The Power of Addiction

I must admit I don’t understand drug addiction. To me, it seems simple: drugs are ruining your life, so just quit taking them. However, the more folks I talk with who face the stronghold of addiction, the more I am convinced: it’s not that easy. And I don’t have any answers.

This month at the clinic, we served several folks who are trying to regain control of their lives from drug addiction. Two stand out in my mind vividly.

“Monica” is a wife and a mother of four children (from 4 months to 10 years). Child Protective Services recently took her children from her because of her addiction to meth. Her marriage is in shambles. Her once-happy family has disintegrated because of her constant drug use. She is desperate to re-gain custody of her children and repair her relationship with her husband, and yet she fears that she doesn’t have the power to walk away from the drugs.

“Ralph” is in his mid-sixties. He’s been in and out of prison for over 20 years for drug abuse. He barely knows his grandchildren, but longs to be a real “grand daddy” to them. Tears stream down his face as he speaks of the time lost with his now-grown kids… time that he can never get back… relationships that he fears he can never restore. Desperately he wants to change, to be a dad and grandfather, to attend birthday parties and school recitals. But he has failed so many times before… There is true fear in his voice when he talks about the drug house that is literally right across the street from the rehab center where he is staying… And about the folks there who are more than happy to give him his first hit “for free.”

As I pray with Monica and Ralph, I admit that I have nothing to offer – no advice, no magic formula. I can’t even understand where they’re coming from. I have no power or help to cure their addiction. But… I serve a God who does! In fact, I serve the God who is the ONLY one who can fill the emptiness and pain that drugs have masked for Monica and Ralph.

Will you join me in praying for these two precious children of God? Will you claim the power of Jesus Christ over their lives? No doubt, it is the only way true healing will occur.