Dear Friends,
These odd days have become one giant weekend of sorts and the days have blended one into the next. Forgive us for not getting out the March letter to you sooner, but I believe it has been worth the wait! Enjoy this heartfelt post from a friend of G2you Ministries and recovered and delivered sister in Christ. When asked if I could share, she said she wanted her story to help as many people as it can. Thank you, Elizabeth and amen to that!
Written by Elizabeth Clements | Photograph by Alex Pasaraleu
When I see her, I see a miracle. I see life, I see the faithfulness of Jesus, my personal Savior. Years ago, I told Bill I was unfit to be a mom, and really I was because alcohol meant the world to me. I thought if I got pregnant, I would have to go to a rehab facility to carry a baby to full term because I couldn’t see a way of going 9 months sober. That thought frightened me way more than a child itself, so I parked ever being a mom on the shelf. However, alcohol started becoming a problem for me, the conviction of drinking was overwhelming. I wondered what it would be like being sober, having a family.
Alcohol had been with me through the highs and lows of life. It comforted me, excited me, rewarded me after a long days work, but it also made my angry fuze short, my clarity distorted, my relationships impaired because who wants to be around someone that can’t control themselves while under the influence? I knew deep down, I needed to be set free.
I knew Christ more than just going to church A LOT! I had heard of the power of Christ to set people free but I hadn’t personally experienced it. I prayed I cried out, Lord take this from me, this desire, this want for alcohol… and silence. Nothing. I prayed like this for a while, and still the desire remained. I then began praying, “whatever it looks like for wellness, show me, ” and he did. Therapy with a Christian counselor. She showed me alcohol wasn’t my problem, but the symptom of a larger problem. The inability to cope with life. I had learned the principles of faith but hadn’t let them go to my heart. I would have to accept his Word as truth, not just hear them but apply them. The courage to do (so) took faith. I took the challenge. God slowly led me out of the grave of self-pity, self-sabotage, self harm and self hate by allowing me to see myself through the eyes of his love and grace. I learned how to deal with my emotions and how to receive his love. I’m so thankful he didn’t just deliver me sober; he gave me eyes to see myself as He saw me worthy of love and worthy of accepting myself just as I was. He empowered me and gave me hope. One day this desire to come home and drink waned, so I took that opportunity to not drink. Another day came and I felt the same. Day after day became a month, became a quarter, became a year. His grace day by day enabled me to walk out of addiction. Then experience the gift of family!
I pray today if you are entangled with addiction that God will enable you too to see His love and mercy towards you. That His enabling grace would empower you to receive the courage, strength and power to lay addiction aside and lay hold of a full life in Christ.
“Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:3-4
Our prayer for you: Father God, we lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ, who are struggling with addiction. Lord, let them understand the hope to which you have called them. I pray they continue looking at the truths of your word, and apply these principles, in faith. Send divine helpers into their lives to encourage and help them know their true identity, in You. May they stop looking at themselves as addicts and see themselves as victors because you paid the price for their suffering and have given them a way to attain the blessing. As they continue the recovery journey, let them do it from the point of victory and rest, knowing that Jesus has already set them free, and they are victorious in Him. In Jesus’ name, I believe and pray, Amen.