This post is for all my religious/Christian brothers and sisters on here. I wanted to share an experience I had about 10 years ago that I think might be a strength to some of you who have dealt with scrupulosity/religion based OCD. Ive had scrupulosity since I was 6 years old. Took me until I was 21 to really figure out that something not normal was going on - owing to the subject matter of my anxieties I never felt comfortable bringing them up to people. So I figured that my obsessions were God/my conscience telling me I was doing bad things. Back in 2011, I didn’t know I had OCD. I hadn’t even considered it. I knew I had anxiety and was on medication for that. I had never heard of ERP. One particular day I was ruminating pretty hard. I had remembered something “weird” I had done as a teen. I had become convinced that it was somehow illegal (it wasn’t,) and that the only way I could possibly gain forgiveness from God was to turn myself in and serve a lengthy prison sentence in order to “pay” for my sins(WTF.) So, as was my regular compulsion, I knelt at my bed saying repetitive prayers begging God to help me feel as though I had been forgiven, and begging that I wouldn’t have to go to prison or any other such horrible thing. And as was par for the course, no relief was coming. Not from God, not from myself, and not from anyone else. Suddenly though some inspiration cut trough all the noise right into my center. And it was something I had never really considered. I didn’t hear a voice, but the inspiration was clear enough that was almost as if I had. The thought that came said, impactfully, “Stop. Stop praying. Stop fighting. Lay down on your bed and just let yourself feel it.” So I did. A few minutes passed of me just feeling anxious and not trying to stop it, at all. And then, suddenly, the anxiety just… basically melted away and I was filled with the most brilliant feeling of love and acceptance I have probably ever felt. And I realized something important: when I have anxiety, by accepting it and not fighting it, spending time in that dark place, I am following the example of Christ in some small way when he willingly allowed himself to suffer and die for each of us. And that in a way, when I allow the anxiety, and don’t try to run away, I am spending real time with Christ in that moment when he prayed, saying “not my will, but thine be done.” It wasn’t until a while later that I started learning that what I have is OCD, and started hearing something about ERP. When I heard about ERP for the first time I was floored, because in its basic form it was essentially what God in his mercy had taught me to do a few years prior. So everybody. To me, ERP is the REAL DEAL. Not just scientifically but spiritually. Keep up the good fight, do your exposures, and spend those dark moments with the Lord. Have a good day and I hope my experience and witness of Christ can strengthen you in your own fight with OCD in some way.