August 20, 2025 • 18 mins
In this powerful episode of the Covenant Eyes Podcast, hosts Karen Potter and Theo McManigal sit down with Jim O’Day, Executive Director of Integrity Restored, a Catholic ministry helping men and women break free from the grip of pornography.
Jim shares his raw and personal story—from working as a nightclub dancer in New York City, to a life-changing encounter with Christ, to leading a global movement that combines science, spirituality, and accountability.
Together, they explore:
How porn distorts true masculinity and intimacy
Why accountability and community are essential for healing
Jim’s transformative encounter that brought him back to faith
The role of science, therapy, and spiritual growth in overcoming addiction
Whether you’re struggling with pornography, supporting a loved one, or seeking hope in your own faith journey, this conversation will inspire and equip you with practical tools for freedom.
🔗 Learn more about Integrity Restored: https://integrityrestored.com/
🔗 Men, Check out Strive 21 from Covenant Eyes: https://cvnteyes.co/45QyMUy
#PornAddictionRecovery #FaithAndFreedom #CovenantEyes #JimODay #IntegrityRestored #ChristianPodcast #OvercomingPorn #Accountability #HealingAndHope
CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Welcome & Introduction
00:42 – Meet Jim O’Day & Integrity Restored
01:50 – The Three Pillars of Recovery: Science, Spirituality, Accountability
02:35 – Jim’s Early Story & False Masculinity in NYC
04:00 – Life as a Male Dancer & the Turning Point at Age 21
06:10 – Marriage, Fatherhood & New Responsibilities
08:15 – Corporate Success, Travel, and the Lure of Pornography
10:18 – A Boss’s Bold Confrontation & Jim’s Encounter with God
12:00 – Returning to Faith & Marriage in the Church
14:00 – Learning the Faith as an Adult & True Conversion
15:23 – From Sexual Narcissism to Ministry Leadership
16:10 – Why Your Soul Matters More: Loving Boldly in Truth
17:30 – Finding Mercy, Healing, and Purpose in Christ
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Hey, welcome back to theCovenant Eyes podcast.
It's so good to have youjoining us.
I'm Karen, I've got Theojoining me again today.
How are you, Theo?
Aaron I'm doing great.
I'm very excitedfor this episode.
And as always, it's an honorto be hosting alongside you.
How are you today, Karen?
I'm doing awesome.
I'm excited about today's guest.
Actually, he was on,I think, our old pastors
(00:26):
roundtable many, many years ago,and it's been far too long.
So we're really excitedto have Jim joining us
for a conversation.
And let's go aheadand just get started.
Jim, welcometo the podcast, Karen.
Theo, what a blessingand an honor
to be with you guys.
Thank you so much.
Jim.
For our listenersthat are not familiar
with your work,would you mind sharing
(00:47):
just who you areand what you do? Sure.
So I am the executive directorof an organization
called Integrity Restored.
We are a Catholic ministrythat exists to provide
education, trainingand resources.
For those dealing with thestruggle of pornography.
(01:08):
And and we do thatand kind of what I think
is a very unique waywe base everything we do
on what we callthe three pillars.
And those three pillars arethe first is science.
So strong counseling,therapy, coaching, a scientific
understandingof what's happening to us
(01:28):
when we view pornographypsychologically, emotionally,
neuro, biologically,what's going on in our
brains, in our bodies.
The second pillaris the spiritual pillar.
And so we recommend an increasein the spiritual life,
frequent receptionof the sacraments,
and spiritual direction.
(01:51):
And the third pillaris the relationships
and accountability.
And this is why we love CovenantEyes so much,
because it helps usrecover in community.
We can't do this alone.
Porn is an isolating habit,and the way
to get to break free ofthat is not sobriety though.
That's important.
(02:12):
It's actually connection.
That is what's going to make ushealthy. Well.
Fantastic.
And, thatseems like a good place
to plug your,three pillars to purity
course you got going on.
But we can talk a little bitabout that later.
I think what we want to ask is,when did you first become aware
of just how pervasivethis problem of
pornography is? And,how did you get into this work?
