September 30, 2025 • 19 mins
“I now pronounce you husband and husband” were the words spoken at Lex Renick’s wedding. Lex had a miraculous transformation through Christ out of the trans lifestyle and Straight to the Father, as did her husband. In this moving three-part show, see how Lex seeks God’s heart and finally finds it, as well as the truth of scripture, the love of Jesus, and the freedom in her new identity with Christ.
In this three part story, you'll see the slow but steady transformation of Lex and how God honors those who earnestly seek Him. And you'll never see the lost the same way again!
Part 3
In this final episode, experience Lex and Nic’s new marriage and their attempts to seek the Lord, and her heartfelt plea to put aside her trans identity with the help of Jesus. Witness true miracles as God opens her womb and gives her life new meaning.
Links:
The Best Part, the song that played when Lex met Nic
Jesus, My Gender, and His Perfect Love, child's book by Lex Renick
Lex on Instagram
Let us know what you thought of the show!
Follow One80 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.
Never miss a One80. Join our email list.
Follow us on Instagram.
Share One80, here's how!
OneWay Ministries
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:02):
Welcome to One80.
Transforming testimonies fromnext door to across the globe.
Be amazed at how God works tobring people to himself.
Share today's One80 with afriend.
It might be the best news theyhear today.
LexRenick (00:18):
Stop going there.
Go straight to the source.
Go straight to the Father.
Like get into your word.
Go spend time with Jesus.
Get your answers from God.
Margaret Ereneta (00:29):
It's Margaret Ereneta.
Welcome back to Straight to theFather Part 3, the final
chapter.
Learn how Lex married Nic andhow she has total surrender.
Even sees God meeting her rightin planned parenthood.
This is such a great story.
Enjoy it.
LexRenick (00:50):
Three months we were engaged, six months we went to
Vegas and we got married.
Because when the Bible says, ifyou can't wait, get married,
and we got married.
And our whole life, you know,shifted.
We were not expecting what ourlife is in this moment now to
have happened from even going tothat coffee shop or from saying
yes to Jesus.
(01:10):
And I have to give my husbandcredit where credit is due.
Even when we both identified asthis and got married as this
gay trans couple, he alwayspointed me back to Jesus.
If I at once a month, I wouldbe like questioning, well,
technically, like we're okay,right?
Because I'm a biologicalfemale, you're a biological
male, even though we have theselabels and identities and we
identify with that community.
(01:32):
Technically, it's okay.
No.
But I kept on thinking that.
I kept on having this innerconviction.
And I would run to podcasts, Iwould run to YouTube videos
where people would takescripture and twist it and make
it okay.
And my husband just keptsaying, stop going there, go
straight to the source, gostraight to the Father, like get
(01:53):
into your word, go spend timewith Jesus, get your answers
from God.
Margaret Ereneta (01:57):
I love what Lex says here.
It's just Jesus and the Word isenough.
Yes, they're living thislifestyle, and we know that's
not what the Bible says, butthey're in the word, they're
seeking the Lord, and that'senough.
God has what he needs, he hastheir hearts and they're in the
word, and he's gonna guide themto the truth, and he does.
(02:18):
And he did, and it's soawesome.
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
LexRenick (02:23):
And I was so, so grateful that even when we
identified in that way, hespiritually led me to the Lord.
And so we we were together, wedecided to, you know, get
married and then go move toKawaii.
That was not the Lord's will.
Uh, the Lord gave me a warningto not go to Kauai.
I didn't obey and I learned mylesson.
That's a whole story foranother day.
(02:44):
That's why when the Lord tellsus to do anything, we're so
quick to obey because of whathappened in Hawaii.
But I remember right when wegot married, you know, the whole
Kawaii thing didn't work out.
We were not sure where we weregonna go, but we're like, okay,
God, we disobeyed you and youclearly warned us not to go
there.
Please redirect us according toyour will.
And we ended up having to moveto Las Vegas.
And as we're driving intoVegas, I remember thinking,
(03:06):
Lord, what could you possibly doin Sin City?
And it wrecked my whole life.
God, in the best of ways, Godwrecked our whole life for his
glory and his good.
And we found an incrediblechurch called Church LV in Las
Vegas.
And God brought me back towhere my sin started.
See, the root of my sin and mysexual sin was exposure to
(03:26):
pornography at a young age thatstarted in Las Vegas.
How you would walk the stripand we'd go there for wrestling
tournaments for my siblings orfor you know my cousins that
were older than me.
And my parents would be drunkstumbling in front of us, and my
brother and I would be in theback.
And I was always a tomboy, looklike a boy just like my brother.
And the grown men would hand usthese call girl cards, the
(03:48):
prostitute cards.
And these are naked women.
And I remember having a wholestack of them at a very young
age, and the devil saying, Whenwe'd go back to the hotel room,
go into a secret place, gosomewhere where no one can see.
