Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been

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Hill Perry also released her own book, Gay Girl Good God, which was published September 3, 2018. She is also author of a Bible study for women and teen girls "Jude: Contending for the Faith in Today's Culture.". [19] Hill Perry released her second book, "Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him" in 2021. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Just as Eve let her body tell her what she should do with it, instead of God’s Word, which would’ve reminded her of what it was made for, I was inevitably prone to the same kind of unbelief. Our approaches to evangelism, the local church, preaching, spiritual gifts, worship style, etc vary but when there is a unified commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy + authority of Scripture, and love for God and neighbor, the unity for which Christ prayed is made possible.

Sin, when in the body, cannot not stay put. It’s not a guest that stays in one room, making sure not to disturb the others. It is a tenant that lives in everything and goes everywhere. It can bleed into every part, choking out anything holy” (20). Christ did not die to redeem us in part. Neither did He rise so that we might have life in portions. But with us having a body made for Him, as well as the mind, will, personality, and emotions that it contains, we must understand that God is after us becoming victorious over any and all sin that would hinder the whole person from serving God fully and freely.” Perry tells her story in a winsome way. She writes on a hot-button topic with compelling grace and compassion. The overarching tone of the work isn’t instruction, but invitation; not “I’ve arrived,” but “I’ve endured and enjoyed––taste and see!”

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As a result, Perry has been forced to defend, explain, and clarify her position on working with those from other theological traditions, including some who ascribe to “false teachings.” Her affiliation with the women at the Propel event also lost her an upcoming speaking slot. On her Christian journey, she finds solace in writing. Poetry becomes a way to express herself to others. Years later, she meets Preston Perry at a poetry event. They share their testimonies and friendship. Soon, they develop affection for each other and eventually get married. TGCA exists to encourage and assist Australian Christians to remain convinced of the truth and power of the gospel, to commend and contend for the gospel in our lives and our ministries, and to foster connections between individuals, churches, and other ministries so that we can most effectively advance the gospel in Australia.

The SSA Christian that is called to marriage is no more of an apologetic for the power of God than the SSA Christian that is called to singleness. In both, God is glorified. I just . . . gotta live for God now,” I said with a tear-broken voice. A new identity was to come after I hung up. Beth Moore tweeted that online critics of Perry’s were waging a “cowardly war.” Conservative writer and speaker Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth retweeted Perry’s clarification post and offered her support, too. Here, the author declares that being a Christian and enduring temptation from the devil is hard, but just as the Father sent an angel to strengthen his son when he was overwhelmed, so has the Holy Spirit come to strengthen believers.To me, what I knew to be God calling me to himself sounded an awful lot like God calling me to be straight, as if his only intention were to transform me partially. But that was far from the truth. Though God was very concerned with how I lived out my sexuality, he was just as concerned with what I did with my hands and if my fingerprints would be found on anything righteous. He was just as concerned with my mind and how it held hell in it at all times. He cared deeply that I use my mouth in a manner that showed some awareness that he was always listening. to have a quiet and gentle spirit--a call given to women--would not mean I had to abandon all that I am, limp along in life, silence my personality in the name of obedience, but instead it meant that I could authentically be the woman God made me as, while anchored in the truth and controlled by the Spirit. When led by Him, when wanting to place my rights above His honor, humility would place its hand over my heart, keeping it still and settled with peace until what was worth being said or done happened in love. Out of a deep wanting for what belonged to God to be recognized and respected.”

And it does that. I know Perry better, and have a better understanding of SSA, because of this book; but more importantly, I know our good God better. It caused me to revel in the miraculous––that God awakens the dead and opens blind eyes to the truth that’s in Jesus, that he’s gracious to relentlessly pursue those who’ve rejected him, and that he does the impossible in saving rebels. I don’t believe it is wise or truthful to the power of the gospel to identify oneself by the sins of one’s past or the temptations of one’s present but rather to only be defined by the Christ who’s overcome both for those he calls his own. All men and women, including myself, that are well acquainted with sexual temptation are ultimately not what our temptation says of us. We are what Christ had done for us; therefore, our ultimate identity is very simple: We are Christians. (148) Aside from the doctrines of grace, it's one concept that has really renewed my mind when it comes to faith and sin. Now, when I look at certain sins, it's not, 'Oh, I'm just doing this because I want to.' No, what in this sin do you think will satisfy me that God can't? It makes my processing of my issues a lot deeper, and it's also expanded my view of God. [16] Writing [ edit ]We stood in the middle of the room. I could tell she was growing impatient. I hadn't answered her question yet or even let my body tell her what my mouth wanted to say. All I could think about was Monday, and what it would have in store for me if I said "yes" to her invitation. The news wouldn't walk but run toward every ear and fly out of every mouth that heard it — until the school no longer saw me as the girl that had a smart mouth and a timid frame but as, "The gay girl." This scene is common nowadays. Christians can’t ignore the subject of homosexuality, as it’s so interwoven with our culture. We need to know how to engage with it, following the example of our Lord Jesus who was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And this requires us to pull up a chair and listen well to those who’ve walked its road. Full of Worship her life was full of power in ways that I never knew possible. How when unbelief came near, she faithfully turned Scripture loose to capture and strangle it into submission to a higher will than her own. A gifted woman she was but ungodly she was not. I had known many a person with glorious gifts and satanic lives, but this woman showed me that knowing God was more than knowing about Him and doing things for Him but knowing Him.”

Perry sees a difference between “false teachers,” those who willingly deceive others while living ungodly lives, and “false teaching,” which comes from a well-meaning but misinformed believer. She considers Bethel Church’s teachings to fall into the latter category. What other story was as good as that, and as relevant for us, than the news that Jesus laid down his life for a bride that didn’t want him in her own? Preston didn’t love me because he was a hopeless romantic. Our situation according to a worldly standard was hopeless. But he had another reference point to draw strength from: the gospel. He loved me because he loved God more. (132) Eventually, she is threatened by God. After she is told that a lover will cause her death, she totally surrenders. She realizes that she needs freedom not just from lesbianism but from every sign of ungodliness. She accepts Jesus as Lord, and although she is aware that it is a long road ahead, she trusts that God will see her through. Eve looked. The tree still stood. Before, it might've only been a part of the garden that caught her eye on rare occasions. Only to be overshadowed by all the glory God turned loose around it. It had always been forbidden to eat from, but never to touch. But, there were always better things to do, and eat, and touch, and sit on, and delight in, and live with. One tree being off limits was the least of their worries when they could see God every day. Until doubt came. Is this what it feels like to be a Christian? I thought to myself. Is it to have a quiet war inside of yourself at all times? (83)I don’t believe it is wise or truthful to the power of the gospel to identify oneself by the sins of one’s past or the temptations of one’s present but rather to only be defined by the Christ who’s overcome both for those he calls his own. My favorite chapter was “Same-Sex Attraction and Endurance,” where Perry writes about the lifelong battle SSA Christians face, and the sympathy and sufficiency of Jesus to face it: “The crucified life is the life set on enduring until the end when, once and for all, the cross is replaced with a crown” (169). She explores the endurance of Jesus unto death, a strength and encouragement for the weary: “If Jesus needed strength to endure for the sake of obedience to his Father, how much more do we?” (172). So much more. Praise God, he gives us what we need in himself. The same Bible that condemned me held in it the promises that could save me. I just had to believe it. “It” being what it said about Him: God. Jesus had the guilty in mind when He was hung high and stretched out wide. On it, He died in my place, for my sin. He, bare-bodied and face set on joy, became as a slaughtered lamb underneath the wrath of God. You would think His Father would have a better memory than that. Didn’t He know that that wrath was mine? It even had my name on it. But He knew. His justice wouldn’t allow Him to forget. His love is what He wanted me to know and remember, and I did.” C. S. Lewis wrote: A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness—they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.” The author of ‘Gay Girl, Good God’ wishes she was taught the beauty of God with as much intensity as she was taught the horridness of hell. If this were the case, she possibly would l have accepted Christ earlier. She says she was able to want God because the Holy Spirit was after her love and obedience.