How You Can Overcome Hardships
A lot of people reading your story might have gone through this and feel very connected to the story. What advice would you offer to help others who experienced an affair or other hardships?
Jason: I would say there are some really great verses in the Bible that say, “God gives you beauty for ashes” and “He makes all things new” and He’ll change your path and your future into something that’s beautiful. Learn how to not let your emotions be your guide. Your emotions are really important tools in your life. They let you know what you need but they don’t necessarily tell you how to get there nor are they always the right motivation. So, being in pain, your pain says something right away. Pain says: “Do something, do anything to get out of this right now,” which, oftentimes leads us to medicate, whether that’s pornography or a rebound. We all hear about the rebound, which is pain. Pain is saying, “Go find somebody else, go do something to not feel this way”. But really, the best thing to do is to be okay feeling that way and to let God work through it with you.
I would say you need vision. You need to go, “In two years, what do I want my life to be?” “In one year, what do I want my life to be?” “When I tell my great-grandkids about this part of my life, what do I want my story to be with them?” You have to wake up every day like that and remind yourself because there is so much pain. A lot of people feel hopeless and they don’t know how to get out of it, so they’re dealing with depression and hopelessness. And I would say to them, “There is a way out. What I went through was really, really hard but I no longer live in that world.”
