It is almost an a combining of two opposites.... In order to move ahead in your recovery you have to surrender. But if you surrender to the draw of the old life, you will find yourself going back down that old path that leads to destruction, ruin and eventually death.
In those times when we do stumble or loose our way, the old life seems like the only option. The old way of dealing with life has a kind of twisted, comfort to it. By that, I mean that the at least we know how to play the game of that old life. The unknown of the recovery journey sometimes overwhelms us.
There are some verses from Isaiah 40 that have spoken to over the years. They have spoken to me at low points in my life when I wanted to just give up and stop following Jesus. They seem to fill my head, heart and spirit when the darkness closes in and I am just bone-tired from the battle and the journey that life has thrown at me.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable."
"He gives POWER to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait (hope) on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall wak and not faint.
What I read in this is that "God will do for me what I cannot do for myself." He will fill me and empower me when, there in the muck and mire of failure, I turn my faith, my hope and my trust to Him. THEN----I will arise with new strength of purpose to move forward and leave the darkness of temptation behind.
Think on these things today.
God on you....
Michael B.
(Many thanks to Anthony Mintz for creating the graphic for ReCovery Church).
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