By Kayla DeKraker
Popular podcaster and comedian Theo Von got vulnerable about his struggles and what he’s doing about them.
“I’ve been struggling, man,” Von admitted on his podcast, “This Past Weekend.” “For the past couple years, it’s been a struggle in certain ways with certain behaviors that I’m just not proud of, right? Or really just behaviors that I didn’t want to do anymore.”
He added that he “couldn’t change the cycle.”
“Even as I say this, I’m afraid that I’ll fall back into those behaviors,” Von said.
“I would pray to God to help me get away from certain behaviors in my life, but at the same time that I was praying, there would be a part of me that knew I was probably going to do those things again,” he revealed.
Related: Alec Baldwin Celebrates 39 Years of Sobriety, Reflects on Addiction Struggles
Praying began to change how he felt about his brokenness.
“I started praying like, ‘God, please help me with this. This is a broken part of me that I bring to you. I need help with it,’” Von said. “And then I would add to my prayer. I would say, ‘Even, God, even as I pray to you right now, there’s a part of me that knows I’m probably lying to you. There’s a part of me that knows I’m gonna do that behavior again. So can You come into that part of me and help me there?’”
He added, “And that’s a crazy question because…If I get healed, then I’m different. If somebody gets healed, they have a new story.”
Von realized he has to ask himself some hard questions: “It’s like, do I want to be healed? Do I really want something different?”
In an honest confession, he admitted, “…sometimes a lot of the answer is no, I don’t. I want something different, but I don’t know if I’m scared of it. I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I don’t want to do what it takes to get there. I can’t even tell what it is.”
The Bible addresses this exact situation in Romans 7:15-20 when it says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.”
Von continued, “I’m tired of living that story, man. I’m tired of that story, but I think I want a new story, dude. And it’s crazy for me to even say that. But yeah, I think I want a new story. So that’s one thing that I’m asking God for — I’m asking God for a new story. I’m asking God for the next part of me.”
Von speaks openly about his struggles, including with addiction, going viral for a candid conversation with President Trump about his past alcohol and cocaine addictions. His honestly and vulnerability will help his viewers know they aren’t alone in their hardships.
Let’s keep Von in our prayers as he seeks “a new story” with God’s help.
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