When Chris was young, he wanted nothing more than to be like his older brother. He walked like a boy, talked like a boy and even copied his brother’s handwriting style. He played sandlot football and Little League baseball with the boys.
Except there was one small problem… Chris wasn’t a boy.
He hated his body and wished he could change his sex. But Chris didn’t grow up with the cultural acceptance that transgender children have today, making hormones and surgery so accessible for youth.
Yet, for Chris, that turned out to be a blessing.
You see, I once was Chris, but now I’m Christine.
When I was a child gender meant male or female, and I was certain mine was a mistake. I imagined that as God was creating me, he became being so busy making people that he got distracted when it was my turn. I was sure that when I was made in my mother’s womb, I was supposed to be a boy, but I came out a girl instead.
I grew up thinking I knew better than God; I was sure my female body was an accident.
I grew up thinking I knew better than God; I was sure my female body was an accident. It wasn’t until I became a Christian as a young adult that I was challenged by the truth that God’s design for my biological sex wasn’t the result of a genetic roll of the dice. I learned that God had knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13), indicating intentionality and divine design.
He had not, in fact, been distracted by busyness. God knew what he had in mind when he made me, me.
My own story fuels my passion for protecting children who are gender confused. I know firsthand the angst that comes when a person’s gender identity does not correlate with their biological sex. I felt that way for more than two decades.
As a contributor for the Institute for Faith and Culture, my goal is to bring my personal experience, my education, my faith, and my pastoral care expertise to bear upon these issues that burden children.
My hope is that gender-confused children and teens would come to know that:
- No child is born in the wrong body
- We are all born in the body God chose for us because he is our Creator
- God meant our gender to be a blessing, not a burden
Personally coming to terms with the body God gave me took time. Embracing his design was an act of surrender and the result of a mindset shift. I chose to believe that he is God and I am not. Through my faith journey, I acquiesced and submitted my will to God’s plan, something all Christians are called to do.
My feelings about my body did not change overnight as I leaned into my femaleness. I began to let go of my disdain for my body and embrace who God made me to be. In time, I became more and more comfortable in my own skin. I asked people to call me Christine even before I grew to like my name because I was reinforcing my shift in mindset. Despite feeling awkward at times, I experimented with expressing myself in feminine ways to discover my likes and dislikes.
Today, I love being a woman. I feel confident and secure in my gender identity—not just today, but for the past thirty years.
Most children who are uncomfortable in their God-given, God-ordained bodies will eventually overcome their distress by the time they reach adulthood.
I’m not suggesting that my story is every child’s story, however with the proliferation of transgender regret, we must do better. Most children who are uncomfortable in their God-given, God-ordained bodies will eventually overcome their distress by the time they reach adulthood. Study after study bears this out. While some researchers say as high as 98 percent of childhood gender dysphoria will subside, conservative estimates are that 80 percent of gender dysphoria in childhood recedes with puberty.
If somewhere between 80 to 98 percent of children with gender dysphoria will not feel that same way by the time they reach adulthood, then why in heaven’s name are they being encouraged—and even fast-tracked—to permanently alter their bodies?
This question isn’t rhetorical. We must answer it before we allow more children to be mutilated because only one option is offered to alleviate their suffering. With the surge in the number of detransitioners, the need for non-medical solutions to resolve the transgender crisis has become paramount.
While I’m grateful that nearly half the states in the U.S. have passed laws to ban so-called gender affirming care for minors, our hope cannot be in the legal or political system to save these children. The answer will arrive when we teach them to come into alignment with their Creator, the hope for all mankind.
When we prioritize first things first, the rest will follow.
I don’t just hope that’s true; I know it is.
