Pure Mercy Web Site
Julia Tuttle on Twitter
This organization/charity cooked a ton of food for over 39 homeless offenders living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, and gave them a grill to cook out on. That is so awesome!
About Us:
David - My father was an Independent Baptist pastor in Pinellas County for most of my life. I was saved at the age of 9, and baptized some time later. I was in church every time the doors were open and attended a couple of different Christian schools. Needless to say, I grew up in a home where “
Living Right” was required, because “
people were watching.” Just because I grew up in a pastor’s home and worked in the church, didn’t mean that I paid as much attention to what my father and other pastors said from the pulpit as I should have. I was never really challenged to make what my father believed real in my life or to study and find out what I believed.
I became interested in pornography when I was about 14 or 15. My interest soon became an addiction. This continued, even while attending 3 different Bible Colleges, and throughout my first marriage. Not being satisfied with what I saw and read, I began a series of affairs during that marriage. Still not satisfied, I acted out in a number of other ways, each a little bolder than the last. This included strip clubs, lingerie shops, and prostitutes. As I look back God was trying to get my attention gently for years. For instance, a prostitute and I had a couple of near misses with the police department. I also experienced the embarrassment of calling my father, the pastor, and borrowing money to pay for one of my forays to a local lingerie shop because my credit card was declined. Naturally, he expected an explanation. Not surprisingly, my marriage soon failed, although I didn’t care because I was in the middle of my third affair at the time. Obviously, I was slow to catch on to what God was trying to say to me.
Bobbi - I grew up in New York, the youngest of 4, in an upper middle class home. Mom had accepted Christ later in life, and Daddy was an atheist, not accepting Christ until I was in my twenties. Like David, I accepted Christ as a child, so church and God were always a part of my life, but only as far as it suited me. This lifestyle set me up for unwed motherhood, a failed marriage, and personal disgrace. I played the part well, you know, church on Sunday, but anything goes the other days. In 2003, I moved what was left of my family here to Florida to be near my sisters and my mother. I just knew this was going to turn my life around. Well it did, but not how I planned it! After some serious indiscretion on my part, God was finally able to get my attention.
David - My “
fun” lifestyle came to a screeching halt when God was forced instead to smack me upside the head with a 2x4. Many call this 2x4 the “
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department”. What finally got my attention was my arrest for improperly touching a teenage girl that I was tutoring. By God’s grace, my charge was minor. However, it was not without cost. Monetarily, the cost was at least $10,000. But it cost much more than that. It cost my family and me some friends, it caused strain in my family and it has cost me a couple of job opportunities. However, because of His amazing grace and mercy, God chose to bless me, by bringing me back into a close relationship with Him. First I had to come to a place where I realized that I would never be able to find what I was searching for outside of Him. When I gave my desires to God, wholly and completely, He began to heal me from the addiction through the pure mercy that I found in His unconditional love.
Bobbi - About the same time, December 2003, I finally surrendered to the Lord’s sovereignty as a result of a very real encounter with Him. On my way to church that day, I felt the unmistakable challenge from Him: Would I relinquish to Him everything, even my children? Whether I was truly born again before that, I do not know, nor do I suppose it matters. What I do know is, since that day, I have chosen to submit to His will in every area of my life. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that this submission has been easy. Matter of fact, anyone who knows me, knows better.
One of the things I submitted to the Lord was my singleness. I reached the place where I sincerely submitted His right to send the man of His choosing, or no man at all. To be honest, I expected this to be a long way off in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed my life in the church Singles group. Some of the friendships I found there are a blessing to me, even to this day. One of the special friendships was with David. We knew each other in the group and had many friends in common. Then, we had occasion to begin praying for two mutual friends who were dating. This mutual concern drew us closer as friends. One evening, God led David to share with me his struggle, and his vision for future ministry. He has since told me that he expected me to turn tail and run. But the Lord prompted me to act differently. I chose instead to give him a big hug, and a promise to pray for him.
David - Like Bobbi, I had surrendered my singleness to God and was fully expecting to stay in the Single’s ministry for the rest of my life. Really, who would want someone like me? The night that Bobbi gave me that first hug, changed that whole perspective and revealed to me the love Christ had for me. One Wednesday night, as I came into the church Fellowship center for dinner, a sudden, heart-wrenching thought hit me. “
How many of the men and families in this room have been hurt by someone’s involvement in pornography or other sexually addictive behavior? How many men are in danger of doing what I’ve done or have already done it?”
Bobbi - I began to pray for David, his ministry, and as any good member of a singles’ group would, for his future wife. I prayed that God would prepare them both for His Kingdom purpose. Something strange began to happen in my heart. It was as if God was preparing me, because I was that woman. Okay, so that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I left a couple of minor details out of my history. That failed marriage I glossed over? It ended when the state troopers came to remove my ex-husband from our house because, unknown to me, he had molested my daughter from the age of 13 until 15. And, since I moved here to Florida, my teenage niece came to live with me, under similar circumstances. So, all this is to say, that the ravages of sexual sin have been a recurring theme in my life, one that I hope and pray none of you ever have to face. But, praise God, He has brought me through, to a place of forgiveness and to an abundant life, beyond anything I could have hoped for. Believe me when I tell you this: the last man I wanted to marry was one with a past like David’s! Like I said, God brought me through it; however, I had no intention of going back. But, as is often the case, God had other plans. About a month after I began praying for David’s future wife, and having a sinking feeling it was me, God opened David’s eyes.
David - Like I mentioned before, I’m sometimes slow to catch on to things; however, sixteen months after that first hug we stood in front of our family and friends and committed the rest of our lives to each other. One of the miracles in all of this is that Bobbi’s daughter, with whom we had shared my story, was willing to look past it and stand as her maid of honor. Another incredible blessing to me personally came this past Christmas when she introduced me to her West Wing coworkers as her stepdad. I would have never imagined that God could redeem the huge mess I had made of my life and allowed me to experience such blessings.
As our relationship has deepened, we have realized the uniqueness of where we both have been. This thought has turned into a burden to share with others what God has brought us out of. We are convinced that sexual addiction is one of the things holding the church back, that it is one of Satan’s footholds in the lives of the men of the church. This is due in part to the deep shame and unforgiveness that so often accompanies sexually addictive behavior.
Recently, God has extended our healing by allowing us to become involved in Celebrate Recovery. We often wonder if something like this would have helped either of us earlier on. Regardless, Bobbi and I have spent much time in prayer and God has lead us to begin a ministry that would provide support for men, and their families, whose lives have been torn, and their hearts broken, by this hidden addiction. This ministry is called Pure Mercy as we believe that by God’s grace and His Pure Mercy hearts and lives can be healed.
If you have been hurt by this addiction, our hearts go out to you and we want to help. Maybe you know someone that is struggling with this or maybe you are the one needing someone to stand beside you in this battle, someone who understands how you feel, and how you got to this place you never intended to be.
"That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing." - Martin Luther King - United States Constitution | Bill of Rights
