"God can't use me because I struggle with same-sex attraction"
How it sounds in your head: This attraction disqualifies you from ministry, from being 'fully' Christian, from ever being used powerfully. You're fighting something other Christians don't even deal with. You're broken in a way that makes you less-than. You have to hide this forever or you're out.
"And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
-- 2 Corinthians 12:9Source: Church culture that elevates sexual orientation struggles above every other battle and forgets God uses broken people exclusively.
You've heard 'love the sinner, hate the sin' so many times it sounds like hate. You watch other girls talk about purity and boys while you're fighting something no one will mentor you through. You feel like a secret agent in your own youth group.
Paul had a 'thorn in the flesh'—a struggle he begged God THREE TIMES to remove. God's answer was NO—'My grace is sufficient, My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Paul wrote half the New Testament WHILE battling this unremoved struggle.
I REFUSE the lie that my struggle with same-sex attraction disqualifies me from God's purposes. IT IS WRITTEN: God's strength is made PERFECT in weakness—not in my ability to be struggle-free. IT IS WRITTEN that Paul begged God three times to remove his thorn, and God said 'My GRACE is sufficient.' I am not defined by my attractions—I am defined by the BLOOD OF JESUS. My struggle doesn't make me less anointed; it makes me more DEPENDENT on grace, which is where His power lives. I am the righteousness of God in Christ, and my vulnerability about this battle will set other people FREE who are hiding in shame.
The Father isn't waiting for you to 'fix' this before He uses you—He's using you IN THE MIDDLE of it because your dependence on grace is where His strength shines brightest. He's not disappointed in your struggle; He's present IN it, and your honesty will be someone else's breakthrough.