Who’s In Control

Last week I ran head long into three difficult stories in the fight to recovery. One story was a young person who is making the transition from a protected (all activities are supervised and monitored) recovery environment to life back amidst the stresses of life. That is a tough transition, especially after many months in the protected environment. They are holding on by a thread, but they are holding on. Another is a man who suffered a heart attack as a result of heroin use. He is at a critical state in recovery and at very high risk to use again. The third is a family that has suffered the devastating blow of losing a child. Our children, and our families are being eaten alive!

The latest statistics for 2018 have been released: 78,000 people in the US died from a drug overdose (that is more than the number of American soldiers who died in the entire Vietnam War from 1955 to 1975), 49,000 of these drug overdoses where from opioids, 29,000 of the opioid overdoses involved fentanyl. Those statistics break my heart and make me extremely angry because they are not just numbers, they are people, they are families, they are moms and dads and kids and they are now gone.

In my opinion no one is better equipped to fight this epidemic at the street level than the church. I believe completely in the premise that addiction and mental health should be confronted on four levels: Biologically – Medically – Psychologically – Spiritually. You can read the post “Somebody Stop This Please” to understand this more. They are all important elements to address, but God can do what the other elements of healthy recovery cannot. In addition, the church is the place where the broken, lost, lonely, and overwhelmed should be welcomed, encouraged and able to find a friend.

In talking with someone, this week, who recently has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, they said a very important thing as it related to their situation. My paraphrase of all he said is this “We assign power to the authorities we choose in our lives.” In his case he was talking about cancer, he had a choice, he could let the cancer, dictate his actions, choices, and attitude, or he could let Christ lead in those, he was determined to let Christ lead.

As he shared his ideas, I thought, wow, the same is true of addiction, mental health or anything else in our lives. In some way, that is what Lauren did. In a moment of weakness –  I wish I knew the reasons behind that momentary lapse – she felt she didn’t have the strength to resist the scream of the addiction.

You or your loved one do not have to do that. They/you can decide who you will let be in control, the problem (addiction, mental health, etc.) or your desire to get well. I am not saying it will be easy, that there will not be very hard days or that you won’t have to run from the cravings and temptation often. What I am saying is that as the individual with the addiction you get to decide who is going to run the show. You’re going to stumble, you’re going to make mistakes, and wish things went different, but overall you should be moving toward getting well and living in control of your addiction or mental health. Not the other way around.

When I met with a few members of the family who lost a son, a profoundly uplifting verse of scripture came to mind. It was a great encouragement to me, and I hope it was to them. Psalm 118:5 “In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free.” If you are a person of prayer can I ask you to please remember to pray for that family. In fact, today, Two Hundred Thirteen families will lose a loved one to addiction, can you take a moment and pray for them.

This weeks featured image is by Brooke Shaden, “Widening Cracks” it is worth reading her comments about it here .