I watched as my loved one, the budding pilot, struggled.
The exercise before the pilot’s license completion required something called a “diversion and lost procedure.” This meant a blindfold was placed over his eyes, the plane being flown by another more experienced pilot to an unknown location, and a requirement to find the exact place we were.
“Where am I?” came the frantic radioed response for help over the intercom.
And God’s first question in the Bible was quite similar when He asked the newly fallen Adam and Eve, lips dripping with the unmistakable choices they had chosen, hidden from God in shame and secrecy. God loved them so much that He came to find them, and tenderly asked…
“Where are you?”
When lost in the throes of pornography addiction, I watched my father struggling with its deadly lure as the tendrils of lust wrapped around his heart to carry him away from me…
to strip clubs…
to videos behind closed doors…
to lusting after women other than my Mom…
shutting me out.
“Where are you, Daddy?”
Years later, I watched as my husband’s pornography usage drew him away, confessing that same pattern I saw in my own father’s behavior, a repetition I promised myself about:
I couldn’t endure his diversion and I wouldn’t endure him being lost.
“Where are you, My Love?”
It was as though Satan had put a blindfold on the two men who mattered the most to me through pornography addiction and it seemed like a trip they were lost on. They just couldn’t see a way out because they didn’t even know where they were.
Diverted and lost.
Where are you?
But then a glimmer of hope appeared, at least for my husband. Early in our relationship he found xxxchurch and told me about it. He started to become accountable to me and others when he was tempted and he helped other men who were struggling as well.
Diversion and lost procedures are in place so that if the weather is bad or a pilot finds themselves lost on a trip, they MUST have a plan in place and know how to face these difficulties. Immediate action is required because it could mean the difference between life and death in an emergency, like bad weather or a broken set of navigation instruments.
My wise husband built a plan for when he got diverted, or even when he was temporarily lost. He rerouted his course to spend more time reading his Bible, praying, and started attending church again after years of staying away.
And when my husband struggled, he would openly ask himself:
“Where am I?” because he no longer wanted to stay in the dark.
Freely sharing with the men who cared enough to be compassionate through his struggles, he took off the blindfold, and let these men point him to the map of the Bible, rerouting him back on course.
Sadly, my late father remained diverted and lost his entire life, without any desire to change, even up until the very end.
But it isn’t too late for YOU!!!
You don’t have to remain diverted, then lost from the path of healing that God has for you.
If you struggle with pornography, masturbation, affairs, hookups, or any other unwanted sexual behavior, please reach out and join a small group here. If you have questions about any topic, nothing is off-limits, please ask during Office Hours. Join a small group and watch how differently your life will become when you are no longer lost, but back on track for the trip of a lifetime that freedom affords you.
Don’t stay diverted! Don’t stay lost! Course correct your life and sign up with a small group today!
And if you are feeling stuck and trapped because of tremendous shame and need some direction on how to start the “I need some help” conversation, check out the new book When Shame Gets Real available February 8th. Download the first chapter for free HERE.