Meet Our New Blog Writer!
Hello Victors!
If you’re reading this, that is indeed what you are because here at The Victory Collective, we believe that we are more than conquerors in Christ (Romans 8:37).
My name is Mercy, and I’m pleased to be the new blog writer for The Victory Collective. I’ll be sharing a new blog post every Monday, so be sure to subscribe to the blog and start your week off right by coming to peek at the new content. As the newest member of this team, I’d love to share some of my story with you, and maybe you’ll see we have some things in common. I do hope so!
First thing’s first, and probably most important, here is my testimony:
I accepted Jesus into my heart when I was 9 years old. I grew up in church and my parents were very active with the youth for many years. I always knew the truth of scripture, and grew up reciting verses like Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. I knew the church things and how to walk the walk and talk the talk. But I had not yet made that personal confession from myself to the Lord, admitting I was a sinner and needed Him to save me. I was part of our Wednesday night Bible club, and we had work pages to do every day. One of the questions asked about my salvation. I had to circle if I knew I was saved or not. I want to pause and remind you that I grew up in this church, my parents were heavily involved in ministry, and I was scared that if I was honest about this people would be upset that I wasn’t saved. So, I lied. I circled yes, when I knew in my heart I needed to say no. God then gripped my heart when my mom saw my answer and began to question me about it. We discussed why I did what I did, and she explained there’s a way to answer this truthfully if I was ready. She was the one to sit me down and lead me to the Lord. I was then baptized when I was 13.
It’s funny how pride takes hold of us even at such young ages. Satan wants to use anything to keep us away from God. I’m thrilled to tell you that he couldn’t keep me away, because since that day, I haven’t had any doubts about my standing with God. I am His, and He is mine.
There is a lot more in my story and walk with the Lord that happened from when I got saved to right here at this moment, but we have time to hash that out the next few weeks. For now, I’ll just share 2 quick facts and 1 raw truth about me.
1- I live in East Tennessee with my husband Dustin and golden retriever Jack. We have been married for almost 5 years (June 1, 2019) and have lived in TN for 4 years.
2- I am a Kindergarten teacher in our county schools, and I love teaching, learning, and helping kids. When I started college, I thought I’d just try education and see what happened. Well, what happened was that God was faithful and helped me, and I earned my bachelor's degree in early childhood education in 2020. I began teaching in August, taught 3rd grade for 3 years. This is my 4th year of teaching, but 1st year in Kindergarten. My story of school and the evidence of God’s hand in me becoming a teacher is a story in and of itself. I’ll just tell you, He is able to do more than you can imagine with your life. It doesn’t matter your past. What matters is that he uses broken vessels to do amazing work. This verse was my go to during college, and it is still my help today. 2 Corinthians 9:8 - And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Today this verse reminds me that in whatever I am facing, God is present with me and giving me what I need at all times, with all things, for every good work He has put in front of me.
3- I struggled with porn for years, but God is greater and has rewritten my story. When I decided to be more open and honest on my blog’s instagram account about my past struggle with pornography, I was shocked at all the responses I got. With each message or comment, it became very evident to me that this issue needed to be talked about more than it had been, especially for women. Here at The Victory Collective, we want to provide you with a very real space where the topic of pornography is being discussed and more. Recovery stories are shared, tools are being given to you, and most of all God is being lifted high in praise for the victory He has given to many.
I want to use my story to help you and give you some hope. Here’s a quick little snippet from my past, but I’ll share more about this in the future. My journey began probably late elementary school/early middle school. It was all because I was curious and started typing things into a search bar. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for, but I knew I probably shouldn’t be searching for things like this. After all, I was a Christian, and I had heard that only guys get into stuff like this. Each click became a little taste of poison, and I never noticed how much it was hurting me until I kept coming back to it. That’s what sin eventually can do to us. It blinds us from seeing the fact that we’re choosing sin over God. In time sin can cause us to believe that this sin isn’t such a big deal. And before we know it, we’re in danger of believing the lie Satan told Eve in the garden when he simply exclaimed in Genesis 3:2 - Did God actually say You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? Sin causes us to question God’s rules and it can quickly lead us to turn a thing He made for good (sex) into something selfish and dangerous and truly harmful.
There is more to my story, but we’ll get there in later posts. My friend, I leave you with this on your Monday. God does take sin seriously, and it’s time for us to do the same if we ever want victory over our flesh. But in order to do so, we need to be honest with ourselves and ask the question, Do I take my sin seriously or have I become numb to it?
I can sum up my recovery story in 4 words: Sin isn’t worth it.
I hope that you come back to read next Monday’s post. I’ll be sharing more about my journey and recovery. A gold nugget for you to put in your pocket this week is this - Sin is only pleasurable for a season. Wherever you are on your journey, especially if you are feeling lost or hopeless, I pray that this would be a safe place for you to find help and encouragement as we learn how we can be more than conquerors because Christ is the one who brings victory.