Where I've Been: My Story of Addiction and Recovery - Mr. P Talks Theology - Ep. 02

 I mentioned a while back in my video on the authority of scripture that I would be recording a video letting you all know where I had been and where I had disappeared to over the last few years. I know that there are also those who have come to this blog and my attached YouTube channel who have never met me personally so there's probably fewer questions you have about that since you probably didn't know I had dropped off of social media in the first place.

Without taking too much away from the video itself, I have struggled with porn addiction for most of my life. I realize that sounds horrifying but when you consider the fact that I'll be 38 this year (as of the time of this writing it is 2023), even if the problem didn't begin until I was eighteen, that would be twenty years which is mathematically more than half my life (not by much but you get the point). I'm not saying I got hooked on it when I was a little kid. Nothing quite that extreme. It's a problem for a lot of men and it's getting harder and harder to avoid which is why my wife and I do our best to shelter the kids from a lot of things out in the world.

Suffice it to say, my problems had gotten out of control and it threatened to destroy my marriage, my relationship with my kids, those in my church, and every other aspect of my life. Ultimately, I got involved with a recovery program and came at last to the realization that drastic steps had to be taken to correct my behavior. It also involved a lot of soul-searching and finding out what exactly it was that had brought me to this point. Only by the grace of God was I brought back from the brink and my relationship with my family and God restored.

I hope my story can be an encouragement to you all. If you're a man who also struggles with this sort of thing, I hope it's an encouragement to you to get help. Celebrate Recovery is a decent program (though I'm no fan of Saddleback Church or Rick Warren), and Battle Plan Ministries is a good resource as well. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to come listen.