When we meet with people who have loved ones struggling with addiction or mental illness, despair and hopelessness are very close to the surface. It is one thing to watch someone who is struggling with a disease that came to them perhaps through genetics or exposure to some unhealthy thing. It is altogether different when someone chooses day after day to go and destroy themselves. It is hard to understand the strength of the compulsion that addiction holds if you don’t struggle with it.
In our devotional, Hope For An Unwanted Journey, we discuss many more truths; these are just 4 that come rushing to my mind today. We did an interview a few days ago about the book and had to summarize the most important things we want to tell people, My top four are listed below.
1. There is always hope.
2. You will not cure the addiction; you are good but not that good. They have to want to quit. It is likely one of the hardest things in this world to watch.
.3. It is not your fault.
4. Do not put your hope in your loved one. Put your hope fully on God. This is where you will find hope.
We are lost without prayer. We have a Good Shepard who sees our loved one tangled in the brambles, or down on the ledge, over the cliff. It may be impossible for you are I to rescue them, but not Him.
Psalms 46:1 reminds us that “God is our refuge and strength, a every present help in trouble”. He sees and hears your prayers. He can show you what you ought to do and what you need to leave with Him.
Sometimes all our intervening, though done out of our desperate love, is not helpful. It may make us feel a bit better for a moment. I remember all too well the many things we did, the money we spent, thinking this would make the difference. And it did not - maybe for the moment, but that moment passed.
When we walk an impossible journey, we need a God who is more than able, and who never sleeps or slumbers. We need a God who looks at the suffering of our loved ones and says again, nothing is impossible with Me. Your loved one is not a lost cause. Not in the eyes of Jesus.
Dear Father,
Thank you for today. Thank you that nothing is too difficult for you. I lay more loved one down again at your feet and pray that You would intervene in their life. Renew in me hope and strength for all that I am dealing with today. My hope is in You alone.
In Jesus Name,
Amen