August 5, 2025 • 30 mins
What if your recovery from unwanted sexual behaviors could be strengthened by simple physical practices you've overlooked? In this episode, we dive into often-forgotten physical disciplines that transform spiritual recovery. From breathing techniques that calm the nervous system during moments of temptation to the profound impact of proper hydration on decision-making, we explore how our bodies are designed to function optimally through specific practices.
Whether you're just beginning your recovery journey or have been walking it for years, these physical disciplines offer practical tools for creating the optimal conditions where spiritual transformation can flourish.
This is part 2 of this podcast, and we encourage you to listen to part 1 if you haven't already.
Resources:
For more information or to join click one of the links below.
Manna - Men seeking freedom from unwanted sexual behavior, temptation, and shame.
Oasis - Women seeking freedom from unwanted sexual behavior, temptation, and shame.
Compass - Wives seeking healing from betrayal and broken trust.
Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole
👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friends, welcome back to part two of talking
about spiritual disciplines thathelp you in your physical
recovery journey away fromunwanted sexual behaviors, as
James has been leading usthrough this conversation,
really, we're looking atspiritual, quote unquote, these
physical disciplines that are somatter of fact, so basic in
some ways, but for many of us wekeep them apart from our
(00:22):
recovery journey.
We think of them as somethingkind of for those who are
working on physical fitness orsomething like that, and James
is making a strong case for justthe reality of how they really
help us in our recovery journey,because they're how we're made
to live.
God has designed us.
We're creatures.
This week we're going to pickup and I'll leave it to James to
kind of lead us forward here.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So diet to kind of lead us forward here.
So diet and, by the way,listeners, this is a all this is
a little bit vulnerable for me,simply because these are all
things that I've.
They've kind of been hard onefor me, if that makes sense,
like I've had to figure out alot of these over the last,
however, many years.
I wasn't really taught, youknow, some of these things.
My parents weren't taught someof these things.
They grew up on TV, dinners andwhatever.
(01:01):
But it was actually this guyright in front of me, josh
Glazer, who when I first workedat Regen right out of college,
happened to be the same season Iwas just describing, with
sleepless nights and learningabout electrolytes.
But I also was witnessing thisguy eat a salad for most of his
lunches.
And I was like I was in theseason, josh, where I barely
knew how to cook and I wasbuying, like the marketed for
(01:24):
men, like frozen meals I thinkthey were called devour and so
you know I'd be eating like theMac and cheese for dinner and
but there's, I actually began tolearn in this time.
I actually had a friend who hasgone through regen Sadly he's
passed away from a climbingaccident.
He taught me that he hadlearned from his mom to have a a
green veggie every night and acolorful slash white veggie
(01:47):
every single night, and aprotein and a carb.
And I just remember this isprobably not you know, he's not
a scientist, like he's not doingresearch on the food pyramid
but like this was a newframework for me that God's
actually designed my body to eathealthy.
And so back to the salads forlunch.
I still do this to this day.
I have a protein on a bed oflettuce.
(02:08):
I do not enjoy it.
This is not like my wife canwhip up these like incredible
salads, like the oil, thevinegar, the salt, the whatever.
I almost never enjoy it, andpart of it is when I'm whipping
it up myself.
It's, yeah, it's just not aspretty.
But I'll say this One of mybiggest triggers for sexual sin
(02:30):
historically was exhaustion, andI would sleep plenty.
Again, I'm probably one of thefew people who went on the
opposite extreme of oversleeping.
There's a pattern here, josh.
But I'll say this when I wouldeat almost always simple carbs,
I'd get home from high schooland have a Hot Pocket.
I don't know if anyoneremembers those.
They might not even exist.
(02:51):
They might be illegal at thispoint, I have no idea, but I
would have a Hot Pocket and then, as the night went on, my
energy was so low.
Because what I'm doing is I'meating stuff that's so processed
and it's simple carbs, it'sstuff that basically turns into
sugar in my body and is eaten upreal quick.
What I didn't realize was if Iwould change this little element
(03:13):
, if I would resist the cookiesfor the afternoon snack, if I
would have the salad for lunch,if I would not overdo simple
carbs, I would actually havemore of a steady energy.
Why is this important One?
It means I'm less triggered,especially like I remember in
college I'd be so triggered whenI had an essay due.
I was so tired eating my youknow Texas, what is it?
(03:36):
The like cinnamon buns from avending machine.
You know like?
Unsurprisingly, my brain has nocreative energy.
But actually energy is a reallyimportant thing for serving the
Lord, for loving people.
Well, have you ever tried tolove someone?
Well, when you just had umcandy and now you're having a
sugar crash.
I don't know about you, josh,but I cannot easily love people.
(03:57):
Well, again, we are limited.
We there's a design to ourbodies.
We're made to thrive on abalanced diet.
And so, for those who arelistening, consider this Could
your diet actually be impactingyour recovery journey?
Could your diet be impactingyour ability to handle hard
things?
Well, I just want to throw thatout there.
It has been for me.
(04:18):
I love bread.
I grew up in New Jersey with ahalf Italian mother.
All of New Jersey's key foodsare bread-based Pizza, bagels,
sandwiches.
I love bread, and yet I've hadto learn okay, how do I limit
this, how do I order what I eat?
Because if you eat complexcarbs and proteins before you
have a dessert, a simple carbyou actually break down the
(04:42):
simple carb in a way that makesyou less exhausted.
I learned that from my friend,dr Luke.
Shout out to Luke, but I'm justtrying to propose a vision here
that could what you're eatingactually be impacting your
struggles?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, I am so compelled by this on many levels
and just based on my own, on mymy own history, like I am up
and down over the years with howwell I do with what I eat, but
um and and I can't say that I Imade peace with how to eat.
Well, I I tend to like bingeand purge, like I don't mean in
(05:20):
a bulimic way, but like um, withall grace to those who who do
struggle in that way, but whenI'm eating well, I typically it
helps me.
You know, eating well begetseating well.
Eating poorly begets eatingpoorly.
And along with that I havefound, certainly, that eating
well begets more discipline inother areas.
Eating poorly begets otherproblematic behaviors, whether
(05:42):
it's media, pornography orsleeping too much or dropping
other disciplines.
So I believe what you're sayingand for me, I think some of
that, the crash or the brain fogthat happens with poor eating
does set me up, at minimum, tobe less vigilant when it comes
to what I'm paying attention to,what else I'm doing.
