I can honestly say that I have come to a place where I can say that I’m thankful for what George and I went through. Sure, it wasn’t a wonderful experience and it hasn’t been a fun ride. But I can say this: since discovering his addiction my heart has changed, big time.
I’ve always loved people, but I never thought I’d love porn stars. I never thought I’d think of those women as real women, with real, broken hearts. I thought of them as objects, just like most men in this world. When I saw those pictures on my computer a few years ago, my heart broke imagining my husband looking at them. Now… now my heart breaks for them.
I have read so many stories of women who have left the sex industry. My heart has changed. These women are real. They aren’t objects, they are broken hearts hiding behind a facade. They are single moms in need of money. They are women looking for love in the wrong places.
In turn, they endure rape, drugs, pain, torture… you name it.
The porn industry isn’t what a man clicking his mouse to the next video imagines it to be. Men can fantasize all they want, but behind those videos and images lies a woman, curled up in her bed, crying herself to sleep after overdosing on drugs. She wants her life to end. She vomits before and after scenes. She’s got tons of sexually transmitted diseases. She goes to sleep hoping she won’t wake up. She is hurting and no one is reaching out.
I love them. Truly. And I hope you do too. I hope you love them enough to not give in to the temptation to lust after them, maybe then they’ll find the courage to leave the industry. Maybe if men treated them as women with broken hearts in need of Christ, instead of the objects the present, maybe then they’d find restoration. Maybe if women loved them, sought them out and shared the love of Jesus with them, instead of hating them for ruining their marriages, maybe then their hearts would find restoration.
Hey, it’s not about us.
That’s what I’ve learned through my husband’s porn addiction. Although I’d never wish the snare of porn on anyone, I can say that I’m thankful we went through it. It’s moved me to care for these people and pray for them. It’s taught me that my husband’s addiction wasn’t about ME. It was about the devil and his traps.
My insecurities are nothing compared to the insecurities the women in the porn industry deal with every day of their lives. My insecurities drive me to Jesus, theirs… theirs drive them to shoot themselves in the head or overdose on drugs.
But some of them change. Some of them find Jesus and He changes their lives and rescues them. He shows them the love they’ve been waiting for… IF… if they don’t kill themselves or get murdered before someone reaches out.
Pray for those in the sex industry. I’m serious. This is not a post to be taken lightly. There are lives at stake, marriages at stake, all while the devil laughs his head off. Make a difference, love those and pray for those affected by the sex industry.
