A couple of months ago, I learned of a conference that intrigued me very much. It was called The Battle for Your Frontal Lobe, and was going to be held in Long Island, New York.
While the organizers of the event were members of the Seventh-day Adventist church, I understood from Ivan Raj, one of the organizers of the event, that the conference was actually being organized for the benefit of those who were not members of the Adventist faith. I very much appreciated this opportunity to meet people outside of my denomination and so I made plans to attend with my partner in ministry, Mercy Ballard.
The event took place October 27-28, 2023. The keynote guest speaker for the event was Chloe Cole, a 19 year old young woman from California, who shared about how in her early teens, due to bullying and emotional pain, she was influenced to believe that she would be happier if she were a boy. Thus began her transgender journey.
Chloe shared about how her medical transgender journey commenced with her taking a hormone to stop puberty. Stopping puberty means that a girl who is enjoying the vibrant health of childhood, will enter into menopause with all of the symptoms and side effects that menopause entails. The puberty-blocking medication caused her to experience hot flashes and pain so severe that it made her feel as if her extremities were on fire. This is what Chloe experienced as a young girl in her early teens.
When the testosterone hormone supplementation began, she felt amazing, strong and healthy. To help her appear more masculine, she was counseled to undergo a mastectomy. She discovered that despite undergoing the pain of a mastectomy, she continued to have to bind her chest and to fear that her female identity would be discovered. As time progressed, she had an increasing awareness that despite the physical changes she was experiencing, looking like a man was not giving her the freedom and happiness that she had been led to believe would come with physical transformation. Indeed, as she continued to have to hide who she really was, she realized that she would never truly BE a man.
Hearing Chloe speak made our hearts ache.
The experiences that took just minutes for her to describe could never do justice to the years of pain and sadness that she had. Ultimately, Chloe shared the pivotal moment when she decided to stop taking her testosterone hormones—when she realized that she actually wanted to be a mother, that because of her mastectomy she would not be able to breastfeed, and that she simply just missed being a girl.
Our identity is the basis of our personhood. To have to hide ourselves from others, to not feel known or able to know others, is extremely painful and isolating. But the pain and shame of hiding is not unique to the transgender community; it started with the very first sin (Genesis 3:10).[1] Satan exulted when sin entered into the psyche of our first parents and he exults as sin continues to deface the image of God in humanity since that first sin was committed. Even greater than the physical pain and change that medical treatments and surgical procedures cause is the emotional pain that sin brings. The shame and guilt of sexual degradation, the loss of joy and innocence that sin brings—these are probably some of the most effective tools that Satan uses to deface the image of God in us.
And yet, the Bible says that there is hope.
2 Corinthians 5:17 is one of my favorite verses. It states that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” This is a powerful promise.
“To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized—this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life.”[2] “The very essence of the gospel is restoration, and the Saviour would have us bid the sick, the hopeless and the afflicted to take hold upon His strength”[3].
No matter what Satan has done and ESPECIALLY to those whom Satan has damaged the most, the promises in the Bible are TRUE. We, who are traumatized and tempted to believe that we can no longer be the children of God, can know that when we CHOOSE to BELIEVE in the promises of God, we are NEW CREATIONS. We are no longer helpless victims, trapped in fear and pain, but can live in power, love, and soundness of mind.[4]
There is restoration of the image of God that happens when we take back our identity. There is power that comes into our lives (John 1:12), there is beauty that comes back into our beings (Job 14:20, Ps 43:5), and nobility that is restored to our character when we choose to live in faith (Prov 16:32, Psalm 119:3).[5],[6],[7],[8],[9, 10]
Praise God that there is nothing too difficult for Him (Matt 19:26)!
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Joyce Choe
Joyce is an ophthalmologist and a health educator. Her motivation is to inform and inspire people to make wise decisions that improve their health. Her website, Med Missionary, offers a global online community and Christian health education platform that is dedicated to connecting and empowering medical missionaries to spread the gospel message throughout the world, following Christ’s methods of healing and educating. She is also a founder of the Med Missionary Facebook Page.
[1] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Gen 3:15
[2] Education 15.2
[3] Desire of Ages 824.5
[4] For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7
[5] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1:12
[6] Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. Job 14:20
[7]Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God Ps 43:5
[8] He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city Prov 16:32
[9] They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. Psalm 119:3
[10] But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Matt 19:26