And that's where the addictionstarted.
The Lord revealed that to mewhen I was in Las Vegas.
And I encountered him andreceived deliverance from a
(04:10):
pornography addiction.
And God removed that from me.
And so we lived there for twoyears.
We were laying it down just atthe feet of Jesus.
God gave us everything wewanted, the church, the
community.
This church loved us and wasnot ashamed of us.
They never rejected us, but theynever edified us or affirmed
our relationship.
They just loved us and allowedus to be included in things and
(04:31):
not just on a Sunday service.
And let me tell you, that is soimportant.
The hospitality that they had,the way that they just loved us
and weren't, again, ashamed tobe like, hey, let's go hang out
after this.
And that is when a lot of thegrowth happened.
That's when a lot of thechallenging of the lies of the
enemy were happening in thosecircles and not just church
(04:51):
pews, but actually going deepwith other people, other
believers that were willing tobe vulnerable and safe with us.
And I remember God called us tomove to Tennessee and we didn't
want to.
But again, like I said from thelast thing that we learned in
Kauai, we knew that we had toobey the Lord.
We just didn't know that thatwould mean that I was gonna
detransition, that that wouldmean that we were gonna see
(05:12):
miracles happen, that we weregonna have miracle children.
We had no idea that that wouldhappen, but we packed up
everything that we had in alittle Prius, bought a storage
unit, our little chihuahua andI.
We all drove across the countrywith no place to stay, and God
blew us away.
I was in a hotel room and myhusband just said, Hey, like, I
(05:33):
gotta work a 10-hour workday,seek the Lord.
Really seek him.
Margaret Ereneta (05:39):
When Lex says, Really seek him here, she's not
kidding.
This is like really surrender,lay it all down on the line and
see what happens next.
LexRenick (05:50):
If you're still questioning, you know, if it's
okay for you to live as Austinand be married to me as Austin,
then you need to seek the Lord.
And he said, make this hotelroom a furnace, make this hotel
room a sanctuary for the Lordand go after him.
And so I began to go after theLord.
And I was just praying and Iwas just worshiping and I was
just crying out to God.
(06:10):
And I'm like, Lord, I know thatyou are real, just like my doc
moment of my sexualitysurrender.
And I remember just saying,Lord, you have already done so
much in my life.
I know that you are real, God.
And Lord, I just ask about mygender identity, God, that if
this is something that I'm notsupposed to identify as, God, I
need to hear it directly fromyou.
(06:31):
Not someone telling me it'sokay, but also not a Christian
holding up a sign saying thatI'm gonna go to hell.
And I just said, God, please,just clearly, like, please, just
tell me.
And I just heard the HolySpirit say, Austin, do you trust
me?
And there is something soprofound that the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords called meby the name that I chose, not
the name that he gave me.
(06:52):
Not that he was saying it'sokay, but that he was saying, I
truly mean what my word says,come as you are, but I love you
enough to not let you stay asyou are.
And when he said, Austin, do youtrust me?
I was listening.
And I said, Yes, Lord, I trustyou.
And he said, Then you need totrust me with this.
Lay down your life and pick upyour cross and follow me and go
(07:13):
out and boldly share the goodnews of Jesus.
And I remember having thisencounter with God, being so
afraid of losing my marriage,being so afraid of being the
ugliest woman in the world, ifthat meant I was no longer gonna
be on testosterone, because I'mnot gonna lie, I was a pretty
looking, good looking dude atthe time.
You know, I I didn't know whatmy life was gonna look like.
(07:35):
But at this point, I'm like,God, you could have told me this
like before I got surgery.
At this point, I had topsurgery, even with that
situation, almost died on thetable.
That was a crazy story.
And I just remember God saying,You have to lay it all down.
And I said, God, I don't agree.
I I don't agree, but I'm gonnachoose to obey anyway.
(07:56):
And when I said that, I knewthat I was gonna lose my
marriage.
When I said that, I knew thatmy husband did not sign up to
have a wife, he did not sign upto be with someone who was
identifying as one thing andgoing back to another, he didn't
need that in his life, but Iknew that I was gonna choose
Jesus, no matter how much he isthe love of my life and was the
love of my life at the time.
(08:17):
And I just knew that I was gonnachoose Jesus.
And so he comes back and hepoor guy just wants to eat his
food.
He comes back and he just looksat me and he's like, Oh my
gosh, you did you got youranswer?
And I told him everything thatthe Lord said, and the last
thing that the Lord said is hesaid, every fear that you have,
I'm going to bless.
And so I began to tell myhusband everything that God said
(08:39):
to me, and he just said, Okay.
Kind of took a step back andand I just said, I'm sorry, I'm
choosing Jesus.
And his face just kind of wentflush because I always told him
that God was gonna come first,but he knew in that moment that
I really meant that I was goingto choose Jesus over this
marriage now that I couldclearly see that I'm I'm walking
in the wrong direction.
