A former porn star shared how, after becoming a Christian, she decided to refrain from sexual activity until marriage, and encouraged women to remember that sexual purity always begins with the heart.
Before finding Jesus, Brittni De La Mora, previously known by her stage name Jenna Presley, was a rising star in the adult film industry. She performed in hundreds of films, was named one of Maxim Magazine's top 12 female performers in porn, and placed second in Jenna Jameson's American Sex Star on Playboy TV. At the height of her career, she was raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, God had other plans for her life.
Craig Gross' XXXChurch played a pivotal role in her coming to know Christ as her Savior, and De La Mora soon left her former lifestyle and lucrative career behind her.
"When I first began going to Cornerstone Church of San Diego I had just left the Adult Film Industry, where I had filmed roughly 375 scenes," she said in a recent blog post. "Yes, I know, that is a lot. I went into Church so broken and had come to the end of myself. I was so far down in life I had nowhere to look but up. I knew that my way in life was not working. I was almost 26 years old, single, broke, and depressed."
As she learned more about Jesus, her mindset slowly began to change: "As I began reading the Bible, I learned a new way of living. I knew God had given me a second chance at life and I wanted to do whatever I could to do it right this time."
De La Mora decided to practice sexual purity as part of her lifestyle change. Eventually, her celibacy became less about herself and more about inspiring others.
"I thought, 'If an ex-porn star could wait to have sex until marriage, then anyone can do it,'" she said. "In Church, I heard so many great stories from women who had bad relationships, they were sexually intimate prior to marriage and fought all the time, but God restored them."
She added, "Although I love a good restoration story I did not want that story. I wanted to be able to say, 'Sexual purity is not easy, but it is possible, and if I can do it, so can you.'"
At her church, De La Mora met the man she would eventually marry - and together, they decided to refrain from sexual activity until marriage.
"I was celibate for 3 years and my husband for 7 years," she said. "Honoring God has been important to us since the day we met Him. I am so grateful that my husband and I chose to honor God over our desires and temptations. We did it the right way because we did it God's way. Because of this I can truly say that I have been blessed with a great marriage. God continues to favor us and bless us with mind blowing opportunities."
The former porn star said she wants to encourage women to remember that God is faithful to those who are faithful to him and that purity isn't just a physical issue - it's a heart issue.
"To my friends whom are dating or want to date, purity is not easy, but honoring God is always worth it," she advised. "If you've been intimate with your partner, I would encourage you to give purity a chance. God will honor and bless you immensely for honoring Him."
She added, "Purity always starts with the heart. To keep a pure heart, I seek God everyday through worship, prayer and reading the Bible. I continue to overlook offenses and quickly forgive those who hurt me."
