My loved one is addicted! What do I do?
I have heard this so often over the years, that it actually has become a regular anthem that most of our team members have grown used to.
How can we respond?
If you have a loved one that is in some sort of life-controlling situation, I wish to take you on a journey of 5 blog posts to encourage you and give you some hope. This series is based on our Ready Now Recovery study course called “Concerned Persons”.
I talked recently with a grandfather in pain. His 29-year-old grandson lives more than 1000 km away and is in the middle of a full-blown addiction to heroin. “What do we do?”, he asked me. “Aside from going there to actually be with him, what can I do to help him?”
To be honest, I didn’t know exactly what to say. So, I decided to just listen for a while. He already was a person of prayer. He already had an open relationship with his grandson. He just needed some comfort and, I believe, hope.
Comfort And Hope
Hope and comfort are the first two themes we look at in our Concerned Persons group: a nine-week course that comes alongside friends and family members of those that are struggling in addictions. Before we go into practical ways to approach their desperate situation, we
The God Of All Comfort
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Comfort is such a meaningful and precious thing. It’s me, meeting you right down at the bottom of where you are. Reminding you that you are not alone. In our Concerned Persons groups, the first night is a powerful one. Everyone looks around and recognizes that they are not the only ones going through this living hell. As they begin to share their experience, they are stunned at the parallels that they all live in. Even more important, we all focus our attention away from our loved one struggling, and on “the God of all comfort”.
Hope Does Not Disappoint
And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.Romans 5:5
A second thing we discuss and study early in the course is Hope. Hope is a powerful and wonderful concept. We can live weeks without food, days without water, minutes without air, but we can’t survive at all without hope!
As long as you feel there is a thread of chance for something good to happen in a situation, you have hope.
Hope is directly connected to prayer. The word HOPE is directly connected to the will to believe for a better day. I sincerely believe in hope. I see its effect every day.
I trust that you will be reminded of the God of all comfort and hope today.
If you need more information about our Concerned Persons groups in your area, visit the link. Or, if you feel called to possibly get involved with volunteering with one of these groups visit our website.
