August 2006 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

the country, enjoying the beauty of God’s creations.
I felt this would help fortify him against
temptation if it came again and would help
refocus our lives on the good and the beautiful.
Suffering a Relapse
Then the company my husband worked for
began struggling and edged toward bankruptcy.
Many lost their jobs, including my husband.
This was emotionally devastating for him,
yet we were confident that with his background
and skills, he would soon find another job.
We were wrong. Months went by with no
job. It became harder for him to ward off discouragement.
My husband was very vulnerable.
I knew this but didn’t know what more to
do. We had resumed Internet service but with
filtering. He was home while I worked, spending
a lot of time on the Internet searching for
jobs. One day he disabled the filter—never
assume that a computer-literate person cannot
bypass any filtering! I discovered the relapse
quickly. At first I felt frightened. Would we have
to start all over again? Then I realized my husband
had made it easy for me to discover what
he had done. He really wanted to overcome
this! Again we cried and prayed together, and
we drew even closer to one another.
As I prayed, the familiar calming assurance
came. I felt we would overcome this
problem. We realized this addiction was
stronger than we had thought. My husband
agreed to use the Internet only when we
were both
home. Only I
would have the
password until
he felt stronger.
One great blessing that came to him at this
time was that he found a temporary job that
led to the good job he has now. My husband
felt grateful for this blessing, which he saw as
evidence of Heavenly Father’s tender mercies
in his life.
When my husband had stayed away from
pornography long enough, according to the
time frame set by our bishop, his temple recommend
was renewed. While he had certainly
tasted the bitterness of sin, the joy he felt in his
repentance was as exquisite as Alma expresses
(see Alma 36:21). I still remember the bounce
in his step as he came out of the bishop’s
office. A heavy burden had been lifted.
Gratitude for Blessings
As I write this years later, my
heart still overflows with gratitude
for the many blessings that came
out of this experience. My husband’s
love for Heavenly Father and
the Savior has grown immeasurably,
as has his faith. He has
more humility. We both have
a deeper appreciation for
the Savior’s Atonement.
With Heavenly Father and
the Savior to lean on, we
overcame a real and
powerful Goliath. We
face the future hand
in hand, knowing that
with trust in the
Lord, we can
overcome all
things. ■
Like David
of old, my
husband and
I had overcome a
real and powerful
Goliath. We continue
to lean on Heavenly
Father and the
Savior for strength.
ENSIGN AUGUST 2006 23