TRANSPARENCY

Confession is more than admitting ones sins.

It’s about allowing others into your struggle in order to heal.

After my husband felt the freedom that came with complete confession, he could see that letting the light into this once dark area of his life, was one of the ways he was going to remain free from addiction.

He confessed (or was transparent) to not only to God, but to me, our counselor, ALL our family, ALL our friends and to our WHOLE church. The "hook" the devil had in him was almost immediately dissolved with such a dramatic confession!

Letting the light into every dark corner felt so good!

Ben felt free, and I began to feel safe and full of hope.

This sent us into a season of what we call, "ruthless truth telling". We couldn't help but be completely real and open about everything. I started to realize I had been telling small half truths (which are lies, by the way). For example when Ben would ask how much I spent at the grocery store I would say $28, when it was really $30. Why was I spinning the truth? Why can't I tell him I spent $30? We had a bad habit of trying to control how each other would react. We had to let go of control and work on our heart motives.

After months of self discipline, stoping to correct ourselves (sometimes mid-sentence) became normal. We didn't want to let ANY lie (or secret) take root again!

Transparency is letting the light in and releasing control of the outcome. Transparency is beautiful, loving, and vulnerable.

Ben’s commitment to total transparency is one of the reasons we have overcome challenges and built the life we have today. We are able to trust, communicate, cry and express ourselves to each other with freedom. It has been almost 10 years since Ben’s confession. I can tell you all the work and pain has been worth it!

We share our vulnerable, fragile hearts with each other. & I feel closer to Ben than ever.

God has redeemed the intimacy that was stollen by the hidden sin that was separating us.