Is Restoration Possible After Porn Addiction?

It’s not easy to admit that you’ve made a mess of things because of your porn usage. Your wife has given you so many second chances you’ve lost count; knowing that something’s going on in your personal life, your boss has given you extra slack at work; your friends might have even asked, ‘What’s going on with you lately?’

As you narrow in on healing and tackle your demons, rounding the corner to normalcy, it’s understandable that you might be asking yourself, ‘Why do I deserve restoration?’

You might recall from your Sunday school days the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. They were having a lovely time in the Garden of Eden when things started to go awry. They chose to ignore God’s advice and eat from the one tree he said they couldn’t eat from. It was a test, and they failed.

Yet, from this point forward in the story of God’s people, the narrative became a story of restoration. First, restoration in the Garden, later, restoration of the Hebrew people who over and over again disobeyed God as they wandered in the desert looking for the Promise Land.

Again and again, we see a pattern develop in the Old Testament: The prophet foretells of waywardness, the people indeed wander away from God, they sin, the prophet preaches repentance and restoration, the people cry out and beg forgiveness, God forgives, and his people are restored.

Related Article: From Porn Star to Pastor: How God Rewrote Joshua Broome’s Story

Great Is Your Faithfulness

You think that at some point, God would tire of this pattern; yet his love and compassion for his people never failed then, and it won’t fail now:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”-Lamentations 3: 22-23

No matter what mistakes you’ve made or how you’ve handled your life to this point, the story of the Bible is a story of survival, hope, and redemption through God’s ultimate sacrifice of his son on the cross. It’s only through Jesus that absolute redemption is possible.

Related Article: Trading Sin For the Unmerited Grace & Forgiveness Christ Died to Give

The Lord says in Isaiah 43:1-2,

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Hard Work Required

It’s hard to imagine a higher power who will always accept your confession, who will never give up on you. Sometimes we are restored with God, but never fully restored in our human relationships. This is hard. Harder than you ever imagined. Yet, you can have confidence in your relationship with God as you do the hard work of restoration required to reconnect with the people who matter in your life.

Related Article: Surrendering Shame In A Grace-Filled Church

2 Corinthians 13:9 says,

“For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.”

Healing in relationships, as well as physical and emotional restoration, may seem the furthest thing possible from your life right now, but we serve a God who is bigger than our struggles. He’s a God of restoration that has promised to come alongside you. He’s ultimately invested in you like no other person has.

It Starts With You

First, you have to choose to fight for yourself. God wants to do immeasurably more than you could ask or imagine in your life, but you have to want it. Without pursuing healing, you will continue to wound those who you love the most.

Related Article: How To Get Over Porn & Find Lasting Freedom

The Conquer Series is a groundbreaking cinematic study that can help you begin to build a firm foundation of healing in your life. Combining Science and Scripture, you will learn how the moral struggle with pornography quickly becomes a brain problem. Because God created sexual intimacy as a way in which to bond with your spouse, your brain will glue to the imagery that your eyes are focused on at the time of sexual release. Consequently, your brain will form new neuropathways that will begin to crave the same release in response to pain, stress, loneliness, or fear.

Related Article: This Is Your Brain On Porn

For many, the root of bondage is most often found in a painful past. Abuse, neglect, rejection, or the lack of a father/mother figure can significantly impact one’s present-day struggles. As a result of these painful experiences, Satan often embeds a lie that is commonly perceived as truth. Through the Conquer Series, you will be able to identify those lies and learn powerful truths that will help set you free.

Through this 10-week course, available exclusively on the Soul Refiner website, men can experience sobriety. However, the entire process of the mind will take two to five years – sometimes requiring a miracle every day. Even when you feel as if you’re free, don’t neglect the opportunity to meet with other men. As you find freedom, God will ask you to take your healing up another notch – by engaging in actively pursuing healing for your other brothers in Christ, your wife, and your children.

Being A Hero

Upon completing the Conquer Series, consider transitioning into Warpath. Warpath is a long-term, cinematic study for men that will help you go deeper in the pursuit of healing and freedom. You’ll learn powerful truths that will help you fully grasp your identity in Christ.

You will recognize that God called you out of the darkness, not to shame you, but to help set others free. You will be given tools and strategies that will help you wage war for the men you know, and for your church.

Related Article: A Man’s Purpose – What Does It Mean To Be A Man?

But more than that, you will be introduced to powerful concepts that can help you become part of the solution to your wife’s pain. You can choose to stand in the gap, recognize your responsibility in the pain that your wife is experiencing, and fight towards having a restored marriage.

As Dr. Doug Weiss shares in Warpath,

“When a woman can look back at her husband and say, “I’m proud of you. I really love you.”, man, that’s a beautiful moment, but it’s earned. And if you’re on this Warpath, you deserve to have this moment, but you will work for it.”

Restoration

Regardless of how you started this year, you can choose to become a history maker moving forward. You are not the sum of your past mistakes. In fact, God can transform your mess into a message.

Now is the time that you must embrace the possibility of becoming more than a conqueror in Christ! Regardless of what the past held, take responsibility for your present and future.

You, alone, hold the power to pursue restoration in your relationships with God, your wife, your kids, your friends, and your extended family. Sign up at Soul Refiner, and begin the journey to a totally different life.