Beth Davis: Finding Freedom from Pornography and Shame | Arise for Women & Blessed Is She

💬 “There’s nothing wrong with you. Healing and freedom in Jesus are possible.”

In this episode of the Covenant Eyes Podcast, hosts Rob Stoddard and Heidi Cooper sit down with Beth Davis — Director of Formation at Blessed Is She — to talk about breaking free from p*rn*graphy, shame, and isolation.

Beth shares her personal story of encountering God’s mercy and the power of community through the *Arise for Women* program — a 21-day journey toward healing and freedom from p*rn*graphy.

💡 Topics in this episode:
0:00 – Introduction with Rob and Heidi
1:14 – Beth’s story: healing and deliverance through Christ
3:07 – What makes Arise for Women unique
5:13 – Women, shame, and the hidden struggle
10:25 – How churches can help women heal
15:20 – Mary and Elizabeth: biblical friendship and support
18:41 – Hope stories from Arise participants
20:03 – Beth’s prayer for 100,000 women to find freedom
22:17 – How to get involved with Arise and Blessed Is She

📘 Learn more:
👉 Arise for Women: https://cvnteyes.co/3ZvW65U
👉 Blessed Is She: https://www.blessedisshe.net
👉 Covenant Eyes: https://cvnteyes.co/4gb6xme

🙌 If this conversation encouraged you, please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE it with someone who needs hope.

#CovenantEyes #AriseForWomen #BlessedIsShe #FreedomFromPornography #ChristianHealing #FaithAndFreedom #BethDavis #WomenOfFaith #BreakingShame #Testimony

