Lesson from Rehab

So I’m not an overly emotional person. It takes a lot to get me choked up and even more to make me cry but a new episode of “Rehab with Dr. Drew” almost did me in yesterday. I hardly have time to watch TV but when I do, I love to watch meaningful shows and this is one of them. See I have a sensitivity to this subject having had to deal with and continue to deal with drug abuse in my family. There’s nothing… I mean absolutely NOTHING like seeing a loved one destroy themselves and that feeling of being completely helpless as you watch them do so. I know there are stories where family members are able to cut the cord and wash their hands of someone that is considered “too far gone” and maybe there’s a point where everyone has to do that; but I haven’t reached that limit. I don’t think I ever will.

There’s nothing, I mean NOTHING, I wouldn’t do to see drug addiction completely eliminated from my family history. I keep the faith that the tables will soon turn, always keeping in mind that the disease may be bigger than me but nothing is too big for God. It’s that annoying battle of their will against the will of God. So I don’t feel defeated, though sometimes discouraged, I pull myself up every time because my faith won’t allow me to do otherwise. So as I watched one of the episodes of “Rehab with Dr. Drew,” I couldn’t help but sympathize over the agony that the mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, and friends have to endure seeing their loved ones addicted to heroin, opiates, alcohol, and all of the above.

The fact that these addicts know that what they are doing is only a temporary high and could potentially send them to an early grave and STILL continue to use is nothing short of evil. How you know the enemy has his hands all in this thing is that it starts off innocent. All of them started with small doses of casual drinking or “harmless” drugs… but their bodies got immune to it and by then they’re addicted to the rush and their bodies crave something stronger. Before they know it, they’re life has passed by, families are destroyed, futures are in limbo and all they have is a syringe or flask to call their friend… or so they think.

God revealed something to me in this episode. I sat and watched this young man, 23 years old, be released into the welcoming arms of his mother and aunt after spending a night in jail… only to rush to get high in the backseat of his aunt’s car while she went in to pay for gas. When the mother alerted her not to go back to the car just yet because he was shooting up, they both wept. It was a hopeless kind of weeping… something I’m all too familiar with. After he finished using a needle to inject himself, he got out of the car and apologized for having to do it. His excuse was that he was feeling sick. I watched as his aunt embraced him and just kept asking “Why!”

The same unconditional, unwavering love that we have for the addicts in our family is the same love that God has for those of us who are addicted to the ways of the world. His love is parallel to how we love those family members who continually abuse our trust, disappoint, and neglect us. Many of us know that our actions will warrant negative results but somehow we expect we’ll get lucky and there won’t be consequences for our own actions. Oftentimes it starts off real innocent and before we know it we’re caught up in disasterous relationships and unhealthy habits. One day we look up and wonder how we got so far away from the things of God. I would liken that to the ways of addicts. They know what they’re doing is adversely affecting their health but they don’t know how to stop so they just hope that their next time won’t be their last. When we enjoy the temporary satisfaction of sleeping with someone outside of marriage, lying, cheating, stealing, hatred, fighting, etc … we hurt the One that sees us in a much higher light than we see ourselves. We look at addicts, like “why can’t they get it together?” and I feel like God looks at those who are outside of His will the same way.

I’m not sure who this blog is for today but I hope it encourages someone who is battling addiction, loves someone who is battling addiction, and even those who may be addicted to living a life without a relationship with a God who loves us more than we love ourselves. Life is not all about us and our actions have a rippling effect on the ones we love. More importantly, they keep us from having the relationship with God that He desires.

Let’s do better and encourage each other along the way. Remember, life is far greater than just your own.

Tuesday with Bianca

Be BOLD,

Be FABULOUS,

Be YOU!