Dear Ones
Happy weekend! Hope you have an enjoyable one and time to be refreshed. I plan to do some baking today and get my hair cut etc.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
All of us are born with the need to be seen, to feel safe and secure and loved. As we grow, we have the desire to feel complete and fulfilled but we so often fall for Satan’s lies that says that we’re not enough and neither is God, and we end up trying to fill our needs in other ways. The problem is that we end up trying by willpower what only the Lord can give us by His grace, and we may end up with addictions trying to numb the ache in our hearts.

All of us can fall for the enemy’s lies that may open us to self-medicating or falling into addictions, substance abuse, gambling etc. to try to dull the inner pain we have that somehow, we don’t measure up. There are so many today that are addicted but it is important not to see the addiction as the problem but the underlying wounds that caused the problem in the first place. We read of the many young people today that are lonely and empty and given up on life. What is their larger story of the cause of the pain? It could be feeling unwanted and uncared for, not fitting in or feeling accepted, abuse, traumas, etc. and they often try to dull the pain and before long find themselves addicted. Chuck DeGroat, a seminary professor, shares in his book, Healing What’s Within, about how important it is to find the reason that the person disconnected from their true self in the first place to dull their pain. He said, “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety but connection.”

Maybe someone reading this today is addicted to pornography, video games, alcohol or a host of other things as an attempt to medicate feelings of disconnection and deficiency. But the secret to feeling secure and connected is to turn to the Lord and let Him treat our wounds with compassion. It may include Christian counseling to find the ways we have used to self-medicate, and then to let the Lord meet our deepest needs. Jesus invites us to go to Him, “Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matt. 11:28-29)

Challenge for today: When you attempt to numb the pain in your life by addictive behavior, go to the Lord and experience His grace as he goes to the deep underlying cause.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy