Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Testimony!
As many of you know part of my time I spend helping other guys through an internet ministry called SettingCaptivesFree.com. At the end of their 60 day course they will give a short testimony and I wanted to share this one with you. I won't say his name, but I really was excited and blessed to see what God was doing in his life!
Here is his testimony:
Early in my life (around 5th grade) and on through high school my life was dominated by a preoccupation and an expectation for sexual activity. As a late bloomer in regards to puberty I struggled with expectations from brothers and friends that I be involved sexually with the girls my age that were willing. A lot frustration resulted as many unfulfilled desires were only started and not followed through on. Pornography and sexual fantasies began to fill that frustration throughout high school. I became a believer in college and eventually transferred to a Bible College for 4 years. During that time lust was still a temptation but I thought it had been conquered for the most part. Slowly over time my fantasy life would reawaken at times periodically. I assumed getting married would cure this, and it did help a lot to have healthy sexual relations. Over time, especially during the most stressful times of life, I began to return to sexual fantasies. During 18 years of marriage we have always been involved in a good church. The last 4 years I began to live more of a hypocritical life was becoming more miserable. I got to the point last year that I nearly lost my job and my marriage (along with 4 kids). I have taken this course over a 4 month period and have enjoyed more freedom than ever in my life. (It is an excellent course) It has been good to build consistency and relearn how to walk in freedom. God has led me to a Biblical counseling group in my church that has helped me to work on related issues such as pride, contentment and pre-occupation with myself. I am extremely thankful that God pursued me and loved me even though He had every right to allow me to continue to walk away in my disobedience. I feel as though I have over used His mercy and grace, but he continued to be like the Prodigal father looking for my return. In Luke ch 4 Jesus said that he has come - "TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."
Here is his testimony:
Early in my life (around 5th grade) and on through high school my life was dominated by a preoccupation and an expectation for sexual activity. As a late bloomer in regards to puberty I struggled with expectations from brothers and friends that I be involved sexually with the girls my age that were willing. A lot frustration resulted as many unfulfilled desires were only started and not followed through on. Pornography and sexual fantasies began to fill that frustration throughout high school. I became a believer in college and eventually transferred to a Bible College for 4 years. During that time lust was still a temptation but I thought it had been conquered for the most part. Slowly over time my fantasy life would reawaken at times periodically. I assumed getting married would cure this, and it did help a lot to have healthy sexual relations. Over time, especially during the most stressful times of life, I began to return to sexual fantasies. During 18 years of marriage we have always been involved in a good church. The last 4 years I began to live more of a hypocritical life was becoming more miserable. I got to the point last year that I nearly lost my job and my marriage (along with 4 kids). I have taken this course over a 4 month period and have enjoyed more freedom than ever in my life. (It is an excellent course) It has been good to build consistency and relearn how to walk in freedom. God has led me to a Biblical counseling group in my church that has helped me to work on related issues such as pride, contentment and pre-occupation with myself. I am extremely thankful that God pursued me and loved me even though He had every right to allow me to continue to walk away in my disobedience. I feel as though I have over used His mercy and grace, but he continued to be like the Prodigal father looking for my return. In Luke ch 4 Jesus said that he has come - "TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Highlights of the last week or so!
Life here in Spain is flying by so fast, it is hard to keep up. Yesterday I had an exam for my spanish classes. I feel it went well, but I can never really tell. The last time I thought I did really good on a mid-term exam I failed it. I think our professor likes to be tough on us now and then he lightens up on the final exam. I will find out tomorrow how I did.
Also last friday we made a trip to the airport in Biblao (the nothern coast of Spain). We went to pick up a Leonie. A girl from Germany who will be staying with us for the next three weeks. Her parents are friends of Noelia. Actually about 10 years ago Noelia lived with them for 6 months as a nanny and she took care of Leonie. So it is a little weird for her to see her now all grown up. She is here to study English. I know what you are thinking, "Study English in Spain?" It sounds funny, but since her parents know that we as a family speak English they felt she would have plenty of opportuinities to practice with us. She has been a lot of fun to have around and the girls love her.
On Friday after youth group we will be going to a concert. One of the guys in our youth group, Dani, is a drummer in a local band. They are becoming more and more popular in our area and have actually just finished with their first music video. You can actually see it on youtube if you like. Here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFjTlRGE_1s It's obviously in Spanish, but they sound good.
Anyhow that's all for now, I hope you are all having a good week!
Also last friday we made a trip to the airport in Biblao (the nothern coast of Spain). We went to pick up a Leonie. A girl from Germany who will be staying with us for the next three weeks. Her parents are friends of Noelia. Actually about 10 years ago Noelia lived with them for 6 months as a nanny and she took care of Leonie. So it is a little weird for her to see her now all grown up. She is here to study English. I know what you are thinking, "Study English in Spain?" It sounds funny, but since her parents know that we as a family speak English they felt she would have plenty of opportuinities to practice with us. She has been a lot of fun to have around and the girls love her.
On Friday after youth group we will be going to a concert. One of the guys in our youth group, Dani, is a drummer in a local band. They are becoming more and more popular in our area and have actually just finished with their first music video. You can actually see it on youtube if you like. Here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFjTlRGE_1s It's obviously in Spanish, but they sound good.
Anyhow that's all for now, I hope you are all having a good week!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
