“How did you end up in this situation?”
That was my question with a broken man named Chris who was losing everything that was precious to him.
- His wife
- His kids
- His job
- His reputation
What was once a magical fairy tale, life quickly turned into a nightmare. As Chris considered my question, with wet eyeballs and a quivering lip, he barely had the strength to weakly muster out the words; “It all started with marijuana, it was fun, and it was to help me relax, it was never supposed to come to this.”
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Smoking pot started as a stress-relief strategy and quickly spiraled into a gateway to hell. Chris, like so many others, believed the lies his mind was telling himself:
- “This will help me interact with my family without being too intense.”
- “I’m not inhaling or actually getting high, so it’s just a fun past time.”
- “I’ll never go beyond weed, and this isn’t even that bad for you anyway.”
Addiction Doesn’t Play by the Rules
What Chris failed to acknowledge is that drugs, alcohol, and powerful substances don’t play nice and certainly don’t operate “by the rules.” Instead of seeing the risk/reward of using drugs and counting the cost, Chris simply buried his head in the sand and went to the path of least resistance without realizing the pot path led to a catastrophic destination.
No one starts their life with the missions statement; “My mission and vision in life is to be homeless, broke, addicted, alone, and matter to no one.” Yet, without cementing a better vision and mission, too many people end up exactly where they never wanted to go.
How about you? Have you, like Chris, believed the wrong things and as a result dropped your guard and allowed dangerous gateways in your life?
Where do you need to
“double down” your safety strategies to protect what you love the most?
Where do you need to reinforce your walls and build your foundations strong so that you’re impregnable against the enemy of your soul?
May you, by the grace of God, be strong against the thousand small gateways that want to hijack your life, your joy, also your most valued assets, your family, friends and those you love the most.
About the Author:
Ryan Moffat is the teaching pastor at Vast Church in Sisters, OR and is currently working on his Masters in Theology at Western Seminary in Portland, OR
Ryan received his BS in Bible and Theology and a minor in counseling from Multnomah University. He has pastored students, families and is passionate about Christ-centered recovery and healing. He’s been married to his beautiful wife Michelle for 13 years and they enjoy raising four crazy, unique and special kids together.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of addictions. These are not necessarily the views of Addiction Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Addiction Hope understand that addictions result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an addiction, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Published on August 20, 2017
Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on August 20, 2017.
Published on AddictionHope.com