Shattered Chains

I’ll call her Grace. Listen as she shares her discovery of Christ’s power to break the power of pornography:

"Before I came to Incarnate I had been struggling with pornography and I had asked God to break and release me from those chains of addiction.

“I have been free for over 3 years now, but I didn't realize those chains were still at my feet because I was still fighting the images that I had poured into my brain. May (our small group leader) had suggested to me that the chains may have been broken but had I asked God to destroy them? I had not. During our Sabbath service, the two of us prayed that God would do so; I watched with the eyes of my heart as God shattered those chains and gave me a new identity: ‘Dearly Loved.’

“Previous to this moment I had been writing a monologue about this struggle. I had only written the first part—lies the voice in my head (Satan) had been telling me: that I was trapped, and would never be rid of these images, etc. After May and I prayed together, I was able to write the second half of this monologue, truths that God had spoken into my life. The monologue recreated the battle in my mind; the Truth of God triumphed. Now every time evil tries to pull up those terrible images in my mind I have the power to declare FALSE and those images shatter like glass and are gone forever!”

Before we left Italy, we were delighted when the director of the facility hosting us, Centro Evangelico, had a special request. I’ll let Grace share her reaction to that request:

"The most exciting thing that happened was when this piece, called, Two Words, was so loved by the directors of Centro Evangelico that they asked if they could take my monologue, translate it into Italian, teach it to their staff and use it to minister to the youth that would be coming all summer long. I’m so honored and excited to see how my story can help bring youth to Christ this summer in Italy.”

The Centro is the leading evangelical camp in Italy. We can only imagine how many young people will be affected by Two Words.
 
Grace’s story continued on Placement:
 
"After our first English Café I had a conversation with a 15-year-old young lady named Luna. Undecided about believing in God, she admitted, 'Half of me believes but the other half doesn’t.' 

"As I was talking to her, it was like talking to a mirror. So much of her story reminded me of mine. Because our stories were so similar I was able to freely share about Christ with her. I was able to share with her the kind of love God showed me and that He could do the same for her. A seed has been planted and I hope the OM team there continues to work with her and minister to her."

Please pray for Grace and others who experienced deep healing and release from this plague, that they can stand firm in their freedom and not succumb again to temptations. 

Pray too for those young Italian campers who will hear Two Words and get free of pornography. Especially in our sex-saturated visual cultures, when so many are caught in this, we need prayer to stand clear by the grace of God.

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.—Psalm 101:3