(09:00):
And he just said, Look, ifyou're saying that you are my
wife and God wants you to livethe way that he created you,
then as your husband, I'm gonnago pursue him and seek him
because if I'm your husband, hewill speak to me too.
And he just said, Just give mean hour.
I'm thinking, an hour?
You could have asked for thewhole rest of the day.
This is like total mic droplife change we're talking about.
(09:24):
And so he takes his hour to gogo to the gym to go seek the
Lord and have his time.
And I remember just thinking,like, I just lost it all, but
that's okay.
I just know that I need to relyon the Lord to get me through
this.
I don't know what that means.
And he came back in the hotelroom very confident, very
chipper, and it shocked me.
And he said, Look, I talked tothe Lord, he talked to me, and
(09:46):
this is gonna be so much easierthan you think it is.
You're worried right now,you're uncomfortable right now,
but it's gonna be so much easierbecause you are not doing this
in your strength.
He is walking with you, he'salready gone before you.
And he began to speak life overme, over all the fear, all the
worry, over all the anxiety thatI had.
And he said, The Lord even saidthat this is going to wow
doctors.
(10:07):
And I remember him speakingthat, thinking, like, what could
possibly, you know, wowdoctors?
Well, when him and I gottogether before we got married,
I was already on testosteronefor seven years, which means I
did not have a period for sevenyears.
And I had, due to thetestosterone, people want to
argue with this with me on theinternet about it.
But if you even Google aninformed consent form for taking
(10:29):
testosterone and you look atthe fine print, it even says
that taking this synthetichormone can cause cancer.
And so I had all thesecancerous cells within my womb
and within my cervix.
And the doctors, my doctor atPlanned Parenthood, yes, of
Planned Parenthood, thatprescribed me the testosterone
would be begging me every time Iwould go and hey, we really got
(10:51):
to get this hysterectomyscheduled, which is very common
for transgender men, so thoseborn female identifying as male,
to have to get that removedbecause now you got all these uh
cancerous cells there, you havethis dying organ in your body.
And she kept begging me.
And even before this holymoment, this holy encounter and
holy surrender with the Lord,Nick always said, No, we're
(11:13):
gonna pray about it.
So I avoided her for a yearbecause my husband said we're
gonna pray about it.
And I made sure I had enoughtestosterone to get me through
the whole year so I didn't haveto see her.
Fast forward after you know,Nick spoke life into our
marriage and to us and to thewowing of doctors.
We just started from thatmoment on praying, God renew our
mind, God renew our mind, takeaway the same sex attraction,
(11:36):
God, renew our mind.
And it was a daily act, not aone-time thing.
It was a daily act of obedienceto lay it at the altar.
And over time, God renewed ourmind.
We no longer had the same sexattraction, we no longer felt
temptation and lust.
We no longer had uh, I nolonger had the confusion of my
identity.
It was like I knew who I was,and I took the rose-colored
(11:57):
glasses off and I could see whyI thought and I felt all the
things that I felt.
And Nick and I at this point,I'm like, I need to get off of
testosterone.
I don't know how to do that.
So I go to my doctor, she tellsme we need to do a vaginal exam.
She does it, and she looks inwith the binoculars and she's
(12:18):
like, hold on, looks in again.
She pushes the table away.
Mind you, I'm very vulnerable.
My legs are in the air.
Like, this is a very vulnerablesetting at a planned
parenthood.
And she looks again and shesays, I don't know how this is
physically possible, but thereis no sign of any cancerous
cells in your womb.
It literally looks like yourcervix is brand new.
(12:39):
And she keeps looking.
I don't know how this isimpossible.
And I start crying.
I begin to worship in thisplanned parenthood again with my
legs in the air, saying, Goddoesn't have to make sense.
And I was giving God the gloryand thanking him because all
those times that I prayed, God,please renew our mind.
All the times my husband prayedover me, God not only blessed us
(12:59):
by renewing our mind, but herenewed my physical body.
And not only that, three monthslater, we conceived and we had
our first miracle baby, and hername's Iris, and we had no idea
that in Hebrew, Iris means God'spromise the rainbow.
If you can't tell me thatthat's not prophetic, I don't
know what, because our wholelife in ministry is about taking
(13:22):
back the true meaning of therainbow.
And even before we conceived,there is miracle after miracle
after miracle.
Like the doctor still said, youcan't cold turkey, get off
testosterone.
We're worried you're gonna havesuicidal thoughts because of
the chemical imbalances.
Hormones have a lot to do withyour mental health, you have to
slowly wean yourself off.
And I remember her saying that.
(13:43):
And I continue to seek theLord, and my husband continued
to seek the Lord after thatappointment, before we
conceived.
And I was just on my face withthe Lord in prayer, and the Holy
Spirit just said, No, I'm thegreat physician, not her.
You don't need it.
And I remember being like,Okay, God, that's kind of crazy.
Okay, and I walked into thebathroom to tell my husband so
(14:04):
he could hold me accountable andthat we were gonna do this
thing together, and I was justgonna cold turkey get off.
And right when I opened thedoor, he's like, Oh babe, like I
was just praying right now, andthe Lord said, You don't need
it.
I about fell on my face andcried and said, What?
I was literally coming in hereto tell you what the Lord told
me, and this is just confirmingit.
(14:25):
Our God is so real.
And some Christians might thinkthat this is too someone told
me you got too much Jesus inyour testimony.
I'm like, it's all about Jesus,it should always be about
Jesus.
Too much Jesus in yourtestimony, love it.
And I truly believe that we canencounter him in such a way if
(14:45):
we truly desire and long to.
And oh my gosh, we obeyed.
We I stopped injecting myselfwith it, and we conceived Iris
in three months, and then nextthing you know, we conceived
again, and that's our sweetViolet, that's only three
months, and then we just foundout that I am pregnant again
(15:06):
with our third miracle baby.
So to God be the glory, and nowmy husband and I get the
privilege and the opportunity totravel the world and share the
good news of Jesus.
See, God has taken ourbrokenness, our pain, and he's
turned it around for his good.
And I believe that we walkthrough what we went through
because ultimately now we canequip the body of Christ how to
(15:29):
love the misfit communityeffectively.
We could equip the body ofChrist how to have effective
evangelism because we'veexperienced the good parts and
the bad parts.
And so it's just such an honorthat we have a ministry where we
are weekly and daily doingprayer calls with people and
walking them out of thelifestyle into the arms of
Christ.
Margaret Ereneta (15:52):
In closing, we wanted Lex to give us advice on
how to love the misfits in ourworld and the ones even in our
church that come into our liveswithout affirming them, but
loving them and being a seed.
What would we say?
What would we do?
And here's what she said.
LexRenick (16:10):
I think the number one thing to recognize is that
when we are ministering topeople, when we're praying to
people, we shouldn't be preyingon people.
You know, we want to seeredemption right away.
We want to see God plant theseed and see the harvest, but
sometimes our job is just toplant the seed.
Our job as believers is to bringpeople into reconciliation with
Christ.
And we do that by beinghospitable, by creating an
(16:31):
environment where they feelsafe.
And at the end of the day, wehave to discern through the Holy
Spirit how we should react, howwe should respond to the hard
questions that people mighthave.
And we can't do this withoutpreparation in the Word of God.
We can't do this withoutseeking the Lord on how to
navigate and handle the hardconversations.
(16:51):
But we have to also rememberthat sometimes it may be
uncomfortable.
But if someone looked at me, Ithink the best, if I was
identifying as Austin, right?
If someone walked up to me atchurch, got to know me, invited
me out to eat, we start buildingthis relationship, they begin
to be vulnerable and startministering to me through their
(17:12):
vulnerability.
That would create anopportunity for my heart to
crack open to start being alittle vulnerable.
And within that vulnerability,for them to respond in such a
way of saying, Wow, at the time,wow, Austin, I'm so sorry that
you experienced that.
So you're sympathizing withthem.
I'm so sorry that you wentthrough that.
I I want to let you know thatJesus loves you and that God has
(17:32):
a plan for your life.
And that I want you to knowthat God wants what's best for
you.
And this just might not be whatGod's best is, according to the
word.
It's just not.
If someone were to say that tome rather than, hey, you're
going to hell, just want to letyou know Jesus doesn't love you.
Oh my gosh, I would havereceived that with such grace
and compassion because we'reemphasizing the fact that Jesus
(17:53):
loves me.
We can't start with biblicaltruth.
If first, if first people can'teven understand and remove the
lie, because we have tounderstand the queer community
and the misfit community hasbelieved a lie that Jesus
doesn't love them.
So immediately go there.
When we evangelize the peopleand we know that their walls are
up, we first say, Hey, I justwant to let you know, I
(18:14):
apologize on behalf of anyChristian that has ever
misrepresented Christ.
You are so loved.
The Lord desires to have arelationship with you.
And man, let me tell you whatGod did in my life.
And then I just give them aquick testimony, and you will be
surprised at that level ofvulnerability.
If you could be so vulnerablewith the stranger, even if they
don't agree, their walls willfind out because people could
(18:37):
relate to pain.
And you could point to yourpain and point to the savior.
So always minister through yourtestimony to the other person
and never diminish the power ofbeing vulnerable.
Thank you so much for allowingyou know God to use me as a
vessel to be a voice for hiskingdom, to have the hard
conversations.
Because if we don't, then thatmeans that we don't love the
(18:59):
lost.
Like we have to have the hardconversations to love the lost.
Margaret Ereneta (19:04):
Thanks for listening today.
