Transgender to Transformed - Part 2

Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible.

Now in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, please join us for today's program. And I'm a former transgender. I lived that way for about nine years. And God has just radically set me free. And now He's continuing to just restore and redeem my life so far beyond what I ever imagined. And now He's brought this amazing man into my life.

This is Perry. Initially, I did not have any clue that I was going to get married. I told God, I said, you know, I'm fine if I'm just single the rest of my life. And when I left the transgender lifestyle, I really thought I would just always feel like a man.

I thought I was just always going to feel trans. But I was just going to deny that for Christ. I had no idea the healing that God was going to bring into my heart and my life. But as He healed me, I began to desire a husband. But I prayed, I said, God, I want whoever you want for me. And I asked God to arrange my marriage. And so I really trusted the Lord.

I think the Lord put that on my heart and really prepared me for two or three years. Welcome to the program. What a blessing it is to be with you once again this week as we come together to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Well, this week we are continuing our talk with Laura Perry Smoltz, the author of Transgender to Transform, and she's sharing with us her testimony of her attempt to live as a man for nine years, but the mighty way in which Jesus Christ delivered her and transformed her to where she is today. If you missed last week, which was part one of our interview, please visit our website. Blessings to Israel dot com. Again, that's blessings to Israel dot com and follow the menu to our discerning the times podcast. And I encourage you to do so if you missed it because you will be blessed by what Laura has to share. So without further delay, let us join Laura Perry Smoltz in part two of our interview again on transgender to transformed.

That is so true. And we see that on full display so much in our society today. Also, I want you to speak on I've heard you speak on the role that your mother played in this this transformation that you made. So I want you to speak on the importance of parents to tell the truth.

Also, before you do that, though, I want you to hear a clip. This is from Virginia State Delegate Elizabeth Guzman, and she has proposed a bill that would criminal criminally prosecute parents who do not affirm their children's transformation or identity change. And so I want you to listen to this and then respond to it in light of what has happened in your life. Per bill would expand the state's definition of child abuse and neglect to include parents who do not affirm their child's gender identity or sexual orientation. There is an investigation also in place that is not only, you know, from a social worker, but there is also a police investigation before we make the decision that there is going to be a CPS charge. What could the penalties be? You know, the investigation concludes and it's concluded that a parent is not affirming of their LGBTQ child. What could the consequences be? Well, we first have to have an investigation.

You know, it could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor, but we know that a CPS charge could harm, you know, your employment, could harm your education. So, Laura, here we have this representative in the state of Virginia. She wants to call it child abuse for not affirming a child's identity. What are your thoughts? Well, it's so upside down, you know, but everything in Satan's kingdom is, it's the exact opposite.

It's like where, I think it's in Isaiah where it says, a woman's in they call evil good and good evil. And I think that's exactly what we're seeing. In fact, I'm part of a Reddit forum that has like 36,000 members now of mostly people that have detransitioned. And some of them are so angry and they're saying, why did my parents let me do this? Why did the doctors let me do this? I was 15 or whatever they were. And, you know, why did they let me make this decision?

This has ruined my life. And these stories are just heart-wrenching, but there's so many on there that are angry that adults just let them do what they wanted. And it's not loving to let your child, especially at that age when they're changing what they want every five minutes. You know, and a lot of times the reason that they're feeling this way is because of things that have happened to them and then the way that they respond to them. You know, Jesus said that all of these things, and I don't remember the whole list he gave of these various things, flow out of the heart. It's what comes out of the man that defiles the man. And I find that generally there are things that have happened to him, sometimes very traumatic, but sometimes just relational things. Sometimes not having a good relationship with a parent or sometimes with a sibling or sometimes being bullied or feeling like they don't fit in with kids and they're jealous of somebody else. A lot of times they're coveting somebody else's life and wishing that they were like this person.

And so that's where the real issue is. But transitioning them, which is, you know, there's no such thing as transition. I didn't transition from anything. I didn't transition from a woman to a man. That's not biologically possible.

I didn't know at the time. There are over 6,500 biological differences between men and women. You know, having a couple of surgeries doesn't make you into the opposite sex. Every single cell in your body has your sex chromosomes. Sorry, that's a bit of a side note, but the point is that parents affirming their child as the gender they want to be and allowing them to transition is the exact opposite of what they need.

Because it's never going to bring the healing of the brokenness that they truly need. Yeah. And you stated your mother, she played a key role when it came to you. You were identifying as a man. How did your mother approach it? Yeah, you know, my mom and even my dad too. I talk a lot more about my mom because we had a very difficult relationship when I was a child. My dad and I had been very close, but my mom was the one that I really saw the transformation in.

