Begins with One, Decision, One Step, Trust, Romans 12:2, Change, Sexual Integrity, Sobriety, Purity, Jesus
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A Spiritual Green ThumbThankfulness in Times of TrialOne New LifeOne StepOne DecisionOne PossibilityOne FearOne LieOne DayFurther Up. Further In.When TImes Are Good, Don’t Lose GroundBlessings From The FatherWill shame stop exploitation?New Life in ChristNew Life: A Beautiful MessWhen It’s Hard To Do What You Said you would doConviction vs. ActionNot By SightFinding Identity In The Deep EndRefuge In The StormCan I Really Change? One Guaranteed Way Inside“I Made It” A Tribute To Terry TurnerOne Decision. One Choice.Free IndeedI never knew that something that merely peaked my curiosity at the age of twelve, would turn into years of relentless shame and secrecy. Over the course of four years pornography had consumed more of my life than I ever intended to give it. I vividly remember one of my most desperate prayers to God when I was sixteen. With knots twisting in my stomach, and tears uncontrollably running down my face I said, “God, I can’t do this anymore.” It was in that moment He replied, “Jessica, you don’t have to.” If you are reading this, I don’t know where you are in life or the magnitude of the struggles that you face. What I do know, is that there is such a thing as freedom. For me, it was freedom from more than a pornography addiction. Lust, deception, shame, guilt, comparison, rejection, abandonment, and condemnation have all reared their heads in the years that followed that night when I was sixteen. At times I found myself asking, “When will this ever end?” Somehow, I fell under the impression that the surrender of one thing meant that things in this new relationship with God would inevitably be effortless afterward. Not only was I wrong, but I am glad I was wrong. John 8:36 reads, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” To this day, it is a verse that has brought me the greatest joy, and I want to tell you why. Jesus starts out this verse by saying “if the Son sets you free.” I couldn’t keep up with the facade that everything was okay, and that I didn’t have an addiction. Freedom came in the moment I said that I couldn’t do it anymore. It wasn’t ever going to be found in my own ability, and for that I am thankful. I am thankful that I can never be too proud of my own strength and resistance to sin. On my own I will miserably fail. Then later in the verse comes my favorite part: “free indeed.” For only six letters, indeed is a powerful word. According to Strong’s concordance, some definitions include “really, truly,” and “actually.” In other words, Jesus was saying that this freedom is without question. It’s not a distant, unattainable fantasy. It’s an undeniable reality that only He can make possible. So where does this leave you now? It leaves you with a choice. Regardless of where you consider yourself to be in this life, Jesus is the only way to lasting freedom. The lies that tell you that this is how it always must be are exactly that – lies. There is a life beyond addiction. Ten years ago, I found myself at that crossroads where I had to decide if I wanted to keep living the way I was. Jesus wasn’t just as my crossroads, but on the road leading to it. I only had to recognize that He was there.
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