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Transcript

0:06

Well, hello again to the Covenant Eyes podcast. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Rob Stoddard. I'm one of the co-hosts today, and I have with me Heidi Cooper, who is a recovery specialist here at Covenant Eyes. Just a wonderful ministry and piece of our ministry here. So, Heidi, how are you doing today? No, I'm good. Thanks, Rob. I am so excited to have Beth, back with us again. So welcome to the Covenant Eyes podcast again. And for those of you who might not who might not know you, can you share just a little bit about yourself, your work with, Blessed Is She. And what led you to partner with Covenant Eyes on the rise program? Yeah. Thanks. Heidi. My name is Beth Davis. I am the director of formation for a Catholic women's ministry called Blessed Is She. And the Lord radically changed and saved my life. Not just once, but again. And again in the 20 plus years that I've been following him. And one of the major victories for me, was just the mercy of God delivering me from pornography and masturbation. And I was. I am so grateful for that miraculous and ongoing healing work that God has done in my life that, it's my joy to share about it. So here at Blessed Is She, Jenna, who is the founder of the Ministry, and my best friend, she and I both have a testimony of what God has done for us, leading us out of that, that struggle, that attachment, that sin. And so we speak very openly about it. And, it's been just a great blessing. And I've been, just overwhelmed by how the Lord has multiplied the the grace of that miracle in my life and in Jenny's life and in our community. And then I don't know, how about Karen? Found it. Must have heard about it. And, I was really privileged to be invited to partner with you all, to offer this program to women to be able to walk, more consistently over this three week program with women into their, freedom and healing. Well, that's great. So, Beth, for those of, those that are listening that may not know much about Arise, can you kind of walk through what a participant and Arise, what the experience and the daily videos, the reflection, the community? Really? What's the heart of the of Arise for people? Yeah. Great question. It's such a big part of my heart. I'll have to kind of distill it down. But, really, I think what's so special about Arises is just what I mentioned, that it's not a one off kind of. Here's, a set of practical tips, and now it's up to you, and you're on your way, to to deal with this on your own, but that there's really, there's an accompaniment that happens. So in these daily videos, they're, they're beautiful scripts and, wide ranging topics that help us to not only, quit pornography, but begin to understand ourselves. Our story, our attractions, really with a compassionate heart, with the heart of Christ. Really to look at, the fullness of our experience, with, love and tenderness, especially toward our younger selves. For many of us who were exposed, like me at an early age. And so I think that's to me, what is the most special is that I get to walk with women. And you have support not only through the videos and by heart and prayers. But the beautiful team behind her eyes that that put it together with such a heart for women who are suffering and struggling and then covenant eyes. It doesn't just stop there with that three weeks of support, that there is a community aspect. So you're able to connect with other women in different parts of their recovery journey. For support, for understanding and for that, kind of practical help and accountability. So I, I genuinely it's hard for me to narrow it down, but I think the ongoing nature of it, that three weeks, is central to what makes it so special. And, and so different from anything else I had seen or has existed. But also, I think the scripts are really, the information that you'll learn, the insight that with God's help and with prayer and with the support of someone, we hope walking with you in your daily life as well, that there's a deeper self-knowledge and a deeper healing of the soul that can happen through this resource. Yeah. Thank you for for sharing all of that. Can you share also a little bit of how you know, your journey through struggling with pornography as being specifically a woman and how that was harder? You know, not harder than men, but in a sense, there's such a stigma around women who struggle. I've seen I've seen it and I, I moderate the Arise comments and the threads and I see just over and over and over how women are ashamed that they struggle with this too. Can you share a little bit about your experience and what your journey look like? Is struggling as a woman and how what helped you? Yeah, absolutely. For so long, I thought my experience was unique, that I was exposed at a very young age, struggled, in secret, really suffocated by shame. And then when I encountered Jesus as a living person and my heart was converted, I grew up in the church. But I didn't understand, that Jesus wanted a personal relationship with me, that I could hear him and receive his love in personal and practical ways. And when that happened, you know, my my struggle, my sin didn't go away. And so I sat in youth groups and at conferences, and I read books about growing in faith. And, I, I don't remember ever hearing or seeing a witness of a woman struggling with pornography. And so I it it it compounds the shame, doesn't it? There's kind of an inherent shame in it. I just even as a little child, that natural law was written in me, and it went against this inherent dignity that I have. And so I remember being in high school and kind of looking around and feeling like such, like there was something wrong with me, truthfully, something wrong with my sexuality. Something twisted about me. And I remember the first time I took a risk, and I shared it with a girlfriend and, in my youth group, and and she just shook her head and was like, yeah, me too. I struggle with that too. And that was a revelation to me. And so the truth is over the next, I don't know how many years, 15 years, nearly every friend that I confided in met me with that same response, had some experience with pornography and masturbation, some, sexual sin that made her feel deeply ashamed and, twisted, like there was something wrong with her. And just last month, I, I spoke at, a youth conference and, a college summit kind of ran parallel on that weekend. So 1500 souls. I was speaking to you, and I don't normally, I've been working with women in this ministry for so many years now. My youth ministry days are far behind me. I was really, really nervous to stand up and speak to these young people, and I felt the Lord really pressed upon my heart to share my testimony about pornography. And and I did, with both those thousand high schoolers and those 500 college students. And after both of those sessions, I had girls lining up just weeping in my arms, saying to me, I've never heard a woman talk about this. I didn't know this was the thing. I didn't have any hope. I didn't know how to get out of this. And I was just. So I share that because I was so baffled that, you know, I'm I just turned 42. Like my experience as a high school team that was 20. Is that right? 