(02:35):
So grew up in New York City.
My parents were separatedwhen I was two years old.
I would see my dad once a yearfor 2 or 3 days.
And that was it.
So growing up, it's interesting.
I, I didn't really knowwhat it meant to be a man.
(02:57):
So I took my definitionof what it meant to be a man
from a couple places.
Movies, obviously.
Sports celebrities, rock stars,and most interestingly,
growing up in New York City,some of your listeners will know
this expression.
The wise guysin the neighborhood,
(03:19):
the tough guysin the neighborhood.
So what did it meanto me to be a man?
Well, it meant three things.
Number one,I could drink more beer
than the next guy.
Number two, I could fight betterthan the next guy.
And number three, I could bewith more women
than the next guy.
(03:41):
And so that's kind of,you know, my
high school, college, mymy formative years were
were based on that kindof understanding of masculinity,
what it meant to be a man.
And I was working inthis is where God's got
this incrediblesense of humor, guys,
(04:01):
I'm working in nightclubsin New York City,
and I'm working in this oneparticular nightclub.
And Friday nightsare not a great night for us,
and it should be a big night.
And I'm talking to the ownerone time and I said, hey, boss,
I've got an idea.
Why don't we do a male revueon Friday nights?
(04:26):
We let the women come infree from 8 to 10.
We do this male revue,these male dancers,
and then at 10 (04:33):
00, 1030, we let the men come in,
but we charge them double,and the men
are going to show up,because now you got a packed
club of womenwho are all fired up.
And he was like, Jimmy,you're a marketing genius.
That's a great idea.
Where am I goingto find these guys
(04:54):
who want to dance?
I volunteered, so I spent,from 18 years old
to 21 years oldworking Friday nights
as a male dancer andthought I had it made.
(05:16):
Right.
I mean, for my definitionof what it meant to be a man,
I was killing it.
I was getting freebooze at the club.
After I was done dancing,I was meeting
all kinds of women, particularlya lot of older women
who were kind of wild and,I'll leave that up
(05:37):
to your listeners.
We don't have toget too graphic, but
it was a crazy, wild,hedonistic experience.
And my 21st birthday present,guys, was, honey, I'm pregnant.
And I called my dad even thoughwe weren't close.
(06:02):
And he said to me how much?
That didn't sit right with me.
He goes, no, you know,she can get this taken care of.
Just tell me how much it is.
I'll send you the money.
I don't know why.
I mean, yes, I went to Catholicgrammar school,
Catholic high school,even Saint John's University,
(06:23):
Catholic College,where I lost my faith.
That's a wholeother show we can do.
But it didn't sit right with me,so I called up a close
family friend.
We call them uncle.
I called him up and.
And he said thesame thing to me.
And it just didn't sit right.
(06:46):
And thank God these arethe things I call
little miracles in our livesthat we don't know about
at the time.
I listen to thattiny little voice
where it just wasn't rightbecause my daughter Jessica is
37 years old now.
Kim and I will be marriedin September 38th years.
(07:09):
I have another son, Jimmy,who just graduated
with his master'sin public health.
I am so blessedbecause of this woman
that I married and choseto bring these two
beautiful lives into this world.
And what a gift.
But also, what a changehad to come over me
(07:33):
because I couldn'tbe that hedonistic male stripper
nightclub bouncer anymore.
Now I had thisbeautiful little girl, and the
first time I held her,I said, wow, this is.
And something's differentand something about me
(07:55):
has to change.
And so that was the beginning.
And of course, my wife said,you're not doing that anymore.
That's done.
You know, that was crazy enoughwhen we were just dating.
But now, so I got intomartial arts.
I've been teaching martial artsnow for over 30 years, and,
(08:18):
that is kind ofhow I filled that time.
I worked my way upthe corporate ladder.
I was very successfulin sales and marketing
and in threedifferent industries.
Consumer products,defense and homeland security.
And, I traveled a lot.
(08:39):
And one of the thingswhen I would travel is
I would go into the hotel roomand, you know,
this is dating myselfa little bit, but you go
into the hotel roomand you turn on the television,
and the first adsthat pop up are for pornography.