Lex said it right there (19:06):
never diminish the power of being
vulnerable.
Learn how to share your ownstory with others.
Go to our website.
The link is in our show notes.
We'll show you how to shareyour own story.
It's way more powerful than yourealize.
And check out our show notes.
We have lots of resources foryou on there.
If you have misfits in yourworld and maybe even family
(19:28):
members, and you want to knowthe resources that might help
you, check those out.
And so appreciate your likes,your follows, and your shares of
180.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
God bless you.
Announ (19:57):
OneWay Ministries. Exalt Christ, advance His gospel.
Welcome to One80.
Transforming testimonies fromnext door to across the globe.
Be amazed at how God works tobring people to himself.
Share today's One80 with afriend.
It might be the best news theyhear today.
LexRenick (00:18):
Stop going there.
Go straight to the source.
Go straight to the Father.
Like get into your word.
Go spend time with Jesus.
Get your answers from God.
Margaret Ereneta (00:29):
It's Margaret Ereneta.
Welcome back to Straight to theFather Part 3, the final
chapter.
Learn how Lex married Nic andhow she has total surrender.
Even sees God meeting her rightin planned parenthood.
This is such a great story.
Enjoy it.
LexRenick (00:50):
Three months we were engaged, six months we went to
Vegas and we got married.
Because when the Bible says, ifyou can't wait, get married,
and we got married.
And our whole life, you know,shifted.
We were not expecting what ourlife is in this moment now to
have happened from even going tothat coffee shop or from saying
yes to Jesus.
(01:10):
And I have to give my husbandcredit where credit is due.
Even when we both identified asthis and got married as this
gay trans couple, he alwayspointed me back to Jesus.
If I at once a month, I wouldbe like questioning, well,
technically, like we're okay,right?
Because I'm a biologicalfemale, you're a biological
male, even though we have theselabels and identities and we
identify with that community.
(01:32):
Technically, it's okay.
No.
But I kept on thinking that.
I kept on having this innerconviction.
And I would run to podcasts, Iwould run to YouTube videos
where people would takescripture and twist it and make
it okay.
And my husband just keptsaying, stop going there, go
straight to the source, gostraight to the Father, like get
(01:53):
into your word, go spend timewith Jesus, get your answers
from God.
Margaret Ereneta (01:57):
I love what Lex says here.
It's just Jesus and the Word isenough.
Yes, they're living thislifestyle, and we know that's
not what the Bible says, butthey're in the word, they're
seeking the Lord, and that'senough.
God has what he needs, he hastheir hearts and they're in the
word, and he's gonna guide themto the truth, and he does.
(02:18):
And he did, and it's soawesome.
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
LexRenick (02:23):
And I was so, so grateful that even when we
identified in that way, hespiritually led me to the Lord.
And so we we were together, wedecided to, you know, get
married and then go move toKawaii.
That was not the Lord's will.
Uh, the Lord gave me a warningto not go to Kauai.
I didn't obey and I learned mylesson.
That's a whole story foranother day.
(02:44):
That's why when the Lord tellsus to do anything, we're so
quick to obey because of whathappened in Hawaii.
But I remember right when wegot married, you know, the whole
Kawaii thing didn't work out.
We were not sure where we weregonna go, but we're like, okay,
God, we disobeyed you and youclearly warned us not to go
there.
Please redirect us according toyour will.
And we ended up having to moveto Las Vegas.
And as we're driving intoVegas, I remember thinking,
(03:06):
Lord, what could you possibly doin Sin City?
And it wrecked my whole life.
God, in the best of ways, Godwrecked our whole life for his
glory and his good.
And we found an incrediblechurch called Church LV in Las
Vegas.
And God brought me back towhere my sin started.
See, the root of my sin and mysexual sin was exposure to
(03:26):
pornography at a young age thatstarted in Las Vegas.
How you would walk the stripand we'd go there for wrestling
tournaments for my siblings orfor you know my cousins that
were older than me.
And my parents would be drunkstumbling in front of us, and my
brother and I would be in theback.
And I was always a tomboy, looklike a boy just like my brother.
And the grown men would hand usthese call girl cards, the
(03:48):
prostitute cards.
And these are naked women.
And I remember having a wholestack of them at a very young
age, and the devil saying, Whenwe'd go back to the hotel room,
go into a secret place, gosomewhere where no one can see.
And that's where the addictionstarted.
The Lord revealed that to mewhen I was in Las Vegas.
And I encountered him andreceived deliverance from a
(04:10):
pornography addiction.
And God removed that from me.
And so we lived there for twoyears.
We were laying it down just atthe feet of Jesus.
God gave us everything wewanted, the church, the
community.
This church loved us and wasnot ashamed of us.
They never rejected us, but theynever edified us or affirmed
our relationship.
They just loved us and allowedus to be included in things and
(04:31):
not just on a Sunday service.
And let me tell you, that is soimportant.