20 almost 25 years ago. And I thought we must have we must have caught up by now as a, as a church and really with, you know, the not only the advent of like social media and, how technology is like taking over our lives and pornography is really in nearly all forms of entertainment. Like how how can these young girls have the same experience that I had despite, yeah, despite 25 years having passed? So yeah, I, I just, I, I share that again, not, to be discouraging, but to say like, I want to continue to shout that from the rooftops. And that's why I'm so grateful that something like Arise exists, that they can see my face and hear my voice and, not feel so alone and not feel so I want to say the word that comes to me is like disgusting. Like I felt like there was something perverted about me, something wrong with me, because my sexuality had really been formed by pornography. So I don't know if that answers your question. I think it's kind of long winded. No, no, no, that's that's great. The more the more I think our listeners hear vulnerability and women just being open. It was my experience too. I, I'm 48 so a little bit older than you. And my experience too is no one ever talked about women struggling. So I'm so glad that you shared all of that. Can you can you just share a little bit, maybe, of how Arise itself is helping women out of the isolation of struggling with porn? Yeah. You know, this is going to sound deceptively simple, but what I've learned again and again is that when we just say the word out loud. So any time I share my testimony, I. I say pornography and masturbation. Like I don't want to leave any little struggling, sweet soul thinking, okay, well, I, I've struggled with this, but not that or my story looks this and I'm worse than she is. I'm trying to like put it all out there. And so I think again just not only hearing at one time, but 21 days hearing my story and the encouragement, to reach out to someone in your, your real life who can support you and love you and champion you and check in with you. Plus that added level of online support and community, the resources that are available there. I think, again, we're kind of hitting it from every direction, you know, even if it's just you and me on a screen for 21 days. If you're not ready to reach out, here's at least one other person who's saying it out loud. It's not just you. There's nothing wrong with you. God has a good plan for your life, and healing is possible. There's hope for total freedom in Jesus Christ. You know? Amen. Anytime we bring something out of the darkness into the light, it's just so powerful. Beth, you you talked a little bit about maybe haven't seen much change over the last 20, 30 years sometimes. And I wonder if some of that is just historically, the church has struggled with addressing this, especially acknowledging it for women. Could you speak to that a little bit? Just see. Yeah, just tell us a little bit what you see in the church, but also is Arise going to going to be able to help that situation at all? Absolutely. In fact, I've been so impressed with Coven and I's and, just the plan you had to mobilize this program to let church leadership know about it. I remember Karen at one point sharing with me that they were sending, little business cards with the information for a rise to Catholic priest to hand out in confession. And I could weep thinking like if a priest had handed me that in confession, that there would have been some support outside the sacrament. So my context is growing up in the Catholic Church. Of course I'm still Catholic and love my Catholic faith. And, you know, I wonder if I might be too hard on the church or on youth groups because, again, I'm not in youth ministry. I'm not in those, circles. But again, when I hear these, this experience of women saying, I've never heard anybody, say this for for me, coming from a Catholic perspective, I know there's, a sensitivity to speaking about it from the pulpit in a homily at mass because all families, all ages are there. But I've also seen priests become, just so brave. And, I don't want to say creative, but to share in a, I want to say, like, a chaste way. A way that doesn't send people's imaginations or especially children's imaginations kind of away with them. So I have seen that start to come in more and more, but again, I think just the existence of a program like A rise for women and strive 21 for men, the more that church leadership, youth ministers, pastors, counselors on staff know about this program. It's so powerful to meet with someone one on one and necessary, I think, to be received in our the particulars of our story and our heartache with it, but then to have ongoing support. So I think you all have done an amazing job just getting the word out that this exists and and there is a way forward. So just what's what's one thing that sticks out to you biblically about a rise that you found to be transformative for these women, rewriting their story and their sexuality and shame? Yeah, there's a day very early on and Arise, which is one of my favorite, my favorite days, where we introduced the idea of, of sharing your story with just one person in your real life. And, biblically, we turn to the example of Mary and Elizabeth at the visitation and how Mary went with haste to support Elizabeth at the end of her pregnancy and kind of broke open, all that that could have happened in those three months, all that we assume happened, the support, the celebration. Right, Mary? Coming and celebrating that Elizabeth, who had been barren, who had known this, cultural shame and and heartache and disappointment that she came and celebrated what God had done and and even called it forth, agreed with it. And so for me, I thought that was a beautiful, mirror, a beautiful picture of what happens when we invite just one other woman into our story. In our real life, someone who can support us. I mean, I imagine Mary's meal prepping, you know, and telling Elizabeth to sit down and put her feet up. So there's that practical support. But there's also this celebration, like like I had one day. I had one day of it in my language, my experience, I would kind of speak to it as like sobriety, like I had one day today and somebody to celebrate that instead of what I could do, which is like, what does that matter? It's just one day, like, I'm probably going to fall again tomorrow, but to share that with one person and have them, really champion me and affirm me and be in it with me. And now I've created that, I've created that, almost like a reward system where, like, I want to tell this person that I had another day. And also if I'm if I'm on the edge, if things are just triggering me right and left, I want to reach out to that person so that I can keep going. I can keep, yeah. Experiencing the beauty of life and pure love without, without the pain of pornography, without that lens of pornography kind of muddying everything up. So I think biblically, that witness of Mary and Elizabeth and I imagine Elizabeth, to Mary, I think can really transform women's lives. And it did for me. I've seen that in my own life and my friendship with the girl in my youth group and then with my my best friend Jenna. It was a tremendous source of bonding and love. And, yeah, a great, a great help to me in moments where things have felt tricky or a shame kind of comes back rearing its ugly head. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's encouraging in. And that's one thing about a rise that, that we're seeing is that we're hearing a lot of encouraging story. Heidi. Here's a lot of those. But Beth, in your opinion, there in in your work with Arise, what kinds of encouraging news are you getting feedback from women who have gone through a rise? Can you share some of that? Yeah, it's been so fun. To just connect with women, like in my DMs or, you all will kind of share with me different testimonies. And again, I just, I, I thank God really for the relief that I hear even in just these the written communication that I have of women who have maybe been struggling like I did, for decades. Or since young childhood and, and just it's always felt like this is the way it's going to be. And suddenly it's like, like the dawn is breaking, like it's possible. There could be another way I could live another life. So the relief to me is like, it's something I really celebrate and thank God for. That's been one of my favorite things. You know. Well, I can say from having watched all the videos and, I participated in writing some of the content for A rise. So I wanted to just hear from you of looking ahead. What's your prayer or vision for how a rise could impact women, families, churches like in the coming years? What do you see is know on your heart for the impact of that? Yeah, I love that question because I, I get to share this God given dream that I have for a rise from the very beginning when I said yes to this program, I asked the Lord for 100,000 souls to be set free from pornography through Arise. And, I sometimes will ask, like how many women have gone through it? And I'm just watching that number rise because I know God is good for it. And, I know that's that's not too much to ask because even at times I think it might be too little to ask of the Lord because I know how far reaching, this problem is. In the hearts of women and in the church and just in our culture. And so, yeah, my hope, my prayer, really, my expectation is that 100,000 women, will walk through, Arise and will be set free from pornography. Wow. That's that's a beautiful Beth, as we kind of get toward the end here, can you share with our listeners just how they can get involved with a rise, but also with you in your ministry? How do they connect? Yeah. Yeah, I well, I just want to say, maybe finally, on that 100,000 souls. I felt very much like God, the anointing. His hand was on this program and on on your work there at coven and I. And so I reached out to pretty much everybody that I know and asked them all to partner with me in praying for that. And, just last week, I had a priest friend reach out and ask me, how's it going with the rise? I'm still praying for the women. I'm still praying for the program. And so I just want to say, you're very much in my heart and in my prayers and in the prayers of the many, many people that I beg to intercede for you. So in that isolation that you may be feeling, I just want you to know you're truly not alone. The supernatural reality, the Kingdom of God coming to earth is more real than the natural world that we see them. The isolation that you feel, which is a lie from the enemy because you're not alone. And so my prayers are with you. Our support is with you. Please, get involved. Even if you've started a rise and you fell off and there was too much shame. Start again. Just just begin again. So you can find a rise. A rise for women.com. I'd love to walk with you for those three weeks. And, we'd love to support you as you grow in your faith at blessed. If she were a Catholic women's community all about prayer and community, so growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ together. So we provide, not only ways to connect in community, both locally, helping people connect right where they are, giving resources, helping you understand how to start and maintain a small group, but also a community online. You can find out everything about us at blessed if she got net and then I'm pretty boring, but I'm on Instagram the back Davis. It's an old inside joke. I don't really think I'm the only back Davis. We we're so grateful for you and so thankful that we were able to partner with you and making this available for women. As I've been reading and moderating the comments for rise, I've just been blown away at how women are being ministered to. I've heard many women say I this is the first time I've ever felt seen. Even if they haven't interacted with people yet, they're actually receiving care. They're receiving healing just by watching and and reading and feeling so connected. I just think that that is an amazing gift. And so just thank you so much for all of your gifting, all of your heart, all of your passion for Jesus into this. We are so grateful and appreciate. Thanks, Heidi, and thanks for your hard work on those beautiful scripts to help me communicate all those in my heart and all the truth that's in Scripture and really God's heart for these women. And thanks for keeping up and supporting the women there in the in the community. Yeah. Excellent. Yes, Beth, thank you. Thank you for joining us today. It was wonderful. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us and listening today. Please do share a like this, pass on the word about Arise and, Beth's ministry and, get a look for our next episode. But again, thanks for joining us. Take care. Bye bye.