Jenna stared at her phone screen for a long time before pressing the send button. Her heart pounded. She had never been this honest with anyone, especially not a pastor. But she felt like she was drowning, and someone needed to know.
She had written:
"Hi Pastor, I don’t even know how to begin this. I’m not even sure what I expect from writing it. But I feel like I’m in spiritual trouble. I’ve compromised in my relationship with my boyfriend, and I don’t know how to stop. I know it’s wrong. I know what the Bible says. I even believe it. But I feel numb now—like I’ve crossed some invisible line and I can’t come back. I still go to church and serve, but shame has me hiding. I keep wondering if I’m really even saved. I need help. I need prayer. I just don’t know what to do anymore."
She sat in silence after sending it. For the first time in a long time, she cried.
To her surprise, the reply came that same day. It didn’t bring condemnation. It didn’t shame her. It didn’t offer ten steps to fix her life. It simply started with: “Jenna, I’m proud of you. Being this honest is the first step toward healing.”
She re-read that line over and over. It felt like a tiny sliver of light cracking through a heavy door. The message continued with grace, truth, and a challenge: “Sin always tries to pull us away from God by making us believe the lie that we’re too far gone. But you’re not. You can’t fix this all at once—but you don’t have to. God leads us out of sin one step at a time. And He’ll give you grace for each of those steps.”
Jenna didn’t know why that resonated so deeply, but it did. The thought of fixing everything had overwhelmed her—how to break up with her boyfriend, how to tell her family, how to find peace with God again. She had been trying to answer all those questions at once, and it had left her paralyzed.
“Don’t try to figure out all the ‘hows’ at once,” the pastor had written. “Just take the next right step, and God will meet you there.”
So that’s what she did.
That weekend, Jenna reached out to a woman at her church whom she respected—a leader who had once shared her testimony about leaving a toxic relationship. Jenna sat across from her at a quiet café, fidgeting with her tea, barely able to get the words out. But when she did, tears came again—tears of shame, fear, and a flicker of hope.
The woman didn’t scold her. She didn’t offer clichés. She listened, hugged her, and then gently said, “You are not alone. You’re not the first woman to be here, and you won’t be the last. But God is calling you back.”
One conversation led to another. And slowly, Jenna began taking those steps.
She opened her Bible again—not out of obligation, but longing. She started praying again—not with fancy words, but with raw honesty. She made the difficult decision to end her relationship. Her boyfriend didn’t understand, and it broke her heart. But she knew it was the right step. And in that obedience, she felt a sense of peace for the first time in months.
Jenna didn’t become perfect overnight. There were tears, doubts, and days she still wrestled with guilt. But now she had something she hadn’t felt in a long time—hope, not in her ability to fix everything, but in God's ability to carry her through.
And she kept hearing those words from the letter that started it all: “Just take the next right step, and God will meet you there.”
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:18
