{"id":2470,"date":"2020-10-01T13:56:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T13:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/?p=2470"},"modified":"2026-04-14T06:20:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:20:41","slug":"healing-restoration-written-by-former-transgender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/healing-restoration-written-by-former-transgender\/","title":{"rendered":"Healing &amp; Restoration: Written by former transgender"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-ca5ff7a6 alignfull uagb-is-root-container\"><div style=\"font-size:24px\" class=\"has-text-align-center has-link-color adobe-reg-italic wp-elements-85a8a21107b8ee66b96e773a6aa630b7 wp-block-post-date has-text-color has-web-light-green-color\"><time datetime=\"2020-10-01T13:56:24+00:00\">October 1, 2020<\/time><\/div>\n\n<h2 style=\"color:#ffffff;font-size:45px;font-style:normal;font-weight:600;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:4px\" class=\"has-text-align-center has-link-color proxima-font wp-elements-8489a226fd32958d683121eb2fa02d00 wp-block-post-title has-text-color\">Healing &amp; Restoration: Written by former transgender<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-b3d7cede alignfull uagb-is-root-container\"><div class=\"uagb-container-inner-blocks-wrap\">\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e2318e393415a8e90f786247760b4214 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">Healing and restoration is a process. Let\u2019s be honest, it doesn\u2019t happen as quickly as many of us wish. I had to first begin to painfully expose my secrets&nbsp;to trustworthy brothers and sisters in the Church. While I fully expected their rejection, I experienced instead their love and care, acceptance and compassion. This simple act of exposing my true thoughts and struggles took the fuse out of the interior bomb of my wounded soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-aa29ebd760eb8422799d5b228851a563 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">I began implementing the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, slightly adapting the principles to fit my own situation. I took my journals, opening up my &#8220;dark side&#8221; to myself, a counselor and other trusted friends. My compatriots were never seemingly shocked by my confessions; rather they were exposed to the light of how irrational and self destructive they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-077368666bf0ece8150d654675cc4624 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">God has always used the Body of Christ to help encourage me in my journey out of my confusion. For example, my wife and I were a part of a prayer group. One night, another woman I didn&#8217;t know began to pray over me with specific insights that could have only been known by God. She said, &#8220;The enemy has assigned a task force to hammer away at you continually, bringing self-condemnation to you in order to spiritually castrate you and prevent you from being fruitful in God&#8217;s Kingdom. But God is giving you strength and courage to stand up in your own manhood in Him and defeat the enemy&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6bbfde356532c8f30cc76134b4b3ad02 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">I&#8217;d be lying to you if I said that discarding my feminine persona has been painless. At first I didn&#8217;t know if I could really emotionally survive without a day of cross-dressing. Eventually, I could see that getting rid of that behavior was the very best thing for my well-being. I had to learn how to renew myself daily in prayer and make right choices to pursue Christ&#8217;s way for me rather than what I deemed best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-43010958ffe619b07c0c45c9a1c31b89 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">I had to learn to not walk by how I felt. I had to learn how to walk by faith that God&#8217;s plan for me was and is the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1e4bc6df8687ba4b9adcb812c7faab2b wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">Today, I realize that I may well have occasional transsexual desires looming within my heart for the rest of my life. But I now understand enough and have experienced enough restoration and Truth to any longer believe that my feelings dictate who I am. I have clear-cut choices before me daily. I am learning the ways of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Enduring temptation and dealing with life in more productive ways (with God&#8217;s direct interventions!) is the answer. Not the butcher&#8217;s block!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0a6ceb017505e996682dcc6cd6d15eb0 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">I am today gazing out of my office window to see the season once more changing its color. The trees are again a brilliant red. My own reflection in the window pane is different, however. It&#8217;s no longer a stylishly-dressed woman, waiting for the receptionist&#8217;s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8d3eca432176d84a2db9c58953405ae1 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">Now I see the man God created me to be and has given grace for me to rejoice in being . I no longer find it necessary or even appealing to be seen as Jennifer. My real identity is contained within the name to which I proudly answer: Jerry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ab2900d11ef5080da73418fe5bc84b9f wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">I invite you to repeat this simple prayer with me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c51f4101f7b654ca3dd696a0f1c31381 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">O Lord God Almighty, not the god of the philosophers and the wise but the God of the prophets and apostles; and better than all, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may I express my heart to thee un-blamed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-683b02b8830dc189b4d4b5d5a44f8cc5 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">They that know Thee not may call upon Thee as other than Thou art, and so worship not Thee but a creature of their own fancy; therefore enlighten our minds that we may know Thee as Thou art, so that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-dd9ff49ba153976f76561019ff1852ce wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"adobe-reg blog-link has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-aeb8a4d71820ccaa45dc4982ca1a2d4d wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1a1a1ab3;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0px\">* The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer, p1.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"gsp_post_data\" \r\n\t            data-post_type=\"post\" \r\n\t            data-cat=\"uncategorized\" \r\n\t            data-modified=\"120\"\r\n\t            data-created=\"1601560584\"\r\n\t            data-title=\"Healing &amp; Restoration: Written by former transgender\" \r\n\t            data-home=\"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Healing and restoration is a process. Let\u2019s be honest, it doesn\u2019t happen as quickly as many of us wish. I had to first begin to painfully expose my secrets&nbsp;to trustworthy brothers and sisters in the Church. While I fully expected their rejection, I experienced instead their love and care, acceptance and compassion. This simple act &#8230; <a title=\"Healing &amp; Restoration: Written by former transgender\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/healing-restoration-written-by-former-transgender\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Healing &amp; Restoration: Written by former transgender\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Denise Shick","author_link":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/author\/denise\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Healing and restoration is a process. Let\u2019s be honest, it doesn\u2019t happen as quickly as many of us wish. I had to first begin to painfully expose my secrets&nbsp;to trustworthy brothers and sisters in the Church. While I fully expected their rejection, I experienced instead their love and care, acceptance and compassion. This simple act&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2472,"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2470\/revisions\/2472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingstonesministries.org\/help4families\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}