The hospitality that they had,the way that they just loved us
and weren't, again, ashamed tobe like, hey, let's go hang out
after this.
And that is when a lot of thegrowth happened.
That's when a lot of thechallenging of the lies of the
enemy were happening in thosecircles and not just church
(04:51):
pews, but actually going deepwith other people, other
believers that were willing tobe vulnerable and safe with us.
And I remember God called us tomove to Tennessee and we didn't
want to.
But again, like I said from thelast thing that we learned in
Kauai, we knew that we had toobey the Lord.
We just didn't know that thatwould mean that I was gonna
detransition, that that wouldmean that we were gonna see
(05:12):
miracles happen, that we weregonna have miracle children.
We had no idea that that wouldhappen, but we packed up
everything that we had in alittle Prius, bought a storage
unit, our little chihuahua andI.
We all drove across the countrywith no place to stay, and God
blew us away.
I was in a hotel room and myhusband just said, Hey, like, I
(05:33):
gotta work a 10-hour workday,seek the Lord.
Really seek him.
Margaret Ereneta (05:39):
When Lex says, Really seek him here, she's not
kidding.
This is like really surrender,lay it all down on the line and
see what happens next.
LexRenick (05:50):
If you're still questioning, you know, if it's
okay for you to live as Austinand be married to me as Austin,
then you need to seek the Lord.
And he said, make this hotelroom a furnace, make this hotel
room a sanctuary for the Lordand go after him.
And so I began to go after theLord.
And I was just praying and Iwas just worshiping and I was
just crying out to God.
(06:10):
And I'm like, Lord, I know thatyou are real, just like my doc
moment of my sexualitysurrender.
And I remember just saying,Lord, you have already done so
much in my life.
I know that you are real, God.
And Lord, I just ask about mygender identity, God, that if
this is something that I'm notsupposed to identify as, God, I
need to hear it directly fromyou.
(06:31):
Not someone telling me it'sokay, but also not a Christian
holding up a sign saying thatI'm gonna go to hell.
And I just said, God, please,just clearly, like, please, just
tell me.
And I just heard the HolySpirit say, Austin, do you trust
me?
And there is something soprofound that the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords called meby the name that I chose, not
the name that he gave me.
(06:52):
Not that he was saying it'sokay, but that he was saying, I
truly mean what my word says,come as you are, but I love you
enough to not let you stay asyou are.
And when he said, Austin, do youtrust me?
I was listening.
And I said, Yes, Lord, I trustyou.
And he said, Then you need totrust me with this.
Lay down your life and pick upyour cross and follow me and go
(07:13):
out and boldly share the goodnews of Jesus.
And I remember having thisencounter with God, being so
afraid of losing my marriage,being so afraid of being the
ugliest woman in the world, ifthat meant I was no longer gonna
be on testosterone, because I'mnot gonna lie, I was a pretty
looking, good looking dude atthe time.
You know, I I didn't know whatmy life was gonna look like.
(07:35):
But at this point, I'm like,God, you could have told me this
like before I got surgery.
At this point, I had topsurgery, even with that
situation, almost died on thetable.
That was a crazy story.
And I just remember God saying,You have to lay it all down.
And I said, God, I don't agree.
I I don't agree, but I'm gonnachoose to obey anyway.
(07:56):
And when I said that, I knewthat I was gonna lose my
marriage.
When I said that, I knew thatmy husband did not sign up to
have a wife, he did not sign upto be with someone who was
identifying as one thing andgoing back to another, he didn't
need that in his life, but Iknew that I was gonna choose
Jesus, no matter how much he isthe love of my life and was the
love of my life at the time.
(08:17):
And I just knew that I was gonnachoose Jesus.
And so he comes back and hepoor guy just wants to eat his
food.
He comes back and he just looksat me and he's like, Oh my
gosh, you did you got youranswer?
And I told him everything thatthe Lord said, and the last
thing that the Lord said is hesaid, every fear that you have,
I'm going to bless.
And so I began to tell myhusband everything that God said
(08:39):
to me, and he just said, Okay.
Kind of took a step back andand I just said, I'm sorry, I'm
choosing Jesus.
And his face just kind of wentflush because I always told him
that God was gonna come first,but he knew in that moment that
I really meant that I was goingto choose Jesus over this
marriage now that I couldclearly see that I'm I'm walking
in the wrong direction.
(09:00):
And he just said, Look, ifyou're saying that you are my
wife and God wants you to livethe way that he created you,
then as your husband, I'm gonnago pursue him and seek him
because if I'm your husband, hewill speak to me too.
And he just said, Just give mean hour.
I'm thinking, an hour?
You could have asked for thewhole rest of the day.
This is like total mic droplife change we're talking about.
(09:24):
And so he takes his hour to gogo to the gym to go seek the
Lord and have his time.
And I remember just thinking,like, I just lost it all, but
that's okay.
I just know that I need to relyon the Lord to get me through
this.
I don't know what that means.
And he came back in the hotelroom very confident, very
chipper, and it shocked me.
And he said, Look, I talked tothe Lord, he talked to me, and
(09:46):
this is gonna be so much easierthan you think it is.
You're worried right now,you're uncomfortable right now,
but it's gonna be so much easierbecause you are not doing this
in your strength.
He is walking with you, he'salready gone before you.
And he began to speak life overme, over all the fear, all the
worry, over all the anxiety thatI had.
And he said, The Lord even saidthat this is going to wow
doctors.
(10:07):
And I remember him speakingthat, thinking, like, what could
possibly, you know, wowdoctors?
Well, when him and I gottogether before we got married,
I was already on testosteronefor seven years, which means I
did not have a period for sevenyears.
And I had, due to thetestosterone, people want to
argue with this with me on theinternet about it.
But if you even Google aninformed consent form for taking
(10:29):
testosterone and you look atthe fine print, it even says
that taking this synthetichormone can cause cancer.
And so I had all thesecancerous cells within my womb
and within my cervix.
And the doctors, my doctor atPlanned Parenthood, yes, of
Planned Parenthood, thatprescribed me the testosterone
would be begging me every time Iwould go and hey, we really got
(10:51):
to get this hysterectomyscheduled, which is very common
for transgender men, so thoseborn female identifying as male,
to have to get that removedbecause now you got all these uh
cancerous cells there, you havethis dying organ in your body.
And she kept begging me.
And even before this holymoment, this holy encounter and
holy surrender with the Lord,Nick always said, No, we're
(11:13):
gonna pray about it.
So I avoided her for a yearbecause my husband said we're
gonna pray about it.
And I made sure I had enoughtestosterone to get me through
the whole year so I didn't haveto see her.
Fast forward after you know,Nick spoke life into our
marriage and to us and to thewowing of doctors.
We just started from thatmoment on praying, God renew our
mind, God renew our mind, takeaway the same sex attraction,
(11:36):
God, renew our mind.
And it was a daily act, not aone-time thing.
It was a daily act of obedienceto lay it at the altar.
And over time, God renewed ourmind.
We no longer had the same sexattraction, we no longer felt
temptation and lust.
We no longer had uh, I nolonger had the confusion of my
identity.
It was like I knew who I was,and I took the rose-colored
(11:57):
glasses off and I could see whyI thought and I felt all the
things that I felt.
And Nick and I at this point,I'm like, I need to get off of
testosterone.
I don't know how to do that.
So I go to my doctor, she tellsme we need to do a vaginal exam.
She does it, and she looks inwith the binoculars and she's
(12:18):
like, hold on, looks in again.
She pushes the table away.
Mind you, I'm very vulnerable.
My legs are in the air.
Like, this is a very vulnerablesetting at a planned
parenthood.
And she looks again and shesays, I don't know how this is
physically possible, but thereis no sign of any cancerous
cells in your womb.
It literally looks like yourcervix is brand new.
(12:39):
And she keeps looking.
I don't know how this isimpossible.
And I start crying.
I begin to worship in thisplanned parenthood again with my
legs in the air, saying, Goddoesn't have to make sense.
And I was giving God the gloryand thanking him because all
those times that I prayed, God,please renew our mind.
All the times my husband prayedover me, God not only blessed us
(12:59):
by renewing our mind, but herenewed my physical body.
And not only that, three monthslater, we conceived and we had
our first miracle baby, and hername's Iris, and we had no idea
that in Hebrew, Iris means God'spromise the rainbow.
If you can't tell me thatthat's not prophetic, I don't
know what, because our wholelife in ministry is about taking
(13:22):
back the true meaning of therainbow.
And even before we conceived,there is miracle after miracle
after miracle.
Like the doctor still said, youcan't cold turkey, get off
testosterone.
We're worried you're gonna havesuicidal thoughts because of
the chemical imbalances.
Hormones have a lot to do withyour mental health, you have to
slowly wean yourself off.
And I remember her saying that.
(13:43):
And I continue to seek theLord, and my husband continued
to seek the Lord after thatappointment, before we
conceived.
And I was just on my face withthe Lord in prayer, and the Holy
Spirit just said, No, I'm thegreat physician, not her.
You don't need it.
And I remember being like,Okay, God, that's kind of crazy.
Okay, and I walked into thebathroom to tell my husband so
(14:04):
he could hold me accountable andthat we were gonna do this
thing together, and I was justgonna cold turkey get off.
And right when I opened thedoor, he's like, Oh babe, like I
was just praying right now, andthe Lord said, You don't need
it.
I about fell on my face andcried and said, What?
I was literally coming in hereto tell you what the Lord told
me, and this is just confirmingit.
(14:25):
Our God is so real.
