Linda Seiler has written a terrific new book, Transformation: A Former Transgender Responds to LGBTQ, about her struggles with transgenderism and lesbian attractions – and how God brought healing and change to her life.

The book will be extremely helpful for those wrestling with same-sex attractions and their sexual identity, and it’s a wonderful testimony of God’s grace, mercy and transformative power.

Transformation is also a great resource for parents, ministry leaders, pastors and average Christians who are personally affected by transgenderism or who want deeper understanding of this issue that now permeates every area of our culture.

In Transformation, Seiler clearly explains questions such as:

  • What Scripture says about our sexuality – and why it matters.
  • What science says about being born “gay” or “trans.”
  • Risk factors which might influence someone toward homosexuality or transgenderism.
  • How healing and transformation take place.
  • Different responses within the church to homosexuality and transgenderism.

Seiler, an ordained Assemblies of God minister, grew up rejecting her femininity and desperately longing to be a boy:

I have zero childhood memories of being content in a female body. I had never heard the terms transgender or gender dysphoria – those weren’t common in the 1970s. Somehow, I just knew I was born in the wrong body and that I couldn’t be complete unless I had male anatomy.

She heard about so-called “sex-change operations” when she was only nine years old and writes:

I decided that was the answer to my dilemma. I charted out my plan: As soon as I was old enough and had some money, I would change my name to David, … get a sex change, and live happily ever after.

Seiler eventually gave up on the idea of using hormones and surgery to mimic masculinity, but that didn’t change her feelings. She battled sexual addictions, attractions to women, detachment from her femininity and the desire to be a man.

Coming to faith in Christ in high school, she joined a campus ministry in college, developed her relationship with Jesus, read the Bible and shared her faith. But she still struggled with temptation and sin.

It was not an easy journey out of transgenderism and lesbianism, but God brought deep healing to her identity, behaviors, relationships and attractions. Transformation explains how she cooperated with God in that difficult process, finding forgiveness, hope and change.

The chapters on how these struggles can develop and on how transformation occurs will be very helpful for strugglers, pastors and those assisting people as they find freedom from LGBT struggles.

Perhaps one of the most important chapters in the book is where Seiler explains different responses to this issue in ministries and churches, what she calls different “streams.” She notes that “thirty years ago, there were basically two Christian responses” to LGBT issues, “those who held to a biblical sexual ethic and those who held to pro-gay revisionist theology to justify homoerotic behavior.”

Now, it’s more complicated.

For example, some Christians and groups have a biblical sexual ethic – while holding problematic views on serious scriptural questions about identity and healing. Other groups differ on how same-sex attractions and transgender beliefs might develop and on pastoral care for strugglers.

For those sorting through these biblical issues and looking for resources, this chapter will be very helpful.

Linda Seiler led the campus ministry Chi Alpha at Purdue University for 13 years. Now she serves the organization as a national Chi Alpha specialist in applied theology and culture.

She also works as the executive director of ReStory Ministries, providing educational resources, training and consultations for churches and leaders, and hope and tools for people struggling with homosexuality and transgenderism.

Stay tuned: Linda Seiler is scheduled to be on the Focus on the Family Broadcast on Monday, September 18.

Related articles and resources:

Transformation: A Former Transgender Responds to LGBTQ

Linda Seiler

ReStory Ministries

Focus on the Family:

Focus on the Family exists to help families, and that includes help navigating the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism. Focus offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.