Grandchild Iysa
A friend asked me, Is sobriety a result of will power or spiritual awakening? He continued, some people are said to have found sobriety through will power. They simply stop using drugs. In the Big Book, however, the thought is that sobriety is the result of a spiritual awakening.
My reflection: I asked Dr. MacAfee, who said, A lot of people go cold turkey, but this strategy rarely works over the long term. The disease of addiction is rooted in emptiness and cold turkey doesn’t fill the void within. A spiritual awakening is about belonging, finding our place in the world and connecting with the life-giving spirit inside us.
Today’s Promise to consider: Many experts believe that addiction is rooted in emptiness – in discontentment, not belonging and in disconnection. Cold turkey and will power are commendable, but they’re often not recipes for sustained sobriety and a holistic life. I pray that my loved will learn to fill the emptiness inside him in an environment of love and camaraderie. I pray that he finds a sense of belonging to the universal energy that’s within all of us.
Addiction’s evil consumes every fiber of our children’s mind, body and soul. I suspect that those capable of using their will power to break free are perhaps dealing with simply a bad habit or a mild case of the disease.
The emptiness inside our addicted children can well be filled with love and camaraderie but there are two other vital ingredients, hope and compassion. Once I learned how to use my love for my child and communicate that love in an appropriate way I created the hope my child desperately needed. Addiction can stop all awareness of reality and common sense but it does not have the power to stop hope from entering the soul of the child. From hope compassion is ignited and this will sustain the child through the darkest moments of their addiction. This is the foundation of change, the beginning of transformation into long term recovery.
Addiction infects our children too hard for too long and eventually wears itself out. Now, with all the ingredients I have spoken of in the above paragraph in place there comes that mystical moment with their God. The child falls to their knees and says, take me – I am yours and their inner soul is cleansed and filled with the Spirit. A new life, a child restored! Praise God.
The Bible states it clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:17, ” Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (ESV).