(06:04):
Like I just don't think asclearly when I'm not eating in a
healthy way, when I'm eatingtoo many carbs, when I'm eating
too much sugar, my brain is notas clear and I don't make
decisions that are as wise aboutanything.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Fred, this is not a legalism.
This is again a recognizing theway God has designed us.
So pay attention.
Maybe you've never been taughtthis.
Pay attention Next time youhave a sandwich for lunch.
Not the end of the world.
Some people don't seem to be asbothered as someone like me, but
just notice, like, are youtired in an hour or two?
And, by the way, this is agreat plug to like get your
(06:40):
annual physical.
I mean, one of the things thatso many people in recovery don't
do is actually do basic care,like that, your twice a year
dental, your annual physical,and talk to your doctor I mean,
they're the expert on this stuffLike, hey, I'm eating this way.
If I were to change that likecould, could I have more energy?
Could I thrive a little bitmore?
(07:00):
Could I, you know, function ina healthier way?
And again, could I have moreroom for God?
Could I have more room to lovemy spouse, my kids?
Would I rely less on somethinglike pornography to prop me up
if I was doing what God designedus to do, which is eat
healthier?
Okay, we got to keep moving.
Yeah, so much stuff.
(07:21):
We'll go briefly with sleep.
Sleep is so important for mentalhealth, and I just want to say
how many of our struggles happenwhen we stay up past when it's
good for us.
I just spoke with a clientrecently about developing a
healthy bedtime routine becausefor him, almost exclusively, he
would give in as he's exhaustedat like midnight or whatever,
(07:43):
and so what we talked about anddeveloped was what could it look
like to have a routine thatinvolves, you know, perhaps a
shower, reflection, maybejournaling, scripture, prayer,
worship, whatever it looks likefor you?
For me, I love getting ready waybefore I go to sleep, like an
hour, hour and a half before I'mactually trying to go to sleep.
Get ready, you know, brush myteeth and stuff, and then I
(08:05):
spend time reading scripture.
It's such a great way for me toend my day.
My wife and I pray togetherwhen she joins me in bed, and
some of that kind of stuffactually can help your sleep and
it can be a huge asset to yourrecovery.
I'm going to quote this clientactually he's allowing me to
quote him, I'm not going to sayhis name, but he had heard this
quote that winning the daybegins with winning the night.
(08:27):
So if you want to have thatgreat morning time walk with God
or quiet time, or whatever waysyou want to start your day.
It starts with actually caringfor your evening as well as you
can.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's so good.
Yeah, I remember hearing apastor I can't remember his name
is Tommy Nelson, pastor TommyNelson at a Denton Bible church
in Texas when I was in college Idon't know if he's still around
or not, but who said to?
He was saying he was talking toa room full of a hundred or a
few hundred college studentssaid look, nothing, nothing
worthwhile happens after 10 PM.
(09:01):
I was like wait, what nothingworthwhile happens after 10 pm?
And I was like wait, what?
Like?
We don't, we don't even startour evening until 10 pm.
But his point was, I think,aligned with what you're saying.
Interestingly, one of the greatrevolutions and I use great in
quotes of the history of theworld was the invention of the
light bulb, which radicallychanged our sleep habits and the
(09:25):
way that we would kind ofunderstand the rhythms that we
needed in life before the lightbulb.
And, um, uh, people would usecandles, but and, and and.
By the way, I don't know ifyou've experienced this, but
when the power goes out in myhouse and we have candles on, uh
, when it starts to get dark,what it does to our kind of our
capacity to be awake and our ownsense of winding down, yes,
(09:49):
changes um, light bulbs, andthen that's not even to mention
the, the glow of our screens,which is a very different kind
of light that actually, um,stirs us up, kind of wakes the
brain up.
It's very, very, very difficultto like wind down, to go to
sleep immediately after being onyour screen, even if it's
reading news.
Very difficult to like winddown, to go to sleep immediately
after being on your screen,even if it's reading news.
Now, my wife can do that.
I cannot, like I need at leasta good 30 minutes away from any
(10:12):
kind of screen in order to fallasleep.
Um, and so for those of you whowrestle with unwanted behavior
of pornography and you're like,yes, scrolling online, you're
looking at stuff, you'redabbling stuff, and then you try
to go to sleep and you findyourself your mind racing,
that's just evidence to what Ithink you're saying, james, that
we're wired for sleep.
We don't want to be doingthings right before we go to bed
(10:34):
.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
That will keep us up use it to go to sleep.
But if you could care foryourself, effectively put down
the lights.
I do the same thing, josh, if II kind of have.
We have a smart one smart lightbulb in our house and it dims
between nine and 10 when I'm offand reading in bed.
And again well, not again.
(10:56):
We don't actually need externalmelatonin because as the light
goes down our brain developsmelatonin, which is the chemical
, one of the chemicals, thathelps you sleep.
So this is such a thing thatour generation, like our world,
doesn't always realize that anhour off the screens, or half an
hour at least, putting down thelights, putting on a candle
(11:17):
even, and just letting your youreyes adjust to a candle like
these, actually help you getbetter sleep and will make it
less tempting to like use pornto go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We don't recommend going to sleep with a candle lit
, just by the way.
Yeah, that's.
That's really good, james, Ilike that.
And again I want to kind ofreframe and go back to some of
the themes you've brought upover and over again.
Like this is a humblesubmission to the reality that
you're a created being who hasneed.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And what a humbling need.
Needing like seven to ninehours of sleep, Like that's
insanely humbling.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, and recognize also the theology of the body in
that need that, for whateverreason and this is worth
meditating on the creator of theuniverse has created human
beings actually all livingbreathing creatures but human
beings to need to sleep everynight and sleep is a profound
mystery that we actually we'restill living, we're breathing,
(12:12):
our heart is working, our lungsare working, our brain is
working, our brain is processingstuff while we are unconscious
and there really is a submissionthat takes place there.
We are surrendering our livesand ourselves over to I mean, if
we paid enough attention to it,we have to submit ourselves,
humble ourselves and besubmitting our lives over to the
(12:33):
Lord in that time, because wecan't take care of ourselves
while we're sleeping.
One of my favorite passages inZephaniah three how the lord
sings over us, um, even while weis that I might be mixing up
passages there that one's notmentioning sleep, but he does
sing over us and that's okay soit's a, it's a psalm.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I'm speaking, yeah, yeah, um you help me lie down
and sleep, something like yeah,he gives sleep to which I've
wrestled with josh because I'veagain had a huge journey with
sleep.
