Ep 24: John and Amy: Searching for the Real Heart of Christ

John and Amy sit down with Steve and CT to talk about their personal stories. John talks about how his home was very ritualistic and rigid in terms of religious views. Amy talks about her home being one of acceptance and being able to talk with her parents openly. They talk about how they met and how they have been able to work through recovery and how it brought them together through Christ. They are an amazing couple. 

John grew up in a very strict religiosity-filled home.  His parents were very rigid, or “religid” as we call it. When John had any questions that could have been considered controversial he was scolded and shamed. Because he was afraid his parents would shame him, he never told anyone about his addiction to pornography. Once, his mom walked in on him at the age of 14 looking at porn on the internet and she made him go to his local church leader. That was not necessarily a bad thing, but unfortunately, there was just more shame shoveled onto him and he never talked about it again. Then Amy came into the picture at the height of his addiction. 

Amy grew up in an LDS home as well, but it was much less rigid. Validation and acceptance were based on performance and behaviors in her family. She was able to talk to her parents about worries and frustrations and felt she had a pretty open and healthy relationship with her parents. She just put a lot of pressure on herself to be perfect. On the outside she was. 

When John and Amy met, they were going to the same church. They dated for a short time before they were married because they both knew their marriage was God approved. Their marriage was amazing at first, but the stress of marriage, school and having kids felt pretty daunting to John and a short time after they were married he started acting out. He masked it through mental illness.

After Amy found out that his mental illness (depression) was caused by his addiction to pornography she started researching how to help him and herself. They never separated but John struggled for a few years. He disclosed something he had done that was illegal to his therapist and his therapist had to force John to turn himself in to the police. Amy was not happy about this. She thought they were making progress so this was devastating to her. To learn more about this please listen to the podcast. 

Through all of the heartache, John and Amy have found love from their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They have been able to talk more openly with each other. They both agreed that the recovery path is worth every drop of sweat and all the tears. They have been able to find peace in their hearts and have started working together to spread the word of redemption through platforms like unashamedunafraid.com.

We at Unashamed appreciate John and Amy for allowing us to share their story. If this has affected you or, if you know others who might be struggling, please consider sharing this with them. We are here, Unashamed and Unafraid to share stories about addiction recovery and redemption through Jesus Christ.