Family....

Voices drifted through out the room.
Laughter.....
Smile all around.
Handshakes and hugs.
Hot, steaming bowls of Taco soup along with soft drinks.
Finally a cake appeared.
The voices turned to song.
The song? Happy Birthday!
Celebration of turning 50.
Family.

Not family bound by blood, but family bound by experience.
Addiction.
This group that I sat with last night was bound by a common experience which has driven them to a common place.
Their collective goal? To spur one another onward in recovery.
Oh, it isn't perfect and sometimes it isn't pretty.
There is celebration when one succeeds for in that effort they all succeed.
There is sadness and mourning when someone goes back to an old lifestyle. It drives home the point that addiction is cunning, baffling, powerful and ..............patient.
There is safety in numbers. Like minded people whose focus is the same.
There is encouragement in the group.

I spoke from John chapter 5.
The cripple man by the pool of Bethesda.
Jesus shows up and ask this man, who has been cripple for thirty-eight years, a simple question. "Do you want to be healed?" Very direct. No hidden agenda. "Do you want to be healed?"
The man replies with excuses.
"I've been crippled for 38 years." Jesus had not asked him how long he'd been crippled, he merely asked if he would like to be healed.
The man had what we refer to as a false belief. False belief # 4 to be exact.
False Belief #4 reads: I am what I am and I cannot change.
This is a mindset that gets ingrained into the brain of someone in addiction and becomes a stumbling block to all recovery.
Jesus broke through the crippled mans excuses and put him into a place of faith.
You either believe or you don't.
If you believe, then act on it.
A cripple man trying to stand up? How absurd.
But yet it was the trying that faith produced.
What came forth was the complete healing of this man who had never walked in his life.

Addiction is no different.
The excuse given for lack of recovery is very simple. I am what I am and I cannot change. There is some truth to that statement. Those in addiction lack the POWER to change. Step # 2 speaks of coming to believe a POWER greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.

What about you?
Are you using an excuse to keep from being healed today?
Faith in Christ.....
Sounds simple doesn't it?
Maybe it is.

God on you.........
mb