This Is My Story: Part 1This Is My Story: Part 1
Hope, Healing & Freedom
Lee Whitman shares a candid account of how his pornography addiction began, the shame-filled cycle that followed, and how new understanding of grace and identity in Christ changed his perspective. This first part focuses on the "prison" of addiction, with the promise of a future explanation of how freedom came.
16:34•21 Jul 2026
From Prison of Pornography to Hope: Lee Whitman’s Story, Part 1
Episode Overview
- Sexual brokenness can start very early in life and feel like a trap that was set just for you.
- Addiction often follows a repeating cycle of temptation, craving, acting out and deep shame.
- Support groups and self-help strategies may manage behaviour but can still leave people feeling hopeless.
- Learning about identity in Christ and God’s grace can change how someone sees themselves and their struggle.
- Managing sin through willpower is better than giving in, but Lee suggests it is still not the same as true freedom.
“Willpower and self-discipline, however, will not set you free.”
How do individuals turn their lives around after addiction? This episode of *Hope, Healing & Freedom* takes you into Lee Whitman’s early and painfully honest journey with sexual brokenness and pornography, setting the stage for how freedom later became possible.
Across this first part of his story, you’ll hear Lee describe how his struggle began in childhood, from early sexual arousal in the YWCA locker room to finding a graphic pornographic magazine on the roadside in his conservative hometown of Temperance, Michigan. He explains how these moments felt like a trap: “It was as if something jumped out of that magazine and jumped onto me.” Lee doesn’t shy away from the difficult truth.
He talks about living in a "prison" of addiction, repeatedly cycling through temptation, craving, acting out, and intense shame. His words, “Willpower and self-discipline, however, will not set you free,” sum up years of trying support groups, self-help books, and behaviour strategies that, for him, never brought lasting change. Along the way, he shares how learning about his identity in Christ and the grace of God shifted his perspective.
He began to believe that God actually liked him, that he was a dearly loved child of God, and that grace meant “God doing for man what man could not do for himself.” Yet even with this new understanding, Lee admits he was still battling temptation daily, managing sin rather than feeling truly free. This episode is aimed at anyone wrestling with sexual addiction, shame, or the belief that they’re beyond help, especially those within Christian communities.
The tone is raw but hopeful, offering a clear picture of what addiction can look like from the inside and hinting that freedom is possible, with part two promising the next chapter of his story. If you’ve ever wondered whether change is possible for someone who feels completely trapped, this candid account may prompt you to ask what freedom could look like in your own life.
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