If our trials and hardships are self-inflicted, brought on by others, or those of a physical nature, faith is essential to our survival. I have learned recently that it is important for us to have faith in the attributes of God. He is merciful, long suffering, eager to forgive, loving, and true. He has the power to heal. If we have faith in and truly believe in these attributes we will be able to have complete faith in God. Our faith will be unwavering. We will know Him. It is getting to that point that is difficult. We all have weaknesses and struggles we are dealing with that Satan uses to destroy our faith. One of my problems for a long time was being convinced that I wasn't good enough for God. So I avoided Him. This was a lie and a cunning ploy from Satan. God loves us all and wants us all to come to him with our problems. He wants us to rely on Him. Our faith in Him allows us to do that.
To anyone who may be struggling, let it out. Talk to someone. Get help. Pray to a God that loves you. Holding it inside like I did will do you no good. You will cause yourself and others extreme pain and you will only be left with the faith and hope you can somehow get back what you lost. Honesty and faith is the answer.
Just want you to know that I admire your strength to get through these trials you have been faced with. I wish you the best and enjoy reading your posts.
ReplyDeleteJana (Grace) Page
is being on the internet so much really the best idea.. I admire that you are so open and sharing all this it could really be helping someone else that is going throught the same thing. but i know that when i am strugglling with things i try and stay out of situations where i can slip into satans traps! just a thought hope your doing well, and fighting till the end. but once again is being on the internet so much a good idea?
ReplyDeleteThank you Anonymous for your comment. I appreciate your concern. I believe that the internet can be used for a lot of good and I have definitely taken the necessary precautions with my internet use. I am facing the problem head on and it is very empowering. I agree that being on the internet can be a negative but that you can also put things in place so that it can be a positive. Once again, I appreciate your comment.
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDeleteYou don't know me, but we are distantly related through marriage. I too have struggled for many years with sexual addiction in it's many and varied forms. It wasn't until recently I came across something that I wished I'd had when I started my recovery but it didn't exist then and is only just now being used more and more to bring a quicker recovery for those of us fighting this horrid addiction.
Because of my desire to change and break the bands of sexual addiction I've sought help in many places. I've taken the counsel of my religious leaders, read books, I've taken advantage of phycological counseling which I found very helpful in letting me understand the origins of my demons--I'm definitely one of those damaged "Inner Child"ren.
For all these many years I've attended the church's addiction program and at the same time I sought help at local SA meetings--I found all very helpful and invaluable on my journey to recovery--but there always seemed to be something not quite right with all I was doing.
I often became frustrated because I seemed to be trapped in the relapse cycle.
I know I was continually making progress however, as you are aware, addiction programs are a slow and painful process and clearly state there was no end to the journey--an addict is an addict.
And my life clearly supported the premise that there was no end just longer lengths of time between the relapse cycle. And even those who were sponsors or others who had enjoyed a long time in "successful" recovery without a relapse appeared to eventually relapse again at some point, although much farther down the road. And though accepting this about my addiction was important in helping me go through the surrendering step, it nagged at my soul as not being enough.
So I never gave up and I continued my quest for recovery and finally came across something that was very exciting to me... recent breakthroughs in brain science. For me this was the missing piece of the recovery equation... it brought together everything I had learned and strived to practice over the years.
So I wanted to share it with you in hopes you may find the same benefit in your recovery as I did for mine.
I came across a program that uses the recent breakthroughs in brain science to help sex addicts REWIRE their brains!
I was taught about how the brain worked--just knowing this helped me a lot and automatically produced a huge leap in my recovery.
I learned how my inappropriate sexual behavior wired my brain in a specific addictive way (which frankly I don't believe can be changed with only education, a desire to change, best intentions, persistence and an iron will). Don't get me wrong I believe all of these things are useful but I am convinced that my nightmare would have ended many years ago had I been given the tools necessary to rewire my brain.
Just as I had unwittingly let my sexual behaviors wire my brain in an addictive way I had to learn how to rewire what I had created over the years to experience any permanent change.
I came across a couple of programs that deal with brain science tools for sexual addition. The one I recommend unequivocally is an online program www.candeocan.com. Its a fabulous program with great results. BYU has even conducted separate studies into the recovery rate of students who have gone through the candeocan program with an 80% recovery rate, which is pretty much unheard of.
I assure you I am not profiting in any way by recommending candeocan to you, I simply want to share it with you because I found it such a powerful program for me that really put the icing on my recovery cake and put me in the right place after years of trying but never feeling like I could say that I had really recovered... Now I know I've recovered and in my heart I know it also!
Good luck and God bless you in your endeavors.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I am going through the Candeo program already and it is very helpful. I highly recommend it. I appreciate your comment very much.
Matt