And I would click on themand those would just
be kind of runningin the background.
(09:00):
The whole timeI was in that hotel.
And I justified it by saying,I'm not cheating on my wife.
This is harmless.
Doesn't hurt anybody.
And how can it be wrong?
God made us sexual.
We're interested.
We're curiouswith that kind of stuff.
(09:25):
And so fast forward, I'm.
I'm working for a guyin the defense business
who I would alwayssay was a religious man.
That was kind ofhow I would describe
him, was a great guy, but it wasreally religious,
like a little too much.
And we're out celebrating,big contract with the Navy,
(09:48):
that that we had won.
And, you know, unfortunately,some of it's true, because of
their requirements,crazy requirements.
They put on stuff.
Those contracts get big quick.
And so this was avery profitable contract
for the company.
And, we were out celebrating,you know,$800 bottle of wine
(10:11):
sitting on the table.
We probably had some $80 cigars.
We were having a good time.
And he stops in the middle ofthe conversation.
He gets real seriouslook on his face.
He used to call me Jimmy.
I.
He says, Jimmy, the Lordwants me to tell you something.
(10:33):
And I'm sure, guys, I said,oh, come on, man,
don't give me this crap.
We're havinga good time, you know?
Let me eat my veal chop.
Leave me alone.
He wouldn't stop.
And he said to me three things.
He said, you're not agood husband, you're not
(10:53):
a good father,and you're certainly
not a good Catholic.
Now, tough kid that I was fromNew York City,
I got really defensive guys.
And and I started arguingback and forth with him.
And this was my boss.
(11:13):
But we're arguing backand forth at this table.
And finally I got up and left.
I went up to my hotel roomand thank God for the Gideons,
because for the first timesince high school,
I opened that drawer.
I pulled out that Bibleand I did that
whole stupid thing.
Okay, God,you want to talk to me?
(11:37):
I slammed my finger downand I started in Romans
and I started readingand feel Karen.
I still get emotional.
I still get goosebumps.
And I'm not embarrassed to sayI knelt at the side of the bed
in that hotel room, andI cried for two hours.
(11:59):
Something happened to me.
I had an experience, a HolySpirit experience.
And I came homeand I was on fire.
And I'm laying in bedwith my wife,
and she's from New YorkCity, too.
And we're laying there.
You know, I think it wasa Thursday night.
(12:20):
The ceiling fanis spinning around,
and we're just laying thereand I'm on fire. Right?
I got to get all this out, andI'm telling her everything's got
to change.
And we got to go to church.
And I got to go backto confession and blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And the kids have to get active,and we have to get
married in the church because wehad been married on the steps
of City Hall.
(12:40):
And I'm just rantingall this stuff,
and she's so funny.
She doesn't move.
She's looking up at the ceiling,the ceiling fan.
She gives me this side eyeand she says, are you on drugs?
Because who is this guy?
He left one way and he came homeanother way.
(13:02):
But that was our journeyback to the faith.
And we we did it together.
Kim had been baptizedas a Catholic, but then nothing.
So we went through theRussia program, the Rite
of Christian Initiationfor adults.
And we did that together.
And and the beautyof that, honestly, was
(13:24):
I learned my faiththen as an adult because I think
for so many of uscradle Catholics,
we memorize the prayers,we learn the stuff
we're supposed to learnas a child,
but we don't really knowthe depths or the richness
of the faith unless youlearn it as an adult.
(13:47):
And we don't know what it meansto truly have an
experience with Jesusor a relationship.
Unless we have an experiencelike I had with my boss
with Bernie,that was him being Jesus
at that moment,he didn't care the risk working
for a defense contractorproselytizing me, he could,
(14:11):
he was risking a lot.
And I rememberI asked him later why
and he said, Jimmy,your soul matters more.
If only caring for you.
If only we looked at the peoplein our lives like their soul
(14:32):
matters more.
What a world this would be.
So, ten years ago,I was on the board of this thing
called Integrity Restored,and they asked me to,
Come on and run it full time.
And so just think of that storyI just told you.
(14:53):
Here's a guywho was off the rails, right?
A sexual narcissist.
It was all about me.
What was for my enjoyment.
And now Jesus has put mein this place where I have
the blessingof running this ministry to help
people break freefrom that darkness.
(15:15):
I get it.
I know it's tough.
I know it's not easy,but I also know it's possible.
So what an incredible journeyfor me personally.
That is an amazingjourney. And just,
I'm so gratefulfor your vulnerability
in sharing your story,because I think it's
(15:36):
so important that peoplehear the back story,
like so many of usthat work in this space,
you know, we have a story.
And that'swhy we're so passionate.
And I love that, thatthat, leader that you had
took the time to confrontyou in your sin because he cared
about your soul.
And if we all every daylooked at the people
(15:57):
in our lives and caredmore about their soul
then, you know, yeah,with proper protocol or this
might not be good for businessor whatever.
Gosh, what a great worldwe'd be in, right?
Oh, maybe it wouldbe incredible.
And yeah, and honestly,that's how we're called
to love each other.
Yeah.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Well, if we truly didthat, we would say
(16:20):
to our brother, to our sister,hey, this is not cool.
I'm not saying itto embarrass you.
I'm not saying it to shame you.
I'm saying itbecause I love you.
Yeah, and your soulmatters more.
So good.
Oh, my goodness, there's so muchto unpack there.
And just, justI got to say, what a
(16:41):
what a testament to.
I mean, thank you so much, Jim,for sharing what a testament
to how marriage can change youto how parenthood
can change you, at leasteven initially, even if we
don't always do it.
Well, once we get started,how it can change you.
And you know what a giftI mean, that you,
(17:02):
And I often feel this way, too.
I reflect on this a lot,that getting to work in
this space is a way to kind ofmake some reparation to our Lord
for the timethat we spent using, you know,
and now we really get topay it forward.
What a gift.
What a gift.
Here's the amazing thing to me,Theo, that you know, to me,
our human brainscan't understand it.
(17:24):
It'd be easy for us to havevery little mercy for ourselves
when we look backat the lives we led.
And I don't carewhether you're addicted
to porn or alcohol or angeror doesn't matter.
Whatever we're carrying,we're all carrying it.
It'd be very easyto not have mercy,
(17:45):
but yet we ask God for mercyas we need it.
And so part of this work for me,is just the ability to be able
to tell people I understand.
I get it, and yeah, it sucks.
And it was painfuland it's embarrassing
and it was horrible.
But God is good to use itfor good.
(18:08):
I can say that to themwith 100% conviction
as he's done it for me.
Hey guys, before we wrap uppart one, I want to mention
a resourcethat can really help you
on your own journey.
Strive for Covenant Eyes.
I'll put the linkin the description,
so check it out.
And this conversationwith Jim is far from over.
(18:31):
We'll pick up rightwhere we left off in part two.
Coming up this Friday.
You're not going to wantto miss that.
So make sure you're subscribed,whether you're
watching on YouTube or listeningon your favorite podcast app,
so you'll get itas soon as it drops.
Take care and God bless.
Hey, welcome back to theCovenant Eyes podcast.
It's so good to have youjoining us.
I'm Karen, I've got Theojoining me again today.
How are you, Theo?
Aaron I'm doing great.
I'm very excitedfor this episode.
And as always, it's an honorto be hosting alongside you.
How are you today, Karen?
I'm doing awesome.
I'm excited about today's guest.
Actually, he was on,I think, our old pastors
(00:26):
roundtable many, many years ago,and it's been far too long.
So we're really excitedto have Jim joining us
for a conversation.
And let's go aheadand just get started.
Jim, welcometo the podcast, Karen.
Theo, what a blessingand an honor
to be with you guys.
Thank you so much.
Jim.
For our listenersthat are not familiar
with your work,would you mind sharing
(00:47):
just who you areand what you do? Sure.
So I am the executive directorof an organization
called Integrity Restored.
We are a Catholic ministrythat exists to provide
education, trainingand resources.
For those dealing with thestruggle of pornography.
(01:08):
And and we do thatand kind of what I think
is a very unique waywe base everything we do
on what we callthe three pillars.
And those three pillars arethe first is science.
So strong counseling,therapy, coaching, a scientific
understandingof what's happening to us
(01:28):
when we view pornographypsychologically, emotionally,
neuro, biologically,what's going on in our
brains, in our bodies.
The second pillaris the spiritual pillar.
And so we recommend an increasein the spiritual life,
frequent receptionof the sacraments,
and spiritual direction.
(01:51):
And the third pillaris the relationships
and accountability.
And this is why we love CovenantEyes so much,
because it helps usrecover in community.
We can't do this alone.
Porn is an isolating habit,and the way
to get to break free ofthat is not sobriety though.
That's important.
(02:12):
It's actually connection.
That is what's going to make ushealthy. Well.
Fantastic.
And, thatseems like a good place
to plug your,three pillars to purity
course you got going on.
But we can talk a little bitabout that later.
I think what we want to ask is,when did you first become aware
of just how pervasivethis problem of
pornography is? And,how did you get into this work?
(02:35):
So grew up in New York City.
My parents were separatedwhen I was two years old.
I would see my dad once a yearfor 2 or 3 days.
And that was it.
So growing up, it's interesting.
I, I didn't really knowwhat it meant to be a man.
(02:57):
So I took my definitionof what it meant to be a man
from a couple places.
Movies, obviously.
Sports celebrities, rock stars,and most interestingly,
growing up in New York City,some of your listeners will know
this expression.
The wise guysin the neighborhood,
(03:19):
the tough guysin the neighborhood.
So what did it meanto me to be a man?
Well, it meant three things.
Number one,I could drink more beer
than the next guy.
Number two, I could fight betterthan the next guy.
And number three, I could bewith more women
than the next guy.
(03:41):
And so that's kind of,you know, my
high school, college, mymy formative years were
were based on that kindof understanding of masculinity,
what it meant to be a man.
And I was working inthis is where God's got
this incrediblesense of humor, guys,
(04:01):
I'm working in nightclubsin New York City,
and I'm working in this oneparticular nightclub.
And Friday nightsare not a great night for us,
and it should be a big night.
And I'm talking to the ownerone time and I said, hey, boss,
I've got an idea.
Why don't we do a male revueon Friday nights?
(04:26):
We let the women come infree from 8 to 10.
We do this male revue,these male dancers,
and then at 10 (04:33):
00, 1030, we let the men come in,
but we charge them double,and the men
are going to show up,because now you got a packed
club of womenwho are all fired up.
And he was like, Jimmy,you're a marketing genius.
That's a great idea.
Where am I goingto find these guys
(04:54):
who want to dance?
I volunteered, so I spent,from 18 years old
to 21 years oldworking Friday nights
as a male dancer andthought I had it made.
(05:16):
Right.
I mean, for my definitionof what it meant to be a man,
I was killing it.
I was getting freebooze at the club.
After I was done dancing,I was meeting
all kinds of women, particularlya lot of older women
who were kind of wild and,I'll leave that up
(05:37):
to your listeners.
We don't have toget too graphic, but
it was a crazy, wild,hedonistic experience.
And my 21st birthday present,guys, was, honey, I'm pregnant.
And I called my dad even thoughwe weren't close.
(06:02):
And he said to me how much?
That didn't sit right with me.
He goes, no, you know,she can get this taken care of.
Just tell me how much it is.
I'll send you the money.
I don't know why.
I mean, yes, I went to Catholicgrammar school,
Catholic high school,even Saint John's University,
(06:23):
Catholic College,where I lost my faith.
That's a wholeother show we can do.
But it didn't sit right with me,so I called up a close
family friend.
We call them uncle.
I called him up and.
And he said thesame thing to me.
And it just didn't sit right.
(06:46):
And thank God these arethe things I call
little miracles in our livesthat we don't know about
at the time.
I listen to thattiny little voice
where it just wasn't rightbecause my daughter Jessica is
37 years old now.
Kim and I will be marriedin September 38th years.
(07:09):
I have another son, Jimmy,who just graduated
with his master'sin public health.
I am so blessedbecause of this woman
that I married and choseto bring these two
beautiful lives into this world.
And what a gift.
But also, what a changehad to come over me
(07:33):
because I couldn'tbe that hedonistic male stripper
nightclub bouncer anymore.
Now I had thisbeautiful little girl, and the
first time I held her,I said, wow, this is.
And something's differentand something about me
(07:55):
has to change.
And so that was the beginning.
And of course, my wife said,you're not doing that anymore.
That's done.
You know, that was crazy enoughwhen we were just dating.
But now, so I got intomartial arts.
I've been teaching martial artsnow for over 30 years, and,
(08:18):
that is kind ofhow I filled that time.
I worked my way upthe corporate ladder.
I was very successfulin sales and marketing
and in threedifferent industries.
Consumer products,defense and homeland security.
And, I traveled a lot.
(08:39):
And one of the thingswhen I would travel is
I would go into the hotel roomand, you know,
this is dating myselfa little bit, but you go
into the hotel roomand you turn on the television,
and the first adsthat pop up are for pornography.
And I would click on themand those would just
be kind of runningin the background.
(09:00):
The whole timeI was in that hotel.
And I justified it by saying,I'm not cheating on my wife.
This is harmless.
Doesn't hurt anybody.
And how can it be wrong?
God made us sexual.
We're interested.
We're curiouswith that kind of stuff.
(09:25):
And so fast forward, I'm.
I'm working for a guyin the defense business
who I would alwayssay was a religious man.
That was kind ofhow I would describe
him, was a great guy, but it wasreally religious,
like a little too much.
And we're out celebrating,big contract with the Navy,
(09:48):
that that we had won.
And, you know, unfortunately,some of it's true, because of
their requirements,crazy requirements.
They put on stuff.
Those contracts get big quick.
And so this was avery profitable contract
for the company.
And, we were out celebrating,you know,$800 bottle of wine
(10:11):
sitting on the table.
We probably had some $80 cigars.
We were having a good time.
And he stops in the middle ofthe conversation.
He gets real seriouslook on his face.
He used to call me Jimmy.
I.
He says, Jimmy, the Lordwants me to tell you something.
(10:33):
And I'm sure, guys, I said,oh, come on, man,
don't give me this crap.
We're havinga good time, you know?
Let me eat my veal chop.
Leave me alone.
He wouldn't stop.
And he said to me three things.
He said, you're not agood husband, you're not
(10:53):
a good father,and you're certainly
not a good Catholic.
Now, tough kid that I was fromNew York City,
I got really defensive guys.
And and I started arguingback and forth with him.
And this was my boss.
(11:13):
But we're arguing backand forth at this table.
And finally I got up and left.
I went up to my hotel roomand thank God for the Gideons,
because for the first timesince high school,
I opened that drawer.
I pulled out that Bibleand I did that
whole stupid thing.
Okay, God,you want to talk to me?
(11:37):
I slammed my finger downand I started in Romans
and I started readingand feel Karen.
I still get emotional.
I still get goosebumps.
And I'm not embarrassed to sayI knelt at the side of the bed
in that hotel room, andI cried for two hours.
(11:59):
Something happened to me.
I had an experience, a HolySpirit experience.
And I came homeand I was on fire.
And I'm laying in bedwith my wife,
and she's from New YorkCity, too.
And we're laying there.
You know, I think it wasa Thursday night.
(12:20):
The ceiling fanis spinning around,
and we're just laying thereand I'm on fire. Right?
I got to get all this out, andI'm telling her everything's got
to change.
And we got to go to church.
And I got to go backto confession and blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And the kids have to get active,and we have to get
married in the church because wehad been married on the steps
of City Hall.
(12:40):
And I'm just rantingall this stuff,
and she's so funny.
She doesn't move.
She's looking up at the ceiling,the ceiling fan.
She gives me this side eyeand she says, are you on drugs?
Because who is this guy?
He left one way and he came homeanother way.
(13:02):
But that was our journeyback to the faith.
And we we did it together.
Kim had been baptizedas a Catholic, but then nothing.
