My walk with God before DTS was very much based on religion and shame.
I was raised Catholic, so I was very familiar with God, it was just my understanding that I was always in the wrong with Him and there had to be things I did constantly to try to earn a few minutes on His good side.
I struggled a lot with addictions, but I think my biggest struggle was that of shame. It came up a lot too in my DTS. It almost felt like shame was going to be a main part in my walk with God, but that’s not what He had for me. How I overcame these things was really through a change in my perspective, which came from a change in what I believed to be true. I believed certain things about God’s character and about my identity that shaped how I saw my battle with shame and with addictions. Once my truth was redefined, it changed everything and I made active decisions based out of that.
I struggled a lot with addictions, but I think my biggest struggle was that of shame.
Something that I think was monumental for me in my relationship with God was understanding. I believe that for the first time I saw God for who He really was. I stopped projecting my own frustrations onto Him, and allowed Him to tell me who He is.
Now, I would say that I am different in almost every way. I think differently, I make decisions differently, I relate to those around me differently, and my dreams are different. There was nothing in DTS that didn’t affect almost every single part of my life.
– Jose, September 2015 DTS