What does/did the Holy Spirit tell you about your trans issues?

[amandam]

What answers did you seek during your journey of self-discovery? How did you get your answer or are you still seeking?

(some examples):
Are you really male/female mentally.
Transition - yes or no.
Crossdressing - natural for me or fetish or both.
Sexuality - same sex, porn issues, etc.
<any other subject>

[Doreen]

It wasn't the holy spirit speaking to me about these ... issues. It was my own inner biology.  Telling me THINGS DID NOT ADD UP.  My body changed, my mind quickly followed.

Granted I didn't follow the standard route, but that didn't stop my overly zealous parents from trying to install shame, ridicule, and downright hatred of me & myself. Fortunately I saw beyond their .. incredibly biased & hateful opinions.

I am me, a wonderfully, balanced individual. No nothings perfect. I have health issues associated with this.  But in the end, I still attend church, I haven't been blasted by lightning from above of spontaneously combusted, and I'm slowly rebuilding a strong social network.  This is very important.

Be you.  If you choose to believe in God he really did then design you with this.  Accept it as his trials to forge you into a better person.. hopefully more caring and empathetic because of it.

<3 <3

[Lady Love]

What answers did you seek during your journey of self-discovery? How did you get your answer or are you still seeking?

(some examples):
Are you really male/female mentally.
Transition - yes or no.
Crossdressing - natural for me or fetish or both.
Sexuality - same sex, porn issues, etc.
<any other subject>

Mentally:
I used to think I just had a fetish when I realized I had been wanting to be a woman for years. I think arguing with yourself about are you mentally a man or woman can wear you down, I think the more important question is "what can I do to feel more congruent with myself?" When I got my E they said the focus is on making me happy, so test the waters with whatever you think will help you be yourself.

Transition:
I think every trans person transitions to some degree. Even before I got my prescriptions, my girlfriend could tell I was acting very different. She said while we we being intimate that I act like a lesbian now. Which I don't know exactly what that means but it made me feel like a woman

Again, search your feelings and see what changes would make you happier.  You don't have to transition at all or you can go as far as you like.

Crossdressing:
I thought I just had a fetish for years, without ever reading the theory, I had fallen into the trap of >-bleeped-<. I know it is not a fetish because women's clothing makes me happy and complete in non-sexual ways. That said, especially at first the excitement of discovering my gender identity did mix with some sexual feelings.

Sexuality:
I had sexual feelings of wanting to be a woman long before I was trans. Some people say things like "why would you fantasize about being yourself?" Yet, if you are sexual person as I am who did not know they were trans, it is easy to see how that would bubble to the surface through fantasy.

Other questions:
Will I change now that I am trans? Everybody changes all the time and nothing will stop that. Discovering you are trans is a huge disruption to your old life and you will discover a lot, but I think most people view themselves as the same person.

Am I a real woman (man)? This question is kind of reductive, as people ask this plenty when they are not trans. Relating to the Holy Spirit, God does not do accidents. If I am trans I am supposed to be this way. No Bible passage could change this because I refuse to believe some people are just created wrong.

Should I tell...? I told my mom just so someone in my family would know and I wouldn't feel too alone. It's important not to hide yourself, but also consider exactly who needs coming out to and why.

Will this change my romantic relationship? In a word, yes. There is no way for a person to go through so much change and it not affect things. These aren't always bad changes. Make sure to stay open and honest but also don't let the SO hurt your self perception. One thing that was tough for mine was she wanted the traditional way of getting pregnant and her own idea of her womanhood was tied into that. Eventually she saw I really needed this and the doctor explained infertility doesn't set in completely for awhile. I made sure to talk with her and accommodate her feelings, but never let her uneasiness make me question my identity.

Sorry my responses seem like I am telling you answers, that's just the easiest way to write for me.

Love,
Bren


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[Autrement]

What answers did you seek during your journey of self-discovery? How did you get your answer or are you still seeking?

