RW JULY 2023 BLOG

It wasn’t until I was introduced to Restoring Wholeness ministries back in 2010 that I came to understand much of my life I had been living in fear, fear of rejection, fear of failure, and fear of abandonment just to name a few. My only coping mechanisms for dealing with these cruel feelings were ones I was deeply ashamed of, keeping in great secret. Growing up in a home with pretty much no reverence for God and all reverence for good morals had a great influence in my life. Talk of God in our home often turned into us making fun of our religious relatives, therefore I grew up agnostic and believed there was a God but that he was far from our midst.

I went to college at the University of Arizona and got invited to a Chi Alpha Christian fellowship where I met my campus pastor Brett Martin and soon began attending regular bible studies. Soon after, I decided to give my life to Christ and became Christian. I was quickly introduced to another ministry called Restoring Wholeness and it’s founder, pastor Wynn Cameron Thompson, where in my involvement with this ministry I was set free from much sexual addiction and started replacing the lies of our society and culture with God’s truth. Restoring Wholeness equipped me with the tools I needed to replace my false identity with my true identity in Christ as well as lead others out of shame and confusion into a deeper intimacy with Christ. As a result I found myself in a much deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus. For the first time in my life I trusted the Lord and allowed him to shine his light into those dark places I kept in secret. The result left me feeling exposed and vulnerable to the Lord’s will. At first it was an uncomfortable feeling, foreign to me and I had to learn to trust God as well as the leaders appointed over me with secrets I have never told anyone before.

Restoring Wholeness provided for me a guarded environment to become vulnerable with other trusted Christians and as a result I realized that I could trust God with all my deepest secrets and shortfalls. Being vulnerable and exposing myself before others was probably one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done but the result was a deeper understanding of God’s love and grace for us which allowed me to break away from an addiction to pornography and replace it with a healthy addiction to seeking and implementing the Lord’s word and truth. If you are struggling with addiction or shame and guilt and feel disconnected with the Lord I would encourage you to seek support from Restoring Wholeness. I did and it revolutionized my life with Christ. God bless!

Michael Padrick