Being Open About My Struggle Helped Me Quit Porn for Good

I started using pornography when I was 15 years old.

Because of pornography, I had a lot of problems, but the biggest problem for me was the fact I couldn’t talk and pray to God honestly. Every time I prayed, I felt so ashamed. This problem also kept me from talking honestly with my parents, siblings, and friends in the church. Over time, I started to feel alone, that I’m different from other youth in our church, and that I don’t want to be in the church anymore.

However, through listening to High Noon’s presentations, I learned that purity is not something that you lose but it’s something I can nourish. From then on, I determined to start by being honest with my parents. Through conversations with my parents, I could feel God’s love and the fact that God wants to help me, but I wasn’t opening my heart to Him. After that, the first change that I felt was that I could pray to God honestly and the relationship with my parents and siblings became closer.

Through this experience, I learned that purity is the root of the relationship with God and other people. Also, I learned that purity doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t know about sexual problems. It means I have to be able to open myself up to God even if I make mistakes. And finally, I learned that no matter what mistakes we make, God is always waiting for us and he will always love us. We don’t have to feel afraid to open our hearts to God.

I was able to quit pornography over one year ago, but am still working on my sexual integrity every day.

	Richard & Mari Curry have been Blessed in married since December 2005 and have four children. They love working together as a team and are passionate about caring for others, especially in the realm of marriage development. After Mari received her Masters of Divinity from Cheongshim Theological Seminary, she and Richard served as co-pastors in Florida. Since then, they moved to New Jersey and over the years have happily served in a variety of ministry roles from music to education. All the while, working together to serve the Blessed Marriage Project and now High Noon Couples. They were a part of the founding team in 2013 and have been a part of it ever since. They currently serve as the directors of Highnoon Couples. They love the Energize! Retreats because they help realize True Parent’s desire for healthy couples and reminds us of Heavenly Parent’s love and hope for us all! Contact Mari at: mari@edu.highnoon.org
	Crescentia & Leighton DeGoede have been Blessed in married since October 2010, and have three children. Crescentia is currently serving as the District Pastor of district 3 and local pastor of the Clifton Family Church. Previously Crescentia was the Director of the National Blessing and Family Ministry of FFWPU for six years. Both Leighton and Crescentia currently serve as Matching Supporters. Prioritizing their marriage, while juggling children, work, and community service has been an exciting challenge. But they continue to find that the more they invest in their marriage, the more they have to give in all areas of their lives. They love giving other couples the opportunity to infuse their marriages with love deposits through marriage enrichment programs.
	Christoph & Lena Yasutake have been Blessed in marriage since April 2002 and have three teenagers. They are both equally passionate about marriage education and helping blessed couples create happy and healthy families. The Energize! Retreats are one of their favorite ways to share this passion. They served in the Young Couples ministry for six years and are frequent guest speakers at Blessing Workshops.
	Kate Pugnoli has served as the Community Liaison and is also responsible for generating our monthly newsletter. A former journalist, she has a Masters of Religious Education from the Unification Theological Seminary where she took focused her studies on counseling courses. She has also had experience facilitating small groups. The mother of two sons, now Blessed in marriage, she lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband Simon Herbert. She is committed to working with the Blessed Marriage Project in hopes that marriage enrichment will be available to communities across the country and particularly to bring the Energize! Couples Retreat to as many couples as possible.

Being Open About My Struggle Helped Me Quit Porn for Good

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