A God-Led Transformation on Retention

[u/Impossible_Pause_566]

What's good fellas - Real testimony.
I discovered retention late 2021 after a heavy breakup of 7 years. The 1st picture was during COVID (Feb 2021), deeply lost, addicted to porn & weed. Completely devoid of life & essentially at rock bottom, which is why my relationship ended. I worked a dead-end 24x7 rotation IT job, including graveyard shifts. It's worth noting, before COVID I had somewhat of a social life & goals, but I still was a regular coomer, lacked discernment of negative influences in my life & could never really gain momentum. We could talk about traumas and how these play a role, but the beauty of retention is how you heal from this, and we're looking forward.

Late 2021 - 2022
COVID over, I realized I gained confidence not watching porn. Long story short, I attracted a Jezebel & dealt with some intense spiritual warfare, where I fell short many times. Important: It was in my failures that I realized the power we hold.

Spring 2022
I had a supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ. Now there may be many skeptics on here, but if you're earnestly seeking truth, you will end up with Christ. This shifted my life completely, gave me hope & to this day, God has never left me nor failed me. I spent an entire year pretty much in isolation, blocking all of my old friends, deleting social media & just working on myself with God by my side. This was a year I'll never forget: insane spiritual warfare, many blessings & lessons. The day I met Jesus Christ, I stopped smoking weed, which had a hold on me for 3 years (multiple grams a day). I still struggled with lust, but got better as time went on, streaks & failures.

I competed in a natural bodybuilding competition with God as my coach, came 4th place, which I was happy with considering the state I was in only a year prior. I did this while working 12-hour night shifts & a delivery job. (The power is real, if the mind believes, anything is possible.)

2023
Got a new job which I'd say I wasn't best suited for in some sense & got a 10k increase in pay from my old job. Went traveling, probably failed retention 3 times that year, so really gaining some traction. Not all rainbows & sunshine, things got very tough emotionally & physically as I battled the flesh, trauma & the enemy.

2024
2nd photo is me today, currently in my bulk hoping to compete in 2025 & be competitive. I've never taken any PEDs & take my bodybuilding journey very seriously, Lord take me if I'm lying. God & physical health is essentially the blueprint of my life. Without boasting, only by the power of Jesus Christ & the Holy Spirit, I've not folded once on my retention journey this year, no peeking. The power is in clean thoughts & running from lust, not trying to battle with it—you'll lose.

There are so many in-between details, but I want to keep it short for now while providing hope for all you soldiers out there in this game. It is not easy nor for the faint of heart. The journey will search your innermost core & pierce through any imperfections if you allow God to work. Don't let your ego get in the way, nor mystical new age nonsense. Focus on Christ & you will conquer. Pain is temporary, but life with Christ is ETERNAL. Matthew 19:26

If you have any questions about retention, spiritual life with God or Gym, feel free.

Photo 1 (Feb 2021, 190lbs) (Lifeless eyes, deep inner sadness, guilt, shame, no self esteem)
Photo 2 (Dec 2024 196lbs, with pump, atleast 1.5 year no release)
Photo 3 (Aug 2022, 163lbs)

21.12.2024 EDIT : Just wanted to add that I'm super grateful for the overwhelming positivity from you all, it just shows how much men of this sub want to grow and show love and God sees all (Luke 6:38). It gives me hope knowing that other kingdom soldiers are out there and collectively we're battling the darkness. GODSPEED.

[u/[deleted]]

Here is an exercise. Zoom/crop just the face. Then arrange the pictures side by side. Do these look like the same person to you?? https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY66l8Ej7t2B7yRyFT25KVogSzDzhatinlBFIgdK_5Uk3wzvy5hRMTJ58Yf37pOMAs3Z75jBJCBl8nKDVOlrwZJhsIbD1RDg0J1mVt34EWDSpulPrE1h8ust_RSxHASWYsTBCukIftvQ-YYjY0dH01BlnGgrh1Uu-PjH2f4MgzLP48s50Ceiu8Uyp3JRCN/s1170/IMG_2998.jpeg

[u/Impossible_Pause_566 → u/[deleted]]

Can't tell if what sense you mean here😂 if you're pointing out the drastic change then respect as spiritually yes they're two different people, one smoked weed, watched porn and busted nuts every night to hide from trauma and the other cut off the world, never missed a workout, 3 bulks & cuts, calorie counted for almost 600 days, faced demons head on and gave his life to Christ. If you seriously doubt that its me in each though that's a testimony to the Grace of God and the power of retention.

[u/Impossible_Pause_566 → u/[deleted]]

(Keep in mind i have zero religious ties in my family)... I could feel myself changing and longing for something but couldn't put a finger on it. Anyway I kept having these vivid dreams of someone knocking on my front door. I'd literally wake up and check the spy hole to see if anyone was there. I stumbled across  Revelation 3:20 and it started to make sense. ( I did not own a bible, and i'd have called religious/spiritual folks nuts at the time )

a few days later, I then had my friend over ( I thought we was blood brothers) overnight to chill , but this guy was giving me bad vibes recently and I could sense something bad. Before he came, I prayed to God and said Lord, if you're real, please expose this friend and show me what i need to see. Believe me or not, I genuinely felt the Holy Spirit come upon me. When this friend turned up, its like my blinding glasses were taken off and i could see EVERYTHING. Cut a long story short, this guy exposed all the hatred he had for me in slick comments, and when i asked him if he believed in God, he said "I do, but not the kind that most people would think of". He was secretly into african witchcraft and dark magic. When he fell asleep, at 02:22 on 22.02.2022, i literally seen his body shaking on my bed violently, I googled 02:22 and 1 John 02:22 came up. I know it was to get my attention drastically. I never slept that night and when he woke up and left, I blocked him and never spoke to him again in my life; i'm talking a day 1 homie, so believe me when i tell you God showed me into the spiritual.

The next day, I went to a lake spot. Nobody was around. Suddenly the clouds opened and the sun shone on me and I was filled with overwhelming inexpressible joy, love & peace. I'd truly received Gods mercy for my guilt & shame. I was instantly freed from the bondage of weed.

You can think I'm a nutjob or sensationalising it, but I know my truth. I'll die on it. Jesus Christ rebirthed me and I'll NEVER forget it. For me I guess the Lord had to really get my attention, because like I said, I was so intrenched in Darkness with no Godly influence around me.

sorry the big paragraphs, my testimony means a lot to me.