And you know, during those years, my mom refused to call me Jake. She refused to use the pronouns that I wanted. You know, but in one sense I was very angry with her, but I really, I knew that she loved me. I knew she had proven that over the years, even though I was angry about some things in childhood, I still knew that she loved me. But the reality was I was always trying to manipulate her and doing what I wanted her to do. You know, I didn't want to hear my name, Laura, or female pronouns because I was trying to erase who I truly was.

I was trying to forget something that was impossible to forget. But eventually, even just being around them, it didn't matter what they said, eventually it was hard just to be around them because they were a reminder of what I was trying to erase. And also they were such a testimony to me.

We don't realize sometimes how when we really pursue Christ and we are truly living for the Lord, how the Holy Spirit uses that as a testimony. And you know, at first my parents were always trying to chase me. I felt like they were always trying to force me to be fixed and I could just feel them pulling me to themselves.

And I was trying desperately to run away. But when they really surrendered me into the Lord's hands and they just began to trust Him with my life, they began to pursue the Lord for their own soul. And as they began to pursue the Lord with all their heart, they just were transformed over the years. And my mom, for the first time in my life, you know, God really opened my eyes to what He was doing in her life a few years later. And she was a totally different woman. And she was filled with faith and peace like I had never seen.

And I remember at one point I was trying to make some big decision. My mom had always, you know, whatever is logical and she always sort of had the right idea, the right plan. And she said, honey, you just need to trust the Lord.

And I was so blown away by that. I'd never heard my mother say that. And so I think that's the most important thing that, yes, she stood on the solid rock of Christ and on His word. But at the same time, she just pursued the Lord for her own relationship. And she would reach out at times.

She and my dad both, sometimes they'd take me out to dinner or something, but they weren't chasing me. They weren't trying to fix me. And they stopped letting it affect their relationship with the Lord. I mean, we can wallow in grief and depression and there's a time to mourn, but there's also a time to say, okay, Lord, you've allowed this for a reason. And we can sit in the pit and wallow with them or we can pursue the Lord and leave it in His hands because they could never do the supernatural work in my heart that I truly needed. They couldn't bring the regeneration.

They couldn't raise me from the dead. It's like, I think we forget sometimes that it's not ours to fix. Exactly.

Absolutely. And, you know, as you were talking, it made me think about what real love is because, see, the world will tell you that, well, to love someone, for your mother to truly love you would have been for her to call you Jake, for her to accept what you were trying to do. But real love teaches to do the thing that's really right. And when I had Bible devotion with my children a few days ago, I have two children, 13 year old and an 11 year old. And my wife and I, we have Bible devotion with them every morning at 7 a.m. And I gave the example to them of trying to explain to a three year old of the fact that they are not allowed to eat ice cream and cookies for every meal. Now that three year old is not going to understand that. For them, they just think, well, I want ice cream and cookies. Why can't I have it?

You should give it to me. And they'll sometimes respond, well, you don't like me or you don't love me if you're not giving me what I want. But as a parent, we know there will be detrimental effects to allowing a child to eat that for every single meal. And so, but what we see today in society is people are basically trying to say, let them eat ice cream and cookies for every meal. And that's real love.

But that's not what real love is. What your mother and your father, the approach that they took is real love because they've played a vital role in you being transformed and coming to Jesus Christ. And I'm sure that through that time period, there was also a lot of prayer that they were sending up. So talk about the importance of prayer as well. Yeah, they, in fact, they really eventually after I came home, sort of birthed this prodigal prayer ministry that my mom and the ladies in her Bible study are doing now. And really God has used that story to inspire lots of people to make what they call a prodigal prayer basket.

So they have names of prodigals and they get people together praying for these prodigals. But during those years, my mom and dad were praying for me and God was answering so many of their prayers behind the scenes. They didn't realize how much God was intervening in my life and ways He was encountering me, dreams He was giving me, people He was putting in my path, all these kind of things and just changing my heart little by little. But eventually they, you know, they didn't want anybody to know what was going on at first.

They were very private and they were very, and I find that with so many of these parents, they just don't want anybody to know. But eventually the Lord kept encouraging them to share. They shared with their Bible study and eventually they had two different, I think two different Bible study prayings. They had a lot of people in the church praying with them and these people prayed for years. And not only was it good for them, when God answered their prayers, because He was changing them, we forget how much prayer changes us. But then when I came home, it really encouraged everybody's faith and God really used it to really encourage a lot of people, I think, and it really gave everybody the encouragement to pray more because they saw this miracle. And there was this one lady in particular that she had been in her Bible study for years and she used to, if we were standing near somebody at church or something, she'd grab my arm and she'd say, do you know what it's like to pray for somebody for nine years and never standing next to you? I mean, she was just, she would say all the time that I was her miracle, you know, and so I think prayer is hugely important for both of those reasons.

