Soul Care to Save Your LifeSample

I finally had the nerve to ask Rocio if she would be a mentor to me. I seemed to ramble endlessly before she gently cut me off: “I would be honored,” she said. It was as if she had been waiting for this moment too. Something about it felt divine.

God in His mercy knew I needed Rocio because I was also carrying the guilt of a costly sin that I kept hidden from others but was eating me alive. My guess is that you have sin or a secret struggle in your life that only you know exists. And you would do just about anything to be cured of it.

When I had reached the most desperate of moments in my life, I called Rocio to help me. We met and I blurted out, “I made a huge mistake several years ago. I was unfaithful to Eric early in our marriage, and I’ve kept it a secret. It won’t leave my conscious mind and, to be honest, I can’t see a way out of this other than being gone.”

Rocio didn’t flinch. She didn’t gasp or say what I felt: that I’d been living a lie. She locked eyes with me and told me I was safe. She didn’t ask for details or coax me into sharing more. She sat there and held space for me to lay out my confession. More importantly, she left room for the Spirit to reveal that I was not better off dead.

She didn’t meet me with shame. She didn’t get angry or express her disappointment. She knew I was human and capable of sin; therefore, the shock I’d anticipated never appeared. She simply listened. She asked questions to help me process and made sure I wasn’t still contemplating suicide and offered concrete next steps so that I could make this confession to the person I needed to most: my husband. I felt relief rush through my veins.

Rocio never promised my husband would stay with me or forgive me, but by her response, she made me realize that no matter what happened, God was not done with me. She gave me every reason to live simply by staying with me. “Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’ And You forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

Confession is something never to avoid; it is something to embrace. When we risk bringing to light what we’ve tried to keep buried, we move toward life and restoration.