I am feeling broken this week because I know I have to say goodbye. It’s the right thing to do, to let go, but I don’t want to. Instead I wish you were here, playing with my kids, dreaming about travel and talking politics with my husband. But, you aren’t here.
We were putting the kids to bed last night and they were talking about when you were wrapping them up like burritos in blankets and rolling them around. They were laughing. My heart was heavy. You are gone.
I hate addiction. I hate that it is a disease. I hate that is is a choice this world gives us to numb the pain instead of driving us toward the Peacemaker, the pain-taker.
I had to learn to talk to my kids about addiction.
I had to learn what it means when you say someone died from addiction. The look in people’s eyes. The stigma.
I’ve said the word so many times and yet it still seems so foreign on my tongue. Addiction. I want to keep saying it out loud because I have a feeling the world needs to hear it. Addiction is real and it’s hard.
Hear this:
- If you are addicted all hope is not lost.
- If you are addicted there is help to be found.
- If you are addicted you are not a bad person.
- If you are addicted you do not have to stay in hiding.
- If someone you love dies from addiction it is not your fault.
- God is good. Even when the world isn’t.
- Heaven is real. We get a choice.
- Jesus is everything. The only way.
My guess is at some point, if it hasn’t been already, your life will be touched by addiction in some way. Share your story. Don’t hide in the darkness, bring it into the light. Only then can healing begin.
What’s your story?