One, because it really is affecting that prodigal because God was answering so many prayers along the way, you know, but at the same time that was also changing them. Wow, that is so powerful, so powerful. So folks out there, parents, loved ones, friends, whoever it is, do not quit, do not give up, do not stop praying because there's so much power in prayer. And we just serve a God who he's the creator of all things. He has power over all things.

So never lose hope in what he can do. We are speaking today with special guest, Laura Perry Smoltz on her testimony, transgender to transform. We're going to pause for a brief announcement, but please don't go away on the other side of the break. We'll be back with more from Laura. You are tuned into discerning the times. Are you a woman who's experienced a season of grief, perhaps a painful divorce, death of a loved one or a life threatening illness? Well, you don't want to miss this upcoming online course.

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Registration ends November 12th at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Don't miss it. Welcome back to the program. What a blessing it is today as we are being joined by special guest Laura Perry Smoltz to give her wonderful testimony on being transformed from her transgender lifestyle in which she attempted to live as a man for nine years. Now, Laura, I've heard you also mentioned in a previous interview, you've talked about how sometimes God is fighting battles for us or he is doing a work that we don't even realize what's going on is is behind the scenes as far as we're concerned. But God is doing something for us. And you mentioned how that played out with the Israelites back in the Book of Exodus, I believe. Speak to that, if you will, please.

Yeah, yeah. This was something so cool that the Lord has been showing me, you know, because I hear from so many parents that they just want to know what's going on and they just want to make sure that everything's OK or, you know, but sometimes the Lord will cut off communication sometimes for years, just like the story of the prodigal son that Jesus told. He went into a far country. There was no Facebook. There were no text messages.

There's no way for him to communicate. And the father had no control. And I think some of these parents want control.

And they think, if I can have control, then they'll feel secure. But there's times that God takes us out of our hands. And so Moses, you know, he had struggled with his faith in the beginning and he thought, who am I to go to Pharaoh and all this?

But after seeing all the miracles God did, he was filled with this great faith. And he leads them out and they get pinned in between the Red Sea and the mountain. And he says, stand back and see the salvation of the Lord.

You don't have to do anything. God is going to fight this battle for you, which God does many times in our lives. But he hadn't asked God for the plan at that moment.

And God said, why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to move forward. I mean, here they are standing next to the Red Sea.

What are they going to do? But the angel of the Lord went behind them and then the glory cloud moved behind them so that they couldn't see the army that was racing toward them. And I mean, I can imagine hearing the thundering of the hooves and the train wheels and it would be a terrifying sound. But then the Red Sea parted and they just had to walk forward, you know, surrounded by this wall of water that would have been extremely terrifying in one sense.

But also the roaring power of God. And they were completely safe, even though there's this raging water around them and the army bearing down on them and yet completely protected. But they couldn't see anything that was going on. You know, all this between them and the army is a cloud and then they can't see anything God is doing. But all of a sudden, when they're on the other side, they look back and the army is completely wiped out. And I think that's so often how God works that he may give us little clues along the way sometimes. My mom used to call them glimmers of hope. You know, but often some of these parents don't hear from their children for a very long time. And then all of a sudden, one day the prodigal wants to come home. And I think we've got to trust God to do what only he can do.

Wow. I tell you, if we were in church right now, Laura, this would be a moment when we would start shouting and dancing and praising, just hearing that. I mean, the God that we serve. And that is why we need to trust him. And it's a process as we mature in our faith. You learn to trust him more and more. I know for myself, I'm now in my 40s.

Compared to where I was when I was 20, I do trust him more now than I did then. But as you grow more and more, you realize, as you said, he's fighting the battles for us that we can't even see. But the day will come when we'll be able to look back and then we'll see, okay, now God, I understand what was going on.

I understand what you were doing. Wow. That is so amazing.

It's just so powerful, the God that we serve. So, Laura, so what I played at the beginning of the episode, I played a clip from your testimony. You were featured in his image. And when I first learned about you, you were single, but you had to go and do an update to your testimony because now you have a special man in your life.

So talk about that for us, please. Yeah, it has been such an incredible thing. Like I shared in the video, I believed God had a husband for me, but I've just been so blown away. He's really quite an incredible man. I've never been loved like this in my whole life.

I mean, that's one thing people comment when they meet us together. They say it is so evident how much he loves me. And he's just a godly man. He's a bivocational music minister.

So I have loved being a part of his music ministry and just that's been kind of a special thing. And then he also works at State Farm, but he uses that as an opportunity. He says it's his tent making.

He hates insurance. But it gives him the opportunity to, he leads a Bible study at his office every morning. And then he also is able to witness to a lot of his customers that come in. His boss is a Christian. So that's given him a lot of opportunity there.

And he just, he loves the Lord. And one thing that's kind of funny though, I don't know if you noticed from the clip, my maiden name is Perry and his first name is Perry. That's been fun.

So, you know, I go by Laura Perry Smoltz, but then his name is Perry Smoltz. It gets confusing, but he's just been incredible. It's been so fun.

