Mailli Brown

“How often has a spouse appeared kind, hardworking, even sacrificial, but in private indulged in unwanted sexual behavior? The issue may be hypocrisy, but far more often, the person is recreating the original dynamics from childhood. The script he received was to present a tame and sacrificial version of himself to the world. Tragically, his sexual desire and personal opinions remain buried. Devoid of care, his thoughts and emotions were unable to mature.”
― Jay Stringer, Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing

“Growing up in a rigid family system begets children who are often split off as either good or bad. Whether you become the golden child or the black sheep, your life reveals the pathology of a rigid family system. The black sheep of the family may look out of control, but if you listen to what drives his behavior and defiance, you will hear an honesty that rivals the truth-telling capacity of a biblical prophet. He refuses to live in a family that demands unquestioned loyalty to the tyranny of rigidity and, sadly, often squanders much of his life in defiant protest long after he leaves home. The consequences of his actions will certainly need to be engaged, but the recovery process of the black sheep is far easier than the golden child’s journey out of a life of self-righteousness and hiding.”
― Jay Stringer, Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing

“In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no damage that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

“Lust blooms in the soil of disengagement. Disengagement plants the seeds of lust because the child, who is made to experience tenderness and delight, recognizes that familial love is not something that can be depended on.”
― Jay Stringer, Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing