Welcome to Venus Magazine!

Publisher’s Note: My only fear I want you to know that I got your message and God hears your heart's cry. I understand exactly what you are feeling. The first thing I want to do is assure you that you can be free and NOT fall! The devil is lying to you, and using the SAME lie he trapped me with for years. Not this time! Not another young life! When you come out of this and discover how wrong these lies are, you will be amazed, strengthened and ready to run on and help somebody else.

Fear of temptation and falling is the grand lie that Satan has sold to us ‘churched’ children who know that truth. He knows that we won't 'play' church so he suggests that we can't make it for long giving our ALL to God so why even try. The devil is a liar! I have been saved for two years and have had NO desire to turn back or go whoring with men. I had the SAME fears you spoke of BEFORE I got saved. Don't get me wrong, once you get saved, your testimony MUST by tried or tested. God wants to know if you are TRUE to Him.

When you say YES to God with your whole heart, you are enlisting in His army and spiritual warfare begins immediately. Your weapon is the Word of God IN you which will STAND against whatever, whoever, and whenever temptation comes. We must also build a consistent PRAYER LIFE. This is especially important for those coming out of sexual sin. Satan cannot turn your head or thoughts to the left or right when you pray like your life depends on it. It may feel like a chore at first, to pray often and long but this builds a strong and disciplined prayer life. I look forward to my time alone with God. We talk and commune. I seek Him, cry, lay before Him for at least 30 minute or more EVERYDAY. There is a DEEPNESS about praying now that was not manifest at THIS level even 6 months ago. For this reason, the devil tried but didn't stand a chance when some woman decided to ‘try’ me. I was too sensitive to the fact that God was allowing me to be tested. I understood exactly what was happening IN THE SPIRIT and WANTED to pass my test. I knew that by passing my test, God would allow my testimony to be STRENGTHENED that it might help someone else, like YOU, who needs to KNOW that you CAN stand and NOT fall when coming out of homosexuality. If you fall, He is faithful and just to forgive you but the Word says that He is able to KEEP us from falling!

The Holy Ghost kept me and preserved me. Everything the devil threw at me was countered by thoughts like 'What does the Word say' or 'IT IS WRITTEN...' This is the SAME way Jesus stood under the temptation that He went through after he fasted for 40 days. God has ALREADY provided a way out for those moments, if you would pray, fast, and study the Word. If you do not know much Word yet, then seek the counsel of someone you trust WHO DOES. It takes more than walking down to the altar, joining the church or singing in the choir. We have to WORK out our own soul's salvation [pray/fast/study] if we expect to stand and stand we MUST in order to make it into the kingdom of God!

Strength, joy, new and exciting -holy- adventures are YOURS in Christ. Who would have ever thought that just by telling the truth,and lifting up Jesus, I would have been invited to share this simple message around the world and across the U.S.? Unsolicited, God opens doors for those whose hearts are loyal to Him. God is drawing you and your partner unto Himself right now. Is there any reason why you will not give your WHOLE heart and soul to Jesus Christ right now?

Restore and create the woman he intended me to be I personally find God continually reveals His amazing work each day I continue my walk with Him. I myself have been given a rebirth in the life of Christ and the truth on my life as it was and what it is meant to be. Blessings to Charlene and I commend her on the impact and the magnitude that it will open a hurting and lost (for a lack of better words). Lost reminds me of the clueless but there is an abundance of those searching for God and acceptance without a clue of how to find it. I left a 13 year relationship of what I believed was true love for the search the true God our Father. I attended church of every religion even with my partner none to which fed my spirit. (We even said we where sisters just to not be shunned by religion.) The ache and hunger I have for Christ has led me to freedom inside and outside. Now I attend a Pure Love Ministry that has opened me to allow God to restore and create the woman he intended me to be. By the way I am not big on race or nationality. I am the whitest thing in my church of which is made up of every color, creed, and backgrounds known just about.

But through the Holy Spirit that is where we all become one. I will close by asking a blessing upon this magazine and each and every person to whom their hearts are affected, impacted, or shaken by the true gift Charlene has to offer.

The church is rising up and He is bringing up His Kingdom so each and every heart (shattered, broken, wandering, or lost) will have a chance to hear His voice calling forth. To know that wherever we are and whatever the circumstance there is a loving God before you offering His truth and love. He is a healer, counselor, teacher, and Great Redeemer. Praise Him.

It took several years to break down the walls of pain, frustration, selfishness, free will, addictions (drugs),denial, wavering, and co-dependency before really receiving the Freedom in love, glory, and mercy.

I find myself visiting your website as often as I feel impressed to do so and continue to pray for you and those that have recently made the decision to come to Christ. The testimonies and encouragements bless me to see that there are many who have made the decision to follow Christ and leave the homosexual lifestyle. I appreciate the words of encouragement and re-direction you offer your readers. I respect and rejoice that your foundation is God’s word.

However, the testimonies I have read seem to illustrate getting from homosexuality to Christianity but do not mention the “in-between”, the mental and emotional struggles. Though I turned my life over to Christ 18 years ago, it took a couple of years for me to “let go” of the mentality I had adhered to. God had delivered me from the lust of wanting to be with women the instant I gave my heart to him, however my healing was a process. Though I wanted to go after my newfound freedom, I struggled with the emotions and the mentality that were attached to the old lifestyle. In other words, God had taken me out of Egypt, but He had yet to get Egypt out of me. “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” Our struggles are a part of the process and I believe that is the part that is usually omitted from our testimonies.

Throughout the years I have heard many a testimony of “arriving”, but seldom do people share the process. Now, I know that there are many who experience a “Damascus” experience, who never look back once they have been delivered. However, there are those that are like the people of Egypt who take the “long road home” and sometimes look back several times before they are completely healed from the Egypt they left behind. Many turn back to that Egypt because they feel disillusioned. I believe mainly because they are not forewarned that their new freedom is a process of knowledge and acceptance. As has been the case of many of my lesbian friends who have made the decision to accept Christ, but have returned to the lifestyle they felt most comfortable with. Once the challenge of renewing their minds came up and they were challenged with familiar thoughts and emotions, they found it easier to return to what they believed to be their origin. Though God delivers us there are actions we must take - we “must work out our own salvation”. We must cast down thoughts that exalt themselves against the word of God.” Deliverance and healing work hand in hand yet are very distinctive. In receiving my healing I had to be willing to allow God to help me confront the sin where it originated. In doing so, I had to ask God to reveal my heart and be willing to be brutally honest with God and myself. I would come to understand that my sexual preference was the affect not the cause. I had exchanged God’s truth for what I thought to be wise (cause) – He then gave me over to my lusts, henceforth lesbianism (affect). Conversion is more than just “praying about it”, there has to be a balance. There has to be submission, confrontation, acceptance, repentance, wisdom, knowledge, understanding and prayer – not to mention acknowledgment and awareness of process. Though our spirit is reborn, there is still the contention of our soul (will and emotions). Many exchange one extreme for another, as sinners we attend to our soul and leave our spirits unattended. As Christians we can sometimes attend to our spirits and leave our souls unattended. “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thessolonians 5:23). God is a God of balance and we need to make sure that every part of us is attended to.

I guess I write because I am burdened for those who struggle with their newfound freedom - those that are challenged in their suffering in allowing God to bring healing to their brokenness. I would like to encourage them and assure them that the process is very much worth it. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” I pray for those suffering through their struggles will persevere as their character is built and their hope is being extended (building is a process and hope is the extension of that process) – may they come to the acceptance that this journey is to be taken one day at a time, one step at a time. May they not loose hope, but persevere into their destiny.
-Liz