But I think one of the thingswe're inviting you into friends
is that we, the modern world, isnot wiring us for good sleep.
(13:12):
Yeah, uh, alcohol, you know,obviously everyone has different
opinions or relationships withalcohol, but if we dehydrate
ourselves with alcohol and have,you know, lack the self-control
there, that actually is alsonot gonna just affect our
hydration and our mental acuity,it affects our sleep.
So all these things are thingswe can kind of tweak a little
bit and, by the way, going tobed and waking up at the same
(13:35):
time can be one of the mosthelpful things to get your body
into a healthy routine ofgetting tired when it's time, to
get your body into a healthyroutine of getting tired when,
when it's time to get tired andhaving energy right when it's
time to wake up.
When I've been able to keepthat pretty consistent, I wake
up more refreshed than, you know, groggy, a lot of the time,
okay, and I'm learning so much,james, my wife does that she
(13:57):
hops out of bed.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I mean, just hops right out, yeah, you need to go.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, because she's, yeah, sleeping in a couple days
a week and can again hard, hardwon wisdom not that I always
live this out, but can actuallymake you more tired to wake up.
Okay.
Last discipline is exercise.
I don't have a stat on how longyou can live without exercise
again, but exercise was assumedin Jesus's day.
(14:24):
Yeah, exercise was assumed inJesus's day.
Why You're walking almosteverywhere.
You're being social with otherpeople, you're often working in
a field you might be travelingwith your caravan of goods to
sell.
Exercise was built in and itwas low impact exercise like
walking or farming although youknow farming is very difficult,
(14:47):
but gardening would be maybe formany of our listeners, a more
realistic equivalent and thesethings.
According to different peopleI've spoken with, like my
psychiatrist and others,exercising 30 minutes a day,
especially with cardio oraerobic exercise, has the same
(15:07):
impact on the body and brain asan antidepressant.
So if you're dealing a lot withdepression or mental health
challenges, is it possible thatGod could be inviting you to
healthy amounts of exercise?
This is such a shift, joshYou've talked about this even at
the beginning of this podcastthat we can so often do this for
looks or for you know, kind ofwanting to sculpt our body in a
(15:30):
way that'll make us more lovedor lovable.
This is not what we're talkingabout here.
We're challenging you insteadto recognize that our bodies
thrive with a healthy amount ofexercise, and I remember this
always inspired me when you'dspeak to us as men.
What could it look like to haveour bodies in a certain kind of
shape so that we could servemore physically, so that we
(15:52):
could serve in ways where we'vegot more stamina, where we could
run around with our kids orhold a child who's crying?
Those kinds of things areactually really good uses of a
healthy, strong body.
One other thing I'll throw intothis is exercise is what's
called earned dopamine.
(16:13):
This means that you areentering into suffering,
depending on how much you do ordon't enjoy exercise, but you're
challenging your body, you'restressing your body for, let's
just say, 30 minutes or an hour,and afterward you experienced
dopamine.
Now, so many of us have come tosee dopamine as like an enemy,
like, okay, I'm just looking fora dopamine hit on my screen, or
(16:33):
with porn or masturbation.
But actually God designed us toearn dopamine Like, in other
words, when we do something hardthat ends up being satisfying.
That's how dopamine was meantto be released.
Sexual intimacy between ahusband and wife is so different
than porn because you'reactually earning sexual, perhaps
(16:56):
climax through all the work ofintimacy you're doing.
This goes with food, like Isaid eating, you know vegetables
, eating healthy.
All these things are ways wesay you're doing something hard
and then on the other side,there's goodness as opposed to
pornography.
Or you know, candy or whatever.
I mean not completely knockingcandy, but like.
(17:18):
What you're doing is you'resaying give me the dopamine
first and then you crashafterward.
So it's kind of again like alittle icon of like for the joy
set before him Jesus took on thecross.
When we are exercising, thatcould be a slight little icon of
like.
I'm challenging myself, I'msuffering in a small way and on
the other side I'm going to feelway better and have energy and
(17:38):
strength again to love as Godloves.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So good, james.
So I'm thinking about theperson who's dealing with
unwanted sexual behaviors as apattern, and I'm thinking about
these five disciplines, physicaldisciplines you've just
described to us.
Some will listen to you mightbe like hey, are you saying I do
these in the moment oftemptation?
Are you saying that these willhelp me reduce temptation or be
able to resist temptation more?
Some all of the above Like whatwould you say to that?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, I think that at least two of these feel really
helpful in the moment oftemptation, at least in my own
journey.
One would be the breathing likeregulate through breathing.
You can do this in one to fiveminutes.
Go to the bathroom if you'rewith people Like just you know,
excuse yourself for a second,take some deep breaths, whatever
it looks like, and thenexercise If you're feeling your
body is just like oh, I justwant like sex or connection or
(18:31):
something physical exercise canactually meet some of those
things.
So in the moment those can beawesome.
But all five of these,especially the last four
hydration, diet, sleep andexercise are so helpful for kind
of preventative measures.
So, leading up to like, if I'mliving with the grain of how
(18:53):
God's designed me, recognizingmy need for these five
categories of health, that'sgoing to mean maybe less
temptation.
Or when there is temptation,I've got the energy to call a
brother or sister and get thatsupport.
Or even again, bringing it backto those suffering from
betrayal trauma, I've got moreof the strength I need to then
(19:14):
handle the weight of this trauma.
Because if we're eatingterribly and not drinking enough
and not exercising, how muchharder is it to navigate
something that's already reallyhard, so I think these can be
really helpful preventativemeasures.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I love that.
I mean, it's kind of the.
In what ways can I cultivate ahealthy lifestyle as opposed to
a dependent lifestyle?
Healthy lifestyle as opposed toa dependent lifestyle?
Lifestyle I don't mean in thedependent lifestyle, like where
I'm dependent on porn, when I'mdependent on the, the you know,
(19:50):
my caffeine fix, whatever.
Instead, I want to create.
I want to make my body asoptimally healthy, healthy as
possible, so I can be healthyand walk healthy with whatever's
coming my way.
James, what do you say to theperson and I know we got to wrap
here in a minute but what doyou say to the person who says,
look, this is great, but I'vejust never done these kinds of
(20:14):
things, like you know.
Yeah, like you said, I neverlearned that Like right now I'm
like I'm really out of shape.
