More Women Getting Hooked On Porn

Pornography has been a serious problem for decades and it's only become worse on the Internet. Addiction has skyrocketed, especially among Christian men.
But though it's fairly well known that millions of Americans regularly visit porn sites on the web, what is surprising is that about a third of them are women.

Many are often too ashamed to get help. Author and lecturer Shelley Hitz, who lives near Pike's Peak, Colo., said these days it's definitely a problem for the females as well.

Personal Experience
It's a problem that turned personal for Hitz. For years, she secretly battled her own addiction, too ashamed and afraid to confess it.

"We were in ministry. My husband was in full-time ministry. We were active in our church. I knew better," Hitz said. "So every time, I would get so beat up and hammered by the enemy and by myself."

It started off soft-core, but Hitz likened the allure to the parable of a frog put in a cool pot of water that slowly boils to death as the heat slowly increases.

"If Satan would've come to me and said, 'Hey, Shelley, look at this hard core porn!' I would have been like that frog in that pot of boiling water: I would've jumped out. I would've said, 'No way!'" she explained.

After years of feeling trapped and disgusted, she found the courage to confess to husband C.J. Hitz.

"And I said, 'I need help. I can't stop. I don't know what to do. But I know this is going to destroy me. It could destroy our marriage,'" she said. "And I asked him if I could go to counseling."

Finding Grace
Then came another surprise: C.J. was battling his own years-long porn addiction.

"I was able to easily show her grace because I felt so dirty myself and realizing the shame and the ugliness of the addiction," he explained.

But he never planned to tell his wife.

"There's no way I can let Shelley know this because she'll just feel hurt," he said of his fear in confessing.

He finally opened up and they began a steady battle to heal their marriage. They repented, asked forgiveness, and leaned more on God than ever before.

Their next steps included adding filters on computers, carefully guarding their senses, and most importantly, enlisting accountability partners.

"Somebody that I knew I could trust, that I knew would show me grace but would ask me the hard questions," Shelley said of finding such a person.

"There is healing that comes when you're able to share it with a brother who can pray with you, someone who can even relate to your struggle," her husband said.  UCN