We've been married about five months now and it's just been such an amazing gift from the Lord. Wow. Wow. That is amazing. And you know, I was thinking about that as you were talking about your name and his name. And I looked at that and I said, your names are as one, you know, it's just a further picture of the marriage, the union, how you are together as one.

So that's just so wonderful. I mean, I'm so happy for you both. And also, you know, in your, with your marriage, you know, there are some things you've talked about your past that you had. And so there are things that God has brought you through, brought you from.

How do you deal with any insecurities, if you have any, that could possibly affect your marriage or your relationship with anyone for that matter? Yeah, that was really hard at first because, you know, I thought I was really healed. You know, healing is an ongoing process the rest of our lives, I think, but God had really healed any desire to be trans.

I hadn't had those desires in quite a while by the time I met Perry, but when we started dating, so many insecurities started coming out. And so many fears of being rejected or abandoned or, you know, I had been so mistreated because of my own sexual sin, mostly, but I had been dumped and abused and rejected so much by men. And I was so terrified of being left, of being hurt again. And I kept telling him over and over, you know, something, he would say something and I would not receive it very well or something, I'd say, I'm sorry, you've got to understand how I was treated before. It's just going to take time to trust you. And he finally said one day, he said, have I not shown you that I trust you?

Have I not shown you that I desire you? And he was really hurt and I realized he had proven to me that he was worthy of my trust, but my feelings hadn't changed because I still had all this fear and this insecurity. And I finally realized that I had to choose to trust him. I had to choose to stop looking at him through the lens of my past, through the men that had hurt me because he was not those men. And he would tell me that all the time.

He's like, I'm not those guys. And, you know, it's such a picture too of how we are with the Lord. We can choose to wait until our feelings change, but a lot of times that's never going to happen. But if we will choose to trust the Lord and we will obey him and follow him and trust him, then a lot of times our feelings will follow.

And I found that with Perry too. As I chose to trust him, my feelings toward trusting him begin to change. And now I tell you, it's just been incredible. God has taught me more and more about biblical womanhood and what it means to submit and to trust my husband. And it's just been, it's been so freeing. And I've realized that this is how God's really wired me. And it's brought so much more security to who I am as a woman.

Wow. You know, Laura, your testimony, your marriage, and as I listen to you talk, it just makes me think about the beautiful salvation in the relationship that God has with us. Because what Jesus does for us is so transforming. And we have to remind ourselves sometimes that the scripture tells us that when we come to know him, we are a new creation in Christ.

So all those things from the past are gone. God doesn't look at those things. When he looks at us, once we come to know Jesus Christ, he sees the righteousness of Christ. That is what he sees.

He doesn't see that past. And I'm just so glad that you have a mature Christian man in Perry, that he understands that, that he sees you are a new creation. But again, you know, from our flesh, we have to remind ourselves of that. Sometimes we can sometimes get insecure, but we can then be reminded of the security that we have in Christ. So it's just a beautiful, beautiful testimony.

And again, I thank you so much for coming on to speak with us today. How can the listeners get a copy of your book? Let's see the title, Transgender to Transformed. And how can they also view the In His Image documentary that you were featured in?

They can go to transgendertotransformed.com. And there's a place you can order my book there. And go to inhisimage.movie. You can watch the film there for free, but also check out the bonus videos. There's a few other resources and then videos and there's lots of other resources there too.

But there's quite a few different videos that will kind of go more in depth on some of these issues and answer some of the questions you may have. So it's just a fantastic resource. You can also go to the ministry that I work for. I work for First Stone Ministries in Oklahoma City. Go to firststone.org and that's not the number one.

It's spelled out F-I-R-S-T stone.org. All right. Well, folks, I want you to take from this that there is power in the blood of Jesus Christ and we can all be changed. It doesn't matter what you've done in your past. Jesus Christ will make you new. He will wash you clean by his blood. And Laura, I don't know if I will ever get to meet you in person on this side of life. But I can tell you I am looking forward to spending eternity with you because it'll just be such a great time to rejoice in the Lord. And what he has done in your life. And we can just go on for eternity living in the presence of a holy God and thinking of all that he's done for us and where he has brought us from and where he's brought us to.

So I so much look forward to that. And I just want to again thank you for coming on. And I pray that God will bless you as you continue to go forward. And as I said to you offline before we got on air, I love your story because it shows that what the devil meant for evil, God has turned it for the good.

Because he tried to entrap you in a gender identity lie. But yet as a result of that, you are now sharing the gospel all over the country and all over the world. And so it just shows the power of our almighty God. So thank you so much again and blessings to you as you continue to go forward. Thank you. God bless you too.

All right. And to our listeners, I want to thank you for tuning in. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. And to the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Discerning the Times is presented by Blessings to Israel.