Like you said, I never learnedthat Like right now I'm like I'm
really out of shape, I've gotbad knees, I can't do that and,
quite frankly, like the recoverywork I'm doing is already like
just so heavy lifting that likethis just sounds like an extra
burden, like what kind ofcounsel would you have to help?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Great question.
One of the ways I oftenencourage disciplines to be
practiced, especially at first,is for the joy set before you.
So if I commit to exercisingfive days a week and I hate
every little bit of it, goodluck.
Good luck getting that habitdown, right.
But if I've what I've come torealize I'll share from my own
(20:56):
experience.
I don't love running.
Some people love running, mysister loves running.
I don't love running.
I've come to actually like,maybe slightly like
weightlifting.
I mean, some days it's harderthan others, but I don't like
dread it.
In other words, and I feel thebenefits and I'll weightlift and
then I'll do some aerobicexercise.
At the end that's not running,it's, it's adjacent to running,
(21:18):
like a stair stepper or a bikeor whatever.
Um, but but I enjoy it enoughand the benefit feels so good,
like noticeable, that I canagain earn dopamine, like
there's joy set before me bydoing this.
And so I'd say like, taste andsee.
You know, jesus says taste andsee that the Lord is good.
(21:38):
And friends, if you try out someof these things and it's like
I'm just I can't seem to getthis, it's okay, just like.
Again, this is not a legalism,but notice, like, okay, I drank
a little more water today and Iactually felt a little bit more
energy, like you know.
My body just felt a little bitmore alive like, or I slept
(21:59):
really well and wow.
So part of what we're invitingyou to friends is reflect, like
notice.
What you've been doing is maybe, if you're struggling with
sexual sin, you might actuallybe living a very unreflective
life, as in you don't even knowwhat's going on, things are just
hard and you just give in.
But what we're saying is, trysome things out that actually
(22:21):
might bring you a lot of goodand joy and notice and you might
actually want that healthypleasure like we often talk at
regen.
I learned this from you, josh oflike the beauty of a sunset can
be so breathtaking.
We've talked about this inother podcasts, like finding
beauty, that it's a littleharder.
You got to time the sunset, yougot to be in the right position
(22:42):
, whatever, but the beautypayoff is more significant and
I'd argue similar to that.
Healthy foods literally healthyfoods are way better than the
metaphorical fast food ofpornography.
Literally healthy sleep.
You're going to feel morerefreshed than what masturbation
could ever give you good,healthy amounts of exercise that
(23:05):
you actually enjoy at least alittle bit.
You're going to feel a lotdifferent than you're going to
feel more satisfied, actually,than the hookup could ever
really make you, because theseare all God ordained, god
designed things for us.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So good.
I wonder if listeners would say, okay, look at your calendar
today and then look out fourweeks and just say which one of
these, or in what small way witheach five of these, do you want
to do something different inthese next four weeks, just to
try it and do it imperfectly,you know, like, yeah, I was
going to do it every day and Iforgot to do it one day.
(23:40):
Okay, All right, so the nextweek, you know?
Um, but just to try to buildsome more of these in, I like
I'm listening, going like awater sleep I wanna introduce
and just to pay attention to howdoes that change how my day
goes.
And it also strikes me howthese are all interdependent,
Like the more you do one, themore you're equipped to do the
(24:03):
other.
So, which I think just speaksto the complexity and beauty
that we really are createdbeings designed to work with
integrity, these different partsof our lives working
integrously, versus the you know, I'm just going to take my
brain and go offline for alittle bit which is
disintegration.
So, yeah, I think you'veintroduced some really good
(24:24):
stuff, James.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I'll say this too that I know a former missionary
and my church has a lot ofconnections with missionaries
and she said that all themissionaries are encouraged and
and these are missionaries oftensent to front lines.
My movement loves sendingpeople to like the places.
No one wants to go right, but alot of them are encouraged to
exercise.
Why?
Because the mission field is sostressful and if you are, you
(24:47):
know you don't have thecommunity that you're used to
and you might be in your house alot just praying, you know,
because the evangelisticopportunities aren't opening up.
So exercise is actuallyencouraged for our missionaries
who are completely sold out forJesus.
This is not mutually exclusive.
You don't need to either besold out to Jesus or have
relatively healthy disciplinesin these areas.
(25:09):
And here's why, here's part ofwhy at least 1 Peter 2.24, he
himself, jesus himself, bore oursins in his body on the cross
so that we might die to sins andlive for righteousness.
By his wounds you have healed.
Jesus brought his body to bear.
(25:30):
He lived out hunger and thirstand abuse and sleepless nights,
and he experienced all theexceptions to these things, and
he probably also you know morethan any of us knew how to do
these, the most perfect right,like the right kind of meal, the
right kind of sleep, but out ofknowing the right way, he could
(25:51):
make those exceptions ofstaying up all night to love
people through prayer, ofchoosing to fast, and ultimately
he bore his sins in his body.
He came with his physical bodyand bore our sins in his body.
And again, friends, how muchmight these things help us to
live in righteousness?
These are not our righteousness.
If you sleep seven to ninehours every night, really well,
(26:14):
it doesn't make you a good orrighteous person.
It's just how much might it aidin the pursuit of love?
And you are loved even when youdon't do these things perfectly
.
You are loved when you don't dothese things perfectly, and if
you've never done any of them,you're still loved.
This is not about earning God'slove, but let the love of God
(26:34):
compel you to love your body.
Let the love of God compel youto love your body, not not in
the worldly way of like I need amanicure every day, you know
whatever, but like, oh, how thelove of God, to love your body
in ways that God's designed itand therefore to be able to love
the bodies of others as youlove your own body, the bodies
(26:59):
of others as you love your ownbody.
I want to mention just twothings real quick as we close.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
It's an honor to walk with you.
But before we sign off, we dohave our upcoming retreats.
This fall we have our women'sand our men's retreats Sacred by
Design for Women and theAwakened Retreat for Men.
Awakened Retreat two nightsthis year, october 3rd through
5th.
Unforgettable weekend ofexperiencing being known and
named through brotherhood, theFather's heart and embodied
(27:25):
healing.
So, whether you're juststarting out on your recovery
journey or you've been walkingthis path for years, this
retreat's for you.
Josh and I plan to be there,aaron and we'll have a couple
other men staffing this, butit's very limited to only 29 men
.
