Trent A. Tyer

_{-Written October 25th, 2025}

Here is the key to my entire testimony: Christ is everything. When I fight that truth, I’m worse off. When I surrender, life is more abundant. Plain and simple.

Why do I think this is the key? My experience proves it. 

• I was a young man of pride and arrogance—absorbed with self. I was the center of my own life, not Him.
• I was self-righteous—the type of righteousness that could never amount to peace. No one could ever live up to my standards, let alone me. Comparison plagued my life—teetering between inferiority and superiority. 

(I’m not bashing myself. I’m about to tell you how good God really is.)

• Perfectionistic. Prideful. A loner at times. I couldn’t have fun. I was too intense about everything. I didn’t know how to rest in God.
• God delivered me from a bout with pornography at seventeen after a five-year struggle. I struggled for many years with physical and emotional boundaries.
• For years, I fought intensely with anxiety and fear. My confidence in God’s love was poor despite the evidence that he had always been there. 
• I was terrified of what people thought about me. I tried to please EVERYONE. Talk about driving yourself crazy…
• I took tremendous pride in my accomplishments. What I “did” made me special, not my identity in God. Awards equated to value.

Here’s the deal.

I could never, EVER rescue myself from these things. Only God. The power of His cross heals me day-by-day. By God’s grace, I am what I am.

All the stuff I listed before caused me tremendous shame. Much of it was rooted in shame. I could not see how I’d ever be free. Then, He stepped in.

God’s healing me. He’s making me brand new. I know that God is greater than the condemnation of my heart. 

The solution: get “me” (self) out of the way, and get Him to the focal point. My life is not about me, anyways. 

Look, I don’t have any ground to stand on outside of His goodness and mercy. I have overwhelming evidence that His mercy and grace are the only things that sustained me. 

I’ve witnessed, personally, chains of shame break in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus Christ. I have nothing to prove to anyone. My confidence in His love is growing.

I’d give it all up a thousand times over to know Him in the way I do now.

I stand with Paul when I say, everything that was gain to me [awards, self-image, self-righteousness] I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus. I count it rubbish that I may win Christ [the ultimate prize] (Php 3:8). 

His Kingdom is my pursuit—righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17). He’s the only source of these three treasures. 

My encouragement to you? Hear my heart. Make Him your all, and I mean your ALL. If you embrace this, it…will…change…everything.

Last thing. Why is the thumbnail for this post not my picture? It’s my testimony, isn’t it? Yeah, but I’d rather point you to the reason why I have one.