As I was counseling with a gentleman, we were talking about having faith in our ability to change. He shared the above words with me. He told me that he had been on his knees in prayer, something that he didn’t often do, and suddenly those words were blurted out: “How can I ever get to thee, when I can’t get past me!”
I have often thought about that. We do stand on the top of our own feet, even though we are trying to lift them up and take a step! It is as though our feet are stopped with cement blocks. I think there are several reasons for this.
Addictive Behavior
The first is the power of any type of addictive behavior. It can be compulsive eating, pornography, rage and anger, sarcasm and defensiveness, or physical addictions such as pills or alcohol. Our body and mind are happy to hop on board to anything that feels good at the time. It is just part of who we are. It is the power of the body and the mind, and it is powerful. However it is not all powerful. We can get past it. Is it a battle? Yes. Is it winnable? Yes. The moment we make the decision to enable our free agency, we have made the choice to be in charge of our mind and our body.
Don’t Underestimate Who You Are
The second is that we underestimate ourselves and who we are. We have eternal connections and we have a God who loves us. We begged to come to this earth and try it all out. We knew before we came here that there was good and bad. It took bravery to make that choice. Good is good, but bad is really a component that harms. We often underestimate its power.
We wanted to grow, and because of that desire for growth we made the choice to truly have agency. Agency is the right to choose between good and bad. This process enabled us to become more grown up as children of God. So, remember, we chose agency and it was a good choice.
The Power of Prayer
The third is that we underestimate the power of prayer. People have shared personal stories with me where individuals who had little faith simply cried out the words “help” to a higher power they hoped would hear them. Well that higher power did, and their situation became bearable, and for certain individuals, it became changeable.
A young woman who spoke at a conference dealing with addiction talked about living with a spouse who was terribly addicted to alcohol. She stated that she did not believe in a higher power, but was challenged by another in her group to try prayer. “It certainly won’t kill you to try it!” she was told. She did try it and in a very specific way. She asked, “God, who ever you are, don’t let him come home tonight.”
She expected nothing, but she received an answer that very night. Her husband literally was held hostage by some unseen force in his truck all night long and was not allowed out of the vehicle as he had just driven home. He was out front ready to go in the home of the desperate woman. He found that the doors wouldn’t open the key wouldn’t turn, the horn wouldn’t honk and there he sat. When dawn arrived, he decided that he must have been drinking so much that he had lost his mind and decided to check himself into a rehab center, which he did.
As she continued her story, she talked about how it was the first night she had slept through the night and how she and her little baby were not forced to leave the house in the middle of the night to walk around the block as she generally did each night because he would come through the front door drunk and on the fight. She said, “I realized that God knew my name!”
He Knows Our Name!
God knows our names. We don’t have to be perfect to ask for miracles. We do have to try though to reach out. He will help us down the long roads we often have to journey on. He can help us get past us. Eventually we will come to know him quite well. Remember he knows us very well. We are his children. He knows our name. He knows our battles. He knows the way up and over each of those battles that we are in. So, have hope. Carry on and continue to do the hard things that each of us have to do.
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