<any other subject>

I believe the Holy Spirit is Jesus' spirit. Jesus said and showed he wants life, joy, freedom, truth, self love and others' love for all of us - even if it comes along with some suffering as this world is not fully God's kingdom yet.
Therefore, seeking the Holy Spirit is seeking where truth is, where life is, where joy is, where more freedom is, where more love is (charity towards myself and others).
This does not provide any easy direct answer to any question about transition, but gradually, over time it helped me accept my condition (believing Christ is with me), and allow myself actions that seem authentic to me to get more freedom, more love of myself while fully respecting others: I started HRT 3 years ago (with my wife accepting) and some cross dressing. I will see in the future how things develop and what signs I receive...

Pope Francis recently said to someone: "God made you gay and he loves you like that". For any reason, for any mystery that we might know some day, God made us trans, he loves us like that, he relies on us to contribute building his kingdom like that, I believe...

[Lady Love]

I believe the Holy Spirit is Jesus' spirit. Jesus said and showed he wants life, joy, freedom, truth, self love and others' love for all of us - even if it comes along with some suffering as this world is not fully God's kingdom yet.
Therefore, seeking the Holy Spirit is seeking where truth is, where life is, where joy is, where more freedom is, where more love is (charity towards myself and others).
This does not provide any easy direct answer to any question about transition, but gradually, over time it helped me accept my condition (believing Christ is with me), and allow myself actions that seem authentic to me to get more freedom, more love of myself while fully respecting others: I started HRT 3 years ago (with my wife accepting) and some cross dressing. I will see in the future how things develop and what signs I receive...

Pope Francis recently said to someone: "God made you gay and he loves you like that". For any reason, for any mystery that we might know some day, God made us trans, he loves us like that, he relies on us to contribute building his kingdom like that, I believe...

Well said and lovely


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[epvanbeveren]

Born in 1963, in the Netherlands, and raised very strict conservative reformed Christian (do I say that right?) until I was 16.

Any way, during my first 16 years there was no sexual education, the word transgender wasn't invented yet, sex and gender wasn't talked about in my family circle.

I was behaving in a feminine way since I can remember, but 8 for sure. All I did was living the way I thought was and felt normal to me. Until I was told that I am supposed to act normal and somethings I did was called gay. I didn't know what gay was, I did know that whatever I did wasn't "normal" so my conclusion was I was gay. Still not really knowing what gay really meant. (To me gay = anything not considered normal)

Fasten forward until I came out to my mom and relatives (2015) who are still Christian. My mom love and accepts me as her daughter, but most aunts told me (via my mom, not directly to me) that its a sin and not the way one should life in god's way. After my mom spook with her referent at her church she was feeling much better... He told her there are 3 other transwoman in their church.

So my idea is that each individual person takes his/her own conclusion within the same church and faith.

For me, after the way the church was trying to put their faith on me, I didn't continue with the church when I was 16. I am still loved and treated with "normal respect" from family and the few church members I very occasionally come in touch with. Last time was in May, like 5 weeks or so ago, the referent shake my hands and spoke to me friendly and addressed me as a female.

My "dislike" from the church is not gender related, and perhaps in today's date will be a different story, and not as strict. Back when I grew up, if you felt down the stairs on Sunday you wait till Monday to have medical care so no one was working for you on Sundays. No TV, no work, dinner was light and usually made the day before. No children's magazine... aka Donald duck either, as that's considered devil propaganda etc.

[SarahM777]

What answers did you seek during your journey of self-discovery? How did you get your answer or are you still seeking?

(some examples):
Are you really male/female mentally.
Transition - yes or no.
Crossdressing - natural for me or fetish or both.
Sexuality - same sex, porn issues, etc.
<any other subject>

It was confirmed so many times by others that I was female mentally and emotionally. I had a friend that I worked with at the dry cleaners I was working at. A couple of times she told me I would have made a good girl. She would be tagging in the clothes and then she would hold a dress or blouse up and tell me that it would look good on me.
One day both of us were rather cranky that day and she looked at me and gave me a funny look and said that if she didn't know any better she could swear I was mentally and emotionally having a period and she said she wouldn't have caught it expect for the fact she told me we were on the same cycle. (Say what??)
I've been outed within minutes of starting a new job not knowing anyone there. The day it finally hit home was the day my second wife looked at me and told me that living with me was like living with a another women. (Needless to say by that time I knew I had a problem that I needed to deal with because I was not dealing with it well before then)


I tried the healing services even got to the point of asking God to make me wholly one or the other. At one of the prayer services I got an answer (Not the complete answer that I would get later) The answer was no. This was allowed for His glory and I was to trust Him with this. Problem was I took the answer to mean I was to try and live as a man and over come this in that manner (Didn't work too well) I was not ready to let go of what I had been taught about it up to that point. (3 of the reasons you are claiming to be trans 1. You are rejecting what God has made you. 2 It's caused by your parents not train you right etc. 3 Serve trauma. And I was dealing with 2 of those and for a long time I believed those lies) So God allowed me to try to do it on my own and I utterly failed at it.

In the summer 2000 after my second wife had died I broke down because my wife had committed suicide and I felt like I was partly to blame because I put her into a position she should have never been in and she was dealing with a whole lot of her own issues and it was too much for her. I realized that because of my trying to overcome it the wrong way I was hurting those around me. That night I cried and starting praying and I heard this small still voice asking me if I was ready to trust Him with this. That night I got laid bare where I had hurt others because of this and I was not totally innocent in all of this. For the next six months I would His voice dealing with me on forgiving those who hurt me as He had forgiven me for all that I had done.  I fought to forgive 2 people in life and I fought till I was reminded that God was not asking anything more of me than what He asked of Jesus when Jesus forgave those who had beaten him to a pulp and were pounding spikes into hands and feet and Jesus was the innocent one. At that point I was finally ready to deal with the truth and again I prayed and once again I heard that still small voice telling me I was His daughter and my name is Sarah. I finally got the answer I needed and where I goes from here will be an adventure and no one can take that away from me.


Transition due to certain factors was not a viable option. (Lack of funds and lack of insurance)


As far as crossdressing is concerned my body type is not 100 % a typical male. Women's jeans fit better than men's jeans. So I dress far more gender neutral when going out in public.

As far as sexuality I lean closer to asexual due to a low sex drive and sex with the way my brain thinks it should feel and the way it actually feels it seems to short circuit everything.

[MsAnnaLynn]

I have been back and forth on this for ages, but finally I had had enough. I simple went to God with my request and, I can't say it was immediate, but soon afterward the Scripture in Galatians kept coming up to me GAL 3:  28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
I also get Romans 8:35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep."[a]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the Holy spirit speaking to me.

[DawnOday]

I went no further than "Love Jesus with all thy heart" "Love thy neighbor as thyself" There are no greater commandments than these. So that eliminates a lot of reading and reinterpreting "the word".

[Lady Sarah]

Pretty much, everyone that has ever been around me since I was a baby could tell. By the age of 3, I knew I wasn't like other boys. Prayers ent unanswered when I prayed God make me female. Only in asking for guidance, would He show me the way.  When I doubted the guidance, everything blew up in my face, as He pushed me to the beginning of the path and showed me how to proceed.

Be careful what you wish for, and be joyous when you get it.

[gracefulhat]

What answers did you seek during your journey of self-discovery? How did you get your answer or are you still seeking?

(some examples):
Are you really male/female mentally.
Transition - yes or no.
Crossdressing - natural for me or fetish or both.
Sexuality - same sex, porn issues, etc.
<any other subject>

Amanda, here's my personal opinion about the Holy Spirit's role in my own journey as someone who is transgender (and who is a christian). One of the Spirit's main role for a believer of Jesus is this (from John 16) - to convict the believer of their right standing in Jesus. I believe biology tells us that we are transgender. Then when the world screams at you that tou are sick, wrong, a lost sole that needs to be saved.......... *BAM then comes the sweet whisper of the Spirit telling your spirit that you are a child of God, that he's not mad at you, that nothing can seperate tou from His love, and that his grace is sufficient for you. His voice is always a whisper, never a shout (that's how you differentiate) because lovers whisper.

[ErinWDK]

What answers did you seek during your journey of self-discovery? How did you get your answer or are you still seeking?

(some examples):
Are you really male/female mentally.
Transition - yes or no.
Crossdressing - natural for me or fetish or both.
Sexuality - same sex, porn issues, etc.
<any other subject>

My story is, well ... my story, and different than anyone else's.  When I started to try to come to grips with my issues I did my usual and prayed about the situation.  The answer I got was to find professional help.  The word professional was explicitly in that answer.  As I looked around I discovered that for someone to be professional they need to work by a code of ethics, and part of that code of ethics is to not try to tell the client what their gender identity is.  Many of the deeply traditional Christian sources I look at utterly fail that test -- they want to say I am wrong to be the me that God created. 

So my fight is to somehow be part of the church and be the real me.  This is an uphill battle.

[anne_indy]

Hi Amanda - All of us who consider ourselves Christian and wrestle with our gender identity confront the question of differentiating between the what does God directly, and through his gifts of Jesus the Holy Spirit think about us as transgender individuals versus what is the dogma of the church and its traditional perspectives on this issue. Mostly the church didn't think much about this issue, as it has only come more into the spotlight in the last 5-10 years. And churches are in general conservative (slow to change) organizations. That does not make them "bad" organizations, but rather organizations where change comes slowly.

Through the years I saw both pastoral and psychological counseling on the issue, as my desire was to please God, but not able to escape my transgender thoughts. Enmeshed in the church's traditional thinking those avenues always came to the same conclusion. In my own time with God, I always sensed God telling me that I am loved as I am. But that still left the external forces that expected conformity to their external codes of conduct. So I continued to bury my TG self. But in the last couple of years, when confronting what it means to "love your neighbor as yourself" (quoted in a previous response) I hit the wall when it came to what it means to "love yourself". How could I love myself when I am transgender - what the "church" considered flawed, the result of sin, imperfect. That caused me to seek out a gender therapist, who was also experienced in spiritual issues. To love myself, means to accept the fact that I am transgender, and accept that God loves me as I am. Jesus himself did not have trouble interacting with the people who weren't conforming to the religious and cultural norms. Also, as another person quoted, in God there is neither male nor female. So if we are transgender, then we reflect both elements of the person of God.

There is much more that can be said, as this is an issue of deep interest to me. But i will stop here. It is part of our developing a close relationship with God, and coming to terms with his love for us. The answers that we receive through the Holy Spirit, may not necessarily conform to the societal norms, as Jesus attitudes did not conform to the societal norms in Israel of 2K years ago.

Brook




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[Susan Baum]

There is much more that can be said, as this is an issue of deep interest to me. But i will stop here. It is part of our developing a close relationship with God, and coming to terms with his love for us. The answers that we receive through the Holy Spirit, may not necessarily conform to the societal norms, as Jesus attitudes did not conform to the societal norms in Israel of 2K years ago.

Amanda, I think Brook and I share the similar feelings.

The Holy Spirit has blessed me in countless ways and taught me to be careful what I pray for, the Lord has many ways of answering. I am here today and for that, I offer thanks to the Lord's grace.

I don't need to cite chapters and verses to show God's love for humanity; it starts becoming evident in Genesis and is "glue" that hold us all together. Jesus' coming as the Christ was foretold by the four major prophets long before he strode the banks of the River Jordan.

Jesus was a radical. He went out of his way to make the outcasts of the society within he lived know that God's love for them was limitless. He preached of love and charity and hospitality from the Word of the Lord as it existed in his age and backed up his preaching with actions that He knew would drive the Pharisees bananas. I have no doubt that He would be as welcoming to anyone on today's LGBTQ spectrum as he was to lepers, the scummiest of the scum in that day and age. How/why do some hierarchal or doctrinal faith leaders seem forget this?

When I finally woke up and realized that transition was the Lord answering my prayers for help, I approached my parish priest pre-armed with the above knowledge and an armful of biblical citations, I found I didn't need them; he looked at me calmly and told me I would always be welcomed in the congregation before we sat in prayer. As a life-long Anglican this meant the world to me.

Susan

[Jin]

Simple.
Love God.
Love others.

[gracefulhat]

Simple.
Love God.
Love others.

Amen

[Complete]

Amen

Yes. It really is just that simple.

[Janes Groove]

The Holy Spirit always was telling me, "Jane, you're just a big, old, girl."
Finally  listening to it. That took a while.