September is National Recovery Month, dedicated to those in recovery from any form of addiction. That fact hit me hard this week as my family was met with personal loss and as our nation dealt with another senseless act of violence. The fact is that anyone, anywhere, and at any time can face trauma in their life.
A friend of mine recently wrote, “I know a man who, right now, is lost. I’m not talking about ‘lost’ as in condemned to spend eternity in hell, that is judgment of the kind that belongs to God. No, I’m talking about a man who has condemned himself to living in a hell on earth with a hell of mental and physical obsession. He has made choices that have trapped him in addiction, a mental and physical addiction that grips him, holds him, and won’t let him go no matter how much his self will may want. This kind of hell is a malady of entrapment from which only an intervention of God can save. This man is my friend, my brother in Christ, and I love him, but surely I cannot do anything but suffer with him in spirit and pray. I’ve tried everything else, verily.”
It’s quite possible that you, yourself, know a man or a woman trapped by addictions of MANY kinds. They surround us … maybe family members … may be church goers … may be friends. It is a beast to battle any form of addiction, both for the one addicted, and for the one watching it happen. These are the incredibly difficult times in life, quite often leaving us feeling utterly hopeless. Corrie ten Boom knew this. She and her sister, Betsie, lived it daily in the Nazi concentration camps, as they saw death surround them.
Sometimes, the more hopeless our circumstances may seem, the more we become aware of God’s provision, comfort, and nearness in ways we never would have looked for or been aware of before. And when we do, our hearts are encouraged to see that God is personal and compassionate. He not only cares about our pain; he wants to show us that he’s present in it.
Don’t lose hope. We should never put our ultimate hope in better circumstances, because that’s never a guarantee. Instead, our hope can lead us to the One who gives hope — a hope that is beyond what this world can offer.
As Corrie’s sister, Betsie ten Boom, was carried away to the concentration camp hospital ward just before she died, she whispered to her sister, “We must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been there.”
Feeling hopeless? Be encouraged! There will be sorrows in this world, but when our life is in God’s hands, we are never hopeless. For “there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still!”
Debby Efurd is co-founder of Cary John Efurd Ministries of Pittsburg, TX. She has been a contributor to Bound for Life and written numerous articles published in LifeNews, Christian Post and the Baptist Standard, and is the author of Go Tell It! Debby can be contacted at caryjohnefurdministries@gmail.com.
Tagged: addiction and recovery, courage, hope