Similarly, for the women, thisis going to be an overnight
sacred by design retreat,november 7th and 8th unique
space for women to slow down,connect deeply with God,
rediscover the beauty of whothey are, beyond shame, beyond
(27:48):
striving weekend full of grace,truth and restoration.
So again, space is limited,extremely limited at both sacred
by design, I think, 15 personlimit, uh, wake and retreat 29.
Um, but if you want to lookinto any of the details.
Uh, check out the show notesbelow.
So until next time, keeppressing into truth, keep
walking in grace and keepbecoming whole.
Hey friends, welcome back to part two of talking
about spiritual disciplines thathelp you in your physical
recovery journey away fromunwanted sexual behaviors, as
James has been leading usthrough this conversation,
really, we're looking atspiritual, quote unquote, these
physical disciplines that are somatter of fact, so basic in
some ways, but for many of us wekeep them apart from our
(00:22):
recovery journey.
We think of them as somethingkind of for those who are
working on physical fitness orsomething like that, and James
is making a strong case for justthe reality of how they really
help us in our recovery journey,because they're how we're made
to live.
God has designed us.
We're creatures.
This week we're going to pickup and I'll leave it to James to
kind of lead us forward here.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So diet to kind of lead us forward here.
So diet and, by the way,listeners, this is a all this is
a little bit vulnerable for me,simply because these are all
things that I've.
They've kind of been hard onefor me, if that makes sense,
like I've had to figure out alot of these over the last,
however, many years.
I wasn't really taught, youknow, some of these things.
My parents weren't taught someof these things.
They grew up on TV, dinners andwhatever.
(01:01):
But it was actually this guyright in front of me, josh
Glazer, who when I first workedat Regen right out of college,
happened to be the same season Iwas just describing, with
sleepless nights and learningabout electrolytes.
But I also was witnessing thisguy eat a salad for most of his
lunches.
And I was like I was in theseason, josh, where I barely
knew how to cook and I wasbuying, like the marketed for
(01:24):
men, like frozen meals I thinkthey were called devour and so
you know I'd be eating like theMac and cheese for dinner and
but there's, I actually began tolearn in this time.
I actually had a friend who hasgone through regen Sadly he's
passed away from a climbingaccident.
He taught me that he hadlearned from his mom to have a a
green veggie every night and acolorful slash white veggie
(01:47):
every single night, and aprotein and a carb.
And I just remember this isprobably not you know, he's not
a scientist, like he's not doingresearch on the food pyramid
but like this was a newframework for me that God's
actually designed my body to eathealthy.
And so back to the salads forlunch.
I still do this to this day.
I have a protein on a bed oflettuce.
(02:08):
I do not enjoy it.
This is not like my wife canwhip up these like incredible
salads, like the oil, thevinegar, the salt, the whatever.
I almost never enjoy it, andpart of it is when I'm whipping
it up myself.
It's, yeah, it's just not aspretty.
But I'll say this One of mybiggest triggers for sexual sin
(02:30):
historically was exhaustion, andI would sleep plenty.
Again, I'm probably one of thefew people who went on the
opposite extreme of oversleeping.
There's a pattern here, josh.
But I'll say this when I wouldeat almost always simple carbs,
I'd get home from high schooland have a Hot Pocket.
I don't know if anyoneremembers those.
They might not even exist.
(02:51):
They might be illegal at thispoint, I have no idea, but I
would have a Hot Pocket and then, as the night went on, my
energy was so low.
Because what I'm doing is I'meating stuff that's so processed
and it's simple carbs, it'sstuff that basically turns into
sugar in my body and is eaten upreal quick.
What I didn't realize was if Iwould change this little element
(03:13):
, if I would resist the cookiesfor the afternoon snack, if I
would have the salad for lunch,if I would not overdo simple
carbs, I would actually havemore of a steady energy.
Why is this important One?
It means I'm less triggered,especially like I remember in
college I'd be so triggered whenI had an essay due.
I was so tired eating my youknow Texas, what is it?
(03:36):
The like cinnamon buns from avending machine.
You know like?
Unsurprisingly, my brain has nocreative energy.
But actually energy is a reallyimportant thing for serving the
Lord, for loving people.
Well, have you ever tried tolove someone?
Well, when you just had umcandy and now you're having a
sugar crash.
I don't know about you, josh,but I cannot easily love people.
(03:57):
Well, again, we are limited.
We there's a design to ourbodies.
We're made to thrive on abalanced diet.
And so, for those who arelistening, consider this Could
your diet actually be impactingyour recovery journey?
Could your diet be impactingyour ability to handle hard
things?
Well, I just want to throw thatout there.
It has been for me.
(04:18):
I love bread.
I grew up in New Jersey with ahalf Italian mother.
All of New Jersey's key foodsare bread-based Pizza, bagels,
sandwiches.
I love bread, and yet I've hadto learn okay, how do I limit
this, how do I order what I eat?
Because if you eat complexcarbs and proteins before you
have a dessert, a simple carbyou actually break down the
(04:42):
simple carb in a way that makesyou less exhausted.
I learned that from my friend,dr Luke.
Shout out to Luke, but I'm justtrying to propose a vision here
that could what you're eatingactually be impacting your
struggles?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, I am so compelled by this on many levels
and just based on my own, on mymy own history, like I am up
and down over the years with howwell I do with what I eat, but
um and and I can't say that I Imade peace with how to eat.
Well, I I tend to like bingeand purge, like I don't mean in
(05:20):
a bulimic way, but like um, withall grace to those who who do
struggle in that way, but whenI'm eating well, I typically it
helps me.
You know, eating well begetseating well.
Eating poorly begets eatingpoorly.
And along with that I havefound, certainly, that eating
well begets more discipline inother areas.
Eating poorly begets otherproblematic behaviors, whether
(05:42):
it's media, pornography orsleeping too much or dropping
other disciplines.
So I believe what you're sayingand for me, I think some of
that, the crash or the brain fogthat happens with poor eating
does set me up, at minimum, tobe less vigilant when it comes
to what I'm paying attention to,what else I'm doing.
(06:04):
Like I just don't think asclearly when I'm not eating in a
healthy way, when I'm eatingtoo many carbs, when I'm eating
too much sugar, my brain is notas clear and I don't make
decisions that are as wise aboutanything.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Fred, this is not a legalism.
This is again a recognizing theway God has designed us.
So pay attention.
Maybe you've never been taughtthis.
Pay attention Next time youhave a sandwich for lunch.
Not the end of the world.
