Some people seem to believe that recovery is only for those with substance use issues. NOT TRUE!!
My take on this is that everyone is in recovery from something. Some of you will not admit it, but you are. Oh yeah, that’s the first step, Denial. You have to come to grips with what has happened to you and give it over to God. You need to heal from what you have been through so that you can have a wonderful life that is full of possibilities.
Most don’t think that their past has anything to do with their present or future, oh but it does. You see those of us that have been mistreated, abused, thrown away and forgotten have this wall that with help can come down. You see, I have been where you are. I have been used, mistreated, abused, thrown away and forgotten.
When I was a young girl, my dad used to tease me about my weight. He used to sing a song that went “fatty, fatty 2 by 4 couldn’t get through the bathroom door, so she did it on the floor, fatty, fatty 2 by 4”. Oh he thought it was all in good fun, but as a grew up, it made me continually diet to meet a certain body image. I was told that I would never amount to anything, and that I was too stupid to succeed at anything. You may think WOW that’s bad. Oh I haven’t gotten there yet.
I attempted suicide more than once in my teen years, because of depression and not fitting in. Oh yeah, I was made fun of because of that too. I was too stupid to do it right. I was never successful. I learned that I would NEVER measure up to their standards, so why try. I was always the chubby girl. I always felt that I should have been born a boy. I have never really fit in anywhere. Even now I struggle to make connections with others.
I have been abused by so many men and women, that I have lost count. I would always try to fit in, so I would develop a habit that everyone else had so that maybe I would finally fit it. I felt I could never be my real self. That was too much.
Now that I am an adult, I have had to learn my identity is not in what others think of me, and not even what I think of me, but what GOD thinks of me. He says I am wonderfully made. He says he knew me before I was even formed in my mother. He even knows when I lose a strand of hair, because he has them numbered. WOW. You see sometimes our earthly father may fall short, but our heavenly Father never falls short. He loves us with a love so deep and so pure that it is unfathomable.
I found through study and teaching that I can be forgiven. I can heal from all the things that I had done to myself and what had done to me. I just needed to believe that God had the ability to help me see myself through His Eyes and not mine. My eyes see me as unworthy, unlovable, ugly, and too stupid to accomplish anything, and I am on my own. BUT GOD enters that picture, when we let him, and he makes all things new. He cleans you up and makes you a new person that yields to his will, because he knows best.
The healing and recovery that I have found through Christ is the best thing EVER. Do I still have those feelings sometimes, yes, but then I am reminded of Who and Who’s I am and I know that I am His child and he loves me just the way I am.
Oh, I am still told “April, you are a lot”, “boy you are loud today”. I’m not sure that God has me here to just be pretty and still. I have always been out there and loud (a lot). Now I use it to tell people about him and recovery. You see I know that he has kept me through all the garbage and made me who I am today.
You don’t have to clean up before you come to him. He will accept you faults and all (just like me). We are to come to him “Just as we are”. He knows all about it and he loves you just the way you are. Ask him to come into your heart. Ask him to forgive all your faults (sins). He will listen. Will you fall again, oh yeah. But now he will dust you off and put you back on the path that he has for you. He loves you more that anything in the world. You just have to yield to him and let him into your life.
Don’t hesitate, just do it.
Lord, I look to you for guidance. Please forgive me for my sins. I want to live my life with you in the lead, not me. I believe that you are the One True God and I believe you sent your son to die so that I may live. Help me to do your will. In Jesus Name, Amen.
NEXT STEPS:
Find a wonderful church in your area that teaches the Word of God. If you are in the Albany Georgia area, come visit at Victory of Albany, 3250 Sylvester Road. I will be there, and you can sit with me.
#sitwithme
#GODstruction