Addictions Are Hard....For Everyone

I come from a family that has lived and survived addictions. 

I also come from a family who has those who still struggle with their addictions. 

It is a heart breaking, gut wrenching, tear jerking pain to watch those I love struggle. 

For a person fighting the demons of addiction, telling them to just stop is not the answer. 

If a person does not know the pain and hardships of fighting one, we have no idea the battle that rages within. 

A battle with one purpose... to kill and destroy. 

The world condemns and judges the addict harshly. The world screams to them they are nothing and are without value. The world will put them on blast for all to see their failures never with the thought as to why they are living in a bondage of destruction.   In turn, the addict uses more to numb and hide themselves from the cruelness of the world. 

It is their escape from the brokenness of their reality. 

 In their mind, facing their giants and admitting to their shame is purely and simply unbearable. 

Reliving the nightmares of their world is something they have yet to find the strength and courage to do. 

For the family of an addict, we beg, we plead, we try, we stand, we give, we love, we cry and we pray. We will empty our heart and soul to save the one we love. 

And then when we have poured out everything we have, the hardest choice we make is tough love. An unfailing love that tells our loved one we have done all we can to help you, now you have to make that choice. You have to decide if you want to rise up and beat this or lay down and succumb to it. 

A heart shattering choice for a parent, a spouse, a sister/brother or friend.

Sometimes our love for them will enable them to continue the vicious cycle of addiction. 

It is when we must realize our actions have now become a stumbling block and a harmful effort. It is in total surrender to our daddy God, HE is able to do the healing and the restoring. I have learned over time and the hard way, my love can hinder God's plans to restore my loved ones.  When we over compensate, take control and push hard for them to come to grips with their need for help, we do more harm than good. 

Our " I can fix this" syndrome gets in His way and ties the hands of the only one who can save them.....The Lord himself. 

It is never easy to tell the one you love " I am done" , It's all on you now" 

We fear the worst and pray for the best. 

We push our on pain to the back burner and try to see the pain through the addicts eyes. 

We see who they where, who they can be and the potential their lives hold. 

 We want to justify ever wrong they have done in the hopes it's not our fault. 

We shift blame and seek reasons that we ourselves can live with. 

We become emotionally weary fighting this battle in the flesh. 

It doesn't matter what type of addiction our loved ones are battling....

Addictions are hard....For everyone

We can't make the choices for our loved one. It is a choice only they can make. A choice to live, a choice to heal, a choice to live a life of abundance. 

But we can go to battle in the way our daddy God calls us to do. 

PRAYER!!!

2 Corinthians 10:3-4

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

John 14:14

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Pray without ceasing 

Though I do not suffer with a chemical addiction, What sits in my heart with such passion is the realization that I too struggle in life and God has no grading scale on our struggles. 

He does not judge me for mine nor the addict for theirs. 

I am no better than someone who battles addiction. 

My battles may not be as hard, my battles may not be as public nor may they be  physically dangerous. 

The bottom line is our daddy God cares for each of our battles as if it was the one one raging. 

He loves us all unconditionally and desires for each of us to be made whole. 

We all have value and are precious in the eyes of our daddy God.  

Today and every day I stand in prayer for the ones I love, the ones who are so very precious to my heart, believing their lives will be restored and a victory is in the making. 

This battle, in it's attempt to a wage war of final destruction, will not become victorious. 

I can say this with truth and certainty for my daddy Gods word tells me...

Isaiah 54:17

No weapon formed against you shall prosper,

The weapon may be formed BUT it will not prosper!!!

If you are fighting an addiction, I encourage to keep fighting, don't give up. You are not hopeless!! You are loved and you are valued!!!!

You matter!!! You are worthy!!!

You are important!!

If you are standing for a loved one, keep standing!! Regardless if you are in the middle of the battle or you have had to step back......

I encourage you to stand through prayer, believing God has you all in his hand!!

Your prayers have not gone unheard nor has your tears gone unnoticed. 

There is a victory in the making!!!

xoxoxo

Stacey