Some people don't seem to be asbothered as someone like me, but
just notice, like, are youtired in an hour or two?
And, by the way, this is agreat plug to like get your
(06:40):
annual physical.
I mean, one of the things thatso many people in recovery don't
do is actually do basic care,like that, your twice a year
dental, your annual physical,and talk to your doctor I mean,
they're the expert on this stuffLike, hey, I'm eating this way.
If I were to change that likecould, could I have more energy?
Could I thrive a little bitmore?
(07:00):
Could I, you know, function ina healthier way?
And again, could I have moreroom for God?
Could I have more room to lovemy spouse, my kids?
Would I rely less on somethinglike pornography to prop me up
if I was doing what God designedus to do, which is eat
healthier?
Okay, we got to keep moving.
Yeah, so much stuff.
(07:21):
We'll go briefly with sleep.
Sleep is so important for mentalhealth, and I just want to say
how many of our struggles happenwhen we stay up past when it's
good for us.
I just spoke with a clientrecently about developing a
healthy bedtime routine becausefor him, almost exclusively, he
would give in as he's exhaustedat like midnight or whatever,
(07:43):
and so what we talked about anddeveloped was what could it look
like to have a routine thatinvolves, you know, perhaps a
shower, reflection, maybejournaling, scripture, prayer,
worship, whatever it looks likefor you?
For me, I love getting ready waybefore I go to sleep, like an
hour, hour and a half before I'mactually trying to go to sleep.
Get ready, you know, brush myteeth and stuff, and then I
(08:05):
spend time reading scripture.
It's such a great way for me toend my day.
My wife and I pray togetherwhen she joins me in bed, and
some of that kind of stuffactually can help your sleep and
it can be a huge asset to yourrecovery.
I'm going to quote this clientactually he's allowing me to
quote him, I'm not going to sayhis name, but he had heard this
quote that winning the daybegins with winning the night.
(08:27):
So if you want to have thatgreat morning time walk with God
or quiet time, or whatever waysyou want to start your day.
It starts with actually caringfor your evening as well as you
can.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's so good.
Yeah, I remember hearing apastor I can't remember his name
is Tommy Nelson, pastor TommyNelson at a Denton Bible church
in Texas when I was in college Idon't know if he's still around
or not, but who said to?
He was saying he was talking toa room full of a hundred or a
few hundred college studentssaid look, nothing, nothing
worthwhile happens after 10 PM.
(09:01):
I was like wait, what nothingworthwhile happens after 10 pm?
And I was like wait, what?
Like?
We don't, we don't even startour evening until 10 pm.
But his point was, I think,aligned with what you're saying.
Interestingly, one of the greatrevolutions and I use great in
quotes of the history of theworld was the invention of the
light bulb, which radicallychanged our sleep habits and the
(09:25):
way that we would kind ofunderstand the rhythms that we
needed in life before the lightbulb.
And, um, uh, people would usecandles, but and, and and.
By the way, I don't know ifyou've experienced this, but
when the power goes out in myhouse and we have candles on, uh
, when it starts to get dark,what it does to our kind of our
capacity to be awake and our ownsense of winding down, yes,
(09:49):
changes um, light bulbs, andthen that's not even to mention
the, the glow of our screens,which is a very different kind
of light that actually, um,stirs us up, kind of wakes the
brain up.
It's very, very, very difficultto like wind down, to go to
sleep immediately after being onyour screen, even if it's
reading news.
Very difficult to like winddown, to go to sleep immediately
after being on your screen,even if it's reading news.
Now, my wife can do that.
I cannot, like I need at leasta good 30 minutes away from any
(10:12):
kind of screen in order to fallasleep.
Um, and so for those of you whowrestle with unwanted behavior
of pornography and you're like,yes, scrolling online, you're
looking at stuff, you'redabbling stuff, and then you try
to go to sleep and you findyourself your mind racing,
that's just evidence to what Ithink you're saying, james, that
we're wired for sleep.
We don't want to be doingthings right before we go to bed
(10:34):
.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
That will keep us up use it to go to sleep.
But if you could care foryourself, effectively put down
the lights.
I do the same thing, josh, if II kind of have.
We have a smart one smart lightbulb in our house and it dims
between nine and 10 when I'm offand reading in bed.
And again well, not again.
(10:56):
We don't actually need externalmelatonin because as the light
goes down our brain developsmelatonin, which is the chemical
, one of the chemicals, thathelps you sleep.
So this is such a thing thatour generation, like our world,
doesn't always realize that anhour off the screens, or half an
hour at least, putting down thelights, putting on a candle
(11:17):
even, and just letting your youreyes adjust to a candle like
these, actually help you getbetter sleep and will make it
less tempting to like use pornto go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We don't recommend going to sleep with a candle lit
, just by the way.
Yeah, that's.
That's really good, james, Ilike that.
And again I want to kind ofreframe and go back to some of
the themes you've brought upover and over again.
Like this is a humblesubmission to the reality that
you're a created being who hasneed.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And what a humbling need.
Needing like seven to ninehours of sleep, Like that's
insanely humbling.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, and recognize also the theology of the body in
that need that, for whateverreason and this is worth
meditating on the creator of theuniverse has created human
beings actually all livingbreathing creatures but human
beings to need to sleep everynight and sleep is a profound
mystery that we actually we'restill living, we're breathing,
(12:12):
our heart is working, our lungsare working, our brain is
working, our brain is processingstuff while we are unconscious
and there really is a submissionthat takes place there.
We are surrendering our livesand ourselves over to I mean, if
we paid enough attention to it,we have to submit ourselves,
humble ourselves and besubmitting our lives over to the
(12:33):
Lord in that time, because wecan't take care of ourselves
while we're sleeping.
One of my favorite passages inZephaniah three how the lord
sings over us, um, even while weis that I might be mixing up
passages there that one's notmentioning sleep, but he does
sing over us and that's okay soit's a, it's a psalm.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I'm speaking, yeah, yeah, um you help me lie down
and sleep, something like yeah,he gives sleep to which I've
wrestled with josh because I'veagain had a huge journey with
sleep.
But I think one of the thingswe're inviting you into friends
is that we, the modern world, isnot wiring us for good sleep.
(13:12):
Yeah, uh, alcohol, you know,obviously everyone has different
opinions or relationships withalcohol, but if we dehydrate
ourselves with alcohol and have,you know, lack the self-control
there, that actually is alsonot gonna just affect our
hydration and our mental acuity,it affects our sleep.
