Pornography Saved My Marriage. I've been wanting to use that title for years. Imagine how it would just fly off the shelves of the Christian book store.
Companion volume: Martinis for Missionaries.
(I'll be here all week, folks.)
But seriously. Really.
God can use anything. Balaam's donkey, Jonah's whale, you name it. Nothing is outside the realm of redemption when God gets a hold of it. Not even a pornography addiction.
Romans 5:20-21 says this: "But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful kindness became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, so now God's wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (New Living Translation)
The more sin there is, the more grace we find.
But "should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not!" (Romans 6:1-2, NLT)
I can't help it y'all. I live in south Dallas. This is the picture that comes into my mind:
The sin is not good. But the grace of God and His power to redeem is awesome indeed.
This little chapter of my story has a happy ending. Our marriage is exponentially better than it was before.
I realize that many, many people don't get that particular happy ending. And maybe it seems like the story just gets worse and worse.
I don't know how God is going to redeem in all those other stories, but I believe with all my heart that He will. I believe that He is alive and well and at work.
And our job is to keep pressing on, toward That Day, believing that God can use anything and everything to bring us Home together.
***
So. I think I've said what I wanted to say in this series. This has been a challenging enterprise for yours truly. I'm grateful to my nearest and dearest, who held my hand through the anxiety-laden days leading up to publication. You know who you are. Thanks for loving me through it.
I'm especially grateful to Andy, for his vulnerability, unwavering support, and encouragement. I love you more.
If you've picked up partway through the series, and want to read the whole thing, it starts here.
And up next, here on the blog, I'm going to indulge my passion for Handel's Messiah during the holiday season. I haven't written anything yet, but I already cried while listening to the overture this morning. So I'm off to a good start.