So we went through theRussia program, the Rite
of Christian Initiationfor adults.
And we did that together.
And and the beautyof that, honestly, was
(13:24):
I learned my faiththen as an adult because I think
for so many of uscradle Catholics,
we memorize the prayers,we learn the stuff
we're supposed to learnas a child,
but we don't really knowthe depths or the richness
of the faith unless youlearn it as an adult.
(13:47):
And we don't know what it meansto truly have an
experience with Jesusor a relationship.
Unless we have an experiencelike I had with my boss
with Bernie,that was him being Jesus
at that moment,he didn't care the risk working
for a defense contractorproselytizing me, he could,
(14:11):
he was risking a lot.
And I rememberI asked him later why
and he said, Jimmy,your soul matters more.
If only caring for you.
If only we looked at the peoplein our lives like their soul
(14:32):
matters more.
What a world this would be.
So, ten years ago,I was on the board of this thing
called Integrity Restored,and they asked me to,
Come on and run it full time.
And so just think of that storyI just told you.
(14:53):
Here's a guywho was off the rails, right?
A sexual narcissist.
It was all about me.
What was for my enjoyment.
And now Jesus has put mein this place where I have
the blessingof running this ministry to help
people break freefrom that darkness.
(15:15):
I get it.
I know it's tough.
I know it's not easy,but I also know it's possible.
So what an incredible journeyfor me personally.
That is an amazingjourney. And just,
I'm so gratefulfor your vulnerability
in sharing your story,because I think it's
(15:36):
so important that peoplehear the back story,
like so many of usthat work in this space,
you know, we have a story.
And that'swhy we're so passionate.
And I love that, thatthat, leader that you had
took the time to confrontyou in your sin because he cared
about your soul.
And if we all every daylooked at the people
(15:57):
in our lives and caredmore about their soul
then, you know, yeah,with proper protocol or this
might not be good for businessor whatever.
Gosh, what a great worldwe'd be in, right?
Oh, maybe it wouldbe incredible.
And yeah, and honestly,that's how we're called
to love each other.
Yeah.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Well, if we truly didthat, we would say
(16:20):
to our brother, to our sister,hey, this is not cool.
I'm not saying itto embarrass you.
I'm not saying it to shame you.
I'm saying itbecause I love you.
Yeah, and your soulmatters more.
So good.
Oh, my goodness, there's so muchto unpack there.
And just, justI got to say, what a
(16:41):
what a testament to.
I mean, thank you so much, Jim,for sharing what a testament
to how marriage can change youto how parenthood
can change you, at leasteven initially, even if we
don't always do it.
Well, once we get started,how it can change you.
And you know what a giftI mean, that you,
(17:02):
And I often feel this way, too.
I reflect on this a lot,that getting to work in
this space is a way to kind ofmake some reparation to our Lord
for the timethat we spent using, you know,
and now we really get topay it forward.
What a gift.
What a gift.
Here's the amazing thing to me,Theo, that you know, to me,
our human brainscan't understand it.
(17:24):
It'd be easy for us to havevery little mercy for ourselves
when we look backat the lives we led.
And I don't carewhether you're addicted
to porn or alcohol or angeror doesn't matter.
Whatever we're carrying,we're all carrying it.
It'd be very easyto not have mercy,
(17:45):
but yet we ask God for mercyas we need it.
And so part of this work for me,is just the ability to be able
to tell people I understand.
I get it, and yeah, it sucks.
And it was painfuland it's embarrassing
and it was horrible.
But God is good to use itfor good.
(18:08):
I can say that to themwith 100% conviction
as he's done it for me.
Hey guys, before we wrap uppart one, I want to mention
a resourcethat can really help you
on your own journey.
Strive for Covenant Eyes.
I'll put the linkin the description,
so check it out.
And this conversationwith Jim is far from over.
(18:31):
We'll pick up rightwhere we left off in part two.
Coming up this Friday.
You're not going to wantto miss that.
So make sure you're subscribed,whether you're
watching on YouTube or listeningon your favorite podcast app,
so you'll get itas soon as it drops.
Take care and God bless.
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