So all these things are thingswe can kind of tweak a little
bit and, by the way, going tobed and waking up at the same
(13:35):
time can be one of the mosthelpful things to get your body
into a healthy routine ofgetting tired when it's time, to
get your body into a healthyroutine of getting tired when,
when it's time to get tired andhaving energy right when it's
time to wake up.
When I've been able to keepthat pretty consistent, I wake
up more refreshed than, you know, groggy, a lot of the time,
okay, and I'm learning so much,james, my wife does that she
(13:57):
hops out of bed.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I mean, just hops right out, yeah, you need to go.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, because she's, yeah, sleeping in a couple days
a week and can again hard, hardwon wisdom not that I always
live this out, but can actuallymake you more tired to wake up.
Okay.
Last discipline is exercise.
I don't have a stat on how longyou can live without exercise
again, but exercise was assumedin Jesus's day.
(14:24):
Yeah, exercise was assumed inJesus's day.
Why You're walking almosteverywhere.
You're being social with otherpeople, you're often working in
a field you might be travelingwith your caravan of goods to
sell.
Exercise was built in and itwas low impact exercise like
walking or farming although youknow farming is very difficult,
(14:47):
but gardening would be maybe formany of our listeners, a more
realistic equivalent and thesethings.
According to different peopleI've spoken with, like my
psychiatrist and others,exercising 30 minutes a day,
especially with cardio oraerobic exercise, has the same
(15:07):
impact on the body and brain asan antidepressant.
So if you're dealing a lot withdepression or mental health
challenges, is it possible thatGod could be inviting you to
healthy amounts of exercise?
This is such a shift, joshYou've talked about this even at
the beginning of this podcastthat we can so often do this for
looks or for you know, kind ofwanting to sculpt our body in a
(15:30):
way that'll make us more lovedor lovable.
This is not what we're talkingabout here.
We're challenging you insteadto recognize that our bodies
thrive with a healthy amount ofexercise, and I remember this
always inspired me when you'dspeak to us as men.
What could it look like to haveour bodies in a certain kind of
shape so that we could servemore physically, so that we
(15:52):
could serve in ways where we'vegot more stamina, where we could
run around with our kids orhold a child who's crying?
Those kinds of things areactually really good uses of a
healthy, strong body.
One other thing I'll throw intothis is exercise is what's
called earned dopamine.
(16:13):
This means that you areentering into suffering,
depending on how much you do ordon't enjoy exercise, but you're
challenging your body, you'restressing your body for, let's
just say, 30 minutes or an hour,and afterward you experienced
dopamine.
Now, so many of us have come tosee dopamine as like an enemy,
like, okay, I'm just looking fora dopamine hit on my screen, or
(16:33):
with porn or masturbation.
But actually God designed us toearn dopamine Like, in other
words, when we do something hardthat ends up being satisfying.
That's how dopamine was meantto be released.
Sexual intimacy between ahusband and wife is so different
than porn because you'reactually earning sexual, perhaps
(16:56):
climax through all the work ofintimacy you're doing.
This goes with food, like Isaid eating, you know vegetables
, eating healthy.
All these things are ways wesay you're doing something hard
and then on the other side,there's goodness as opposed to
pornography.
Or you know, candy or whatever.
I mean not completely knockingcandy, but like.
(17:18):
What you're doing is you'resaying give me the dopamine
first and then you crashafterward.
So it's kind of again like alittle icon of like for the joy
set before him Jesus took on thecross.
When we are exercising, thatcould be a slight little icon of
like.
I'm challenging myself, I'msuffering in a small way and on
the other side I'm going to feelway better and have energy and
(17:38):
strength again to love as Godloves.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So good, james.
So I'm thinking about theperson who's dealing with
unwanted sexual behaviors as apattern, and I'm thinking about
these five disciplines, physicaldisciplines you've just
described to us.
Some will listen to you mightbe like hey, are you saying I do
these in the moment oftemptation?
Are you saying that these willhelp me reduce temptation or be
able to resist temptation more?
Some all of the above Like whatwould you say to that?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, I think that at least two of these feel really
helpful in the moment oftemptation, at least in my own
journey.
One would be the breathing likeregulate through breathing.
You can do this in one to fiveminutes.
Go to the bathroom if you'rewith people Like just you know,
excuse yourself for a second,take some deep breaths, whatever
it looks like, and thenexercise If you're feeling your
body is just like oh, I justwant like sex or connection or
(18:31):
something physical exercise canactually meet some of those
things.
So in the moment those can beawesome.
But all five of these,especially the last four
hydration, diet, sleep andexercise are so helpful for kind
of preventative measures.
So, leading up to like, if I'mliving with the grain of how
(18:53):
God's designed me, recognizingmy need for these five
categories of health, that'sgoing to mean maybe less
temptation.
Or when there is temptation,I've got the energy to call a
brother or sister and get thatsupport.
Or even again, bringing it backto those suffering from
betrayal trauma, I've got moreof the strength I need to then
(19:14):
handle the weight of this trauma.
Because if we're eatingterribly and not drinking enough
and not exercising, how muchharder is it to navigate
something that's already reallyhard, so I think these can be
really helpful preventativemeasures.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I love that.
I mean, it's kind of the.
In what ways can I cultivate ahealthy lifestyle as opposed to
a dependent lifestyle?
Healthy lifestyle as opposed toa dependent lifestyle?
Lifestyle I don't mean in thedependent lifestyle, like where
I'm dependent on porn, when I'mdependent on the, the you know,
(19:50):
my caffeine fix, whatever.
Instead, I want to create.
I want to make my body asoptimally healthy, healthy as
possible, so I can be healthyand walk healthy with whatever's
coming my way.
James, what do you say to theperson and I know we got to wrap
here in a minute but what doyou say to the person who says,
look, this is great, but I'vejust never done these kinds of
(20:14):
things, like you know.
Yeah, like you said, I neverlearned that Like right now I'm
like I'm really out of shape.
Like you said, I never learnedthat Like right now I'm like I'm
really out of shape, I've gotbad knees, I can't do that and,
quite frankly, like the recoverywork I'm doing is already like
just so heavy lifting that likethis just sounds like an extra
burden, like what kind ofcounsel would you have to help?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Great question.
One of the ways I oftenencourage disciplines to be
practiced, especially at first,is for the joy set before you.
So if I commit to exercisingfive days a week and I hate
every little bit of it, goodluck.
