Forgive me for being late in getting this issue out! I wanted to make sure this issue had the focus and polish it needed to shine. It wasn’t quite there by Friday morning last week.

If you usually enjoy these as a bright spot on your Friday mornings or over the weekend, hopefully this can now brighten up your start to the week instead!

All the love and appreciation,
Addison.

John messaged me late one night.
Said he’d been walking in freedom for years.
No more porn. No more secrecy. No more pretending.

But lately—when things slowed down, when he had time off work, when the house was too quiet—old thoughts started coming back.

They rarely lead straight into porn though.
Typically just the kind of shows that made him feel something.
He hoped they’d help quiet the longing for intimacy,
maybe even the ache for a marriage partner.

They didn’t.

A few nights of that, and John would find himself back on the types of websites no one has any business visiting.

“I don’t get it,” he wrote.
“I know better. I love God. I know He loves me.”
“Every time that feeling hits… why can’t it just stop?”

I told him I understood. Because I did.

We like to think we’ve graduated from dealing with these types of temptations once the behavior stops.
But the truth is, the chemicals behind the feelings don’t just disappear.
Your body still reacts.
Your mind still receives the signal.
And you’re left with what feels like a binary choice:
fight it or give in.

John was tired of fighting it.
Tired of apologizing.
Tired of losing the same battle over and over.

As I sat there thinking of my response,
I actually felt the same longing rise up in me —
the same ache he was trying so hard to silence.

I didn’t fight it.
And I wasn’t about to tell him to either.

That never works…

Endless Thirst