And some Christians might thinkthat this is too someone told
me you got too much Jesus inyour testimony.
I'm like, it's all about Jesus,it should always be about
Jesus.
Too much Jesus in yourtestimony, love it.
And I truly believe that we canencounter him in such a way if
(14:45):
we truly desire and long to.
And oh my gosh, we obeyed.
We I stopped injecting myselfwith it, and we conceived Iris
in three months, and then nextthing you know, we conceived
again, and that's our sweetViolet, that's only three
months, and then we just foundout that I am pregnant again
(15:06):
with our third miracle baby.
So to God be the glory, and nowmy husband and I get the
privilege and the opportunity totravel the world and share the
good news of Jesus.
See, God has taken ourbrokenness, our pain, and he's
turned it around for his good.
And I believe that we walkthrough what we went through
because ultimately now we canequip the body of Christ how to
(15:29):
love the misfit communityeffectively.
We could equip the body ofChrist how to have effective
evangelism because we'veexperienced the good parts and
the bad parts.
And so it's just such an honorthat we have a ministry where we
are weekly and daily doingprayer calls with people and
walking them out of thelifestyle into the arms of
Christ.
Margaret Ereneta (15:52):
In closing, we wanted Lex to give us advice on
how to love the misfits in ourworld and the ones even in our
church that come into our liveswithout affirming them, but
loving them and being a seed.
What would we say?
What would we do?
And here's what she said.
LexRenick (16:10):
I think the number one thing to recognize is that
when we are ministering topeople, when we're praying to
people, we shouldn't be preyingon people.
You know, we want to seeredemption right away.
We want to see God plant theseed and see the harvest, but
sometimes our job is just toplant the seed.
Our job as believers is to bringpeople into reconciliation with
Christ.
And we do that by beinghospitable, by creating an
(16:31):
environment where they feelsafe.
And at the end of the day, wehave to discern through the Holy
Spirit how we should react, howwe should respond to the hard
questions that people mighthave.
And we can't do this withoutpreparation in the Word of God.
We can't do this withoutseeking the Lord on how to
navigate and handle the hardconversations.
(16:51):
But we have to also rememberthat sometimes it may be
uncomfortable.
But if someone looked at me, Ithink the best, if I was
identifying as Austin, right?
If someone walked up to me atchurch, got to know me, invited
me out to eat, we start buildingthis relationship, they begin
to be vulnerable and startministering to me through their
(17:12):
vulnerability.
That would create anopportunity for my heart to
crack open to start being alittle vulnerable.
And within that vulnerability,for them to respond in such a
way of saying, Wow, at the time,wow, Austin, I'm so sorry that
you experienced that.
So you're sympathizing withthem.
I'm so sorry that you wentthrough that.
I I want to let you know thatJesus loves you and that God has
(17:32):
a plan for your life.
And that I want you to knowthat God wants what's best for
you.
And this just might not be whatGod's best is, according to the
word.
It's just not.
If someone were to say that tome rather than, hey, you're
going to hell, just want to letyou know Jesus doesn't love you.
Oh my gosh, I would havereceived that with such grace
and compassion because we'reemphasizing the fact that Jesus
(17:53):
loves me.
We can't start with biblicaltruth.
If first, if first people can'teven understand and remove the
lie, because we have tounderstand the queer community
and the misfit community hasbelieved a lie that Jesus
doesn't love them.
So immediately go there.
When we evangelize the peopleand we know that their walls are
up, we first say, Hey, I justwant to let you know, I
(18:14):
apologize on behalf of anyChristian that has ever
misrepresented Christ.
You are so loved.
The Lord desires to have arelationship with you.
And man, let me tell you whatGod did in my life.
And then I just give them aquick testimony, and you will be
surprised at that level ofvulnerability.
If you could be so vulnerablewith the stranger, even if they
don't agree, their walls willfind out because people could
(18:37):
relate to pain.
And you could point to yourpain and point to the savior.
So always minister through yourtestimony to the other person
and never diminish the power ofbeing vulnerable.
Thank you so much for allowingyou know God to use me as a
vessel to be a voice for hiskingdom, to have the hard
conversations.
Because if we don't, then thatmeans that we don't love the
(18:59):
lost.
Like we have to have the hardconversations to love the lost.
Margaret Ereneta (19:04):
Thanks for listening today.
Lex said it right there (19:06):
never diminish the power of being
vulnerable.
Learn how to share your ownstory with others.
Go to our website.
The link is in our show notes.
We'll show you how to shareyour own story.
It's way more powerful than yourealize.
And check out our show notes.
We have lots of resources foryou on there.
If you have misfits in yourworld and maybe even family
(19:28):
members, and you want to knowthe resources that might help
you, check those out.
And so appreciate your likes,your follows, and your shares of
180.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
God bless you.
Announ (19:57):
OneWay Ministries. Exalt Christ, advance His gospel.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com