Good luck getting that habitdown, right.
But if I've what I've come torealize I'll share from my own
(20:56):
experience.
I don't love running.
Some people love running, mysister loves running.
I don't love running.
I've come to actually like,maybe slightly like
weightlifting.
I mean, some days it's harderthan others, but I don't like
dread it.
In other words, and I feel thebenefits and I'll weightlift and
then I'll do some aerobicexercise.
At the end that's not running,it's, it's adjacent to running,
(21:18):
like a stair stepper or a bikeor whatever.
Um, but but I enjoy it enoughand the benefit feels so good,
like noticeable, that I canagain earn dopamine, like
there's joy set before me bydoing this.
And so I'd say like, taste andsee.
You know, jesus says taste andsee that the Lord is good.
(21:38):
And friends, if you try out someof these things and it's like
I'm just I can't seem to getthis, it's okay, just like.
Again, this is not a legalism,but notice, like, okay, I drank
a little more water today and Iactually felt a little bit more
energy, like you know.
My body just felt a little bitmore alive like, or I slept
(21:59):
really well and wow.
So part of what we're invitingyou to friends is reflect, like
notice.
What you've been doing is maybe, if you're struggling with
sexual sin, you might actuallybe living a very unreflective
life, as in you don't even knowwhat's going on, things are just
hard and you just give in.
But what we're saying is, trysome things out that actually
(22:21):
might bring you a lot of goodand joy and notice and you might
actually want that healthypleasure like we often talk at
regen.
I learned this from you, josh oflike the beauty of a sunset can
be so breathtaking.
We've talked about this inother podcasts, like finding
beauty, that it's a littleharder.
You got to time the sunset, yougot to be in the right position
(22:42):
, whatever, but the beautypayoff is more significant and
I'd argue similar to that.
Healthy foods literally healthyfoods are way better than the
metaphorical fast food ofpornography.
Literally healthy sleep.
You're going to feel morerefreshed than what masturbation
could ever give you good,healthy amounts of exercise that
(23:05):
you actually enjoy at least alittle bit.
You're going to feel a lotdifferent than you're going to
feel more satisfied, actually,than the hookup could ever
really make you, because theseare all God ordained, god
designed things for us.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So good.
I wonder if listeners would say, okay, look at your calendar
today and then look out fourweeks and just say which one of
these, or in what small way witheach five of these, do you want
to do something different inthese next four weeks, just to
try it and do it imperfectly,you know, like, yeah, I was
going to do it every day and Iforgot to do it one day.
(23:40):
Okay, All right, so the nextweek, you know?
Um, but just to try to buildsome more of these in, I like
I'm listening, going like awater sleep I wanna introduce
and just to pay attention to howdoes that change how my day
goes.
And it also strikes me howthese are all interdependent,
Like the more you do one, themore you're equipped to do the
(24:03):
other.
So, which I think just speaksto the complexity and beauty
that we really are createdbeings designed to work with
integrity, these different partsof our lives working
integrously, versus the you know, I'm just going to take my
brain and go offline for alittle bit which is
disintegration.
So, yeah, I think you'veintroduced some really good
(24:24):
stuff, James.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I'll say this too that I know a former missionary
and my church has a lot ofconnections with missionaries
and she said that all themissionaries are encouraged and
and these are missionaries oftensent to front lines.
My movement loves sendingpeople to like the places.
No one wants to go right, but alot of them are encouraged to
exercise.
Why?
Because the mission field is sostressful and if you are, you
(24:47):
know you don't have thecommunity that you're used to
and you might be in your house alot just praying, you know,
because the evangelisticopportunities aren't opening up.
So exercise is actuallyencouraged for our missionaries
who are completely sold out forJesus.
This is not mutually exclusive.
You don't need to either besold out to Jesus or have
relatively healthy disciplinesin these areas.
(25:09):
And here's why, here's part ofwhy at least 1 Peter 2.24, he
himself, jesus himself, bore oursins in his body on the cross
so that we might die to sins andlive for righteousness.
By his wounds you have healed.
Jesus brought his body to bear.
(25:30):
He lived out hunger and thirstand abuse and sleepless nights,
and he experienced all theexceptions to these things, and
he probably also you know morethan any of us knew how to do
these, the most perfect right,like the right kind of meal, the
right kind of sleep, but out ofknowing the right way, he could
(25:51):
make those exceptions ofstaying up all night to love
people through prayer, ofchoosing to fast, and ultimately
he bore his sins in his body.
He came with his physical bodyand bore our sins in his body.
And again, friends, how muchmight these things help us to
live in righteousness?
These are not our righteousness.
If you sleep seven to ninehours every night, really well,
(26:14):
it doesn't make you a good orrighteous person.
It's just how much might it aidin the pursuit of love?
And you are loved even when youdon't do these things perfectly
.
You are loved when you don't dothese things perfectly, and if
you've never done any of them,you're still loved.
This is not about earning God'slove, but let the love of God
(26:34):
compel you to love your body.
Let the love of God compel youto love your body, not not in
the worldly way of like I need amanicure every day, you know
whatever, but like, oh, how thelove of God, to love your body
in ways that God's designed itand therefore to be able to love
the bodies of others as youlove your own body, the bodies
(26:59):
of others as you love your ownbody.
I want to mention just twothings real quick as we close.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
It's an honor to walk with you.
But before we sign off, we dohave our upcoming retreats.
This fall we have our women'sand our men's retreats Sacred by
Design for Women and theAwakened Retreat for Men.
Awakened Retreat two nightsthis year, october 3rd through
5th.
Unforgettable weekend ofexperiencing being known and
named through brotherhood, theFather's heart and embodied
(27:25):
healing.
So, whether you're juststarting out on your recovery
journey or you've been walkingthis path for years, this
retreat's for you.
Josh and I plan to be there,aaron and we'll have a couple
other men staffing this, butit's very limited to only 29 men
.
Similarly, for the women, thisis going to be an overnight
sacred by design retreat,november 7th and 8th unique
space for women to slow down,connect deeply with God,
rediscover the beauty of whothey are, beyond shame, beyond
(27:48):
striving weekend full of grace,truth and restoration.
So again, space is limited,extremely limited at both sacred
by design, I think, 15 personlimit, uh, wake and retreat 29.
Um, but if you want to lookinto any of the details.
Uh, check out the show notesbelow.
So until next time, keeppressing into truth, keep
walking in grace and keepbecoming whole.
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