Children’s Prayers Reach God’s Ears

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

Article 6 (of 8) in the Messenger magazine - Winter 2011 Edition -

By Nikki Norton, Teacher, Wonder Club Early Learning Centers

One morning at Wonder Club as we were taking prayer requests, a student said, “Pray for my sister; she drinks too much beer.” The request reminded me of my own childhood.

My parents were addicted to heroine, cocaine, and alcohol. Because of their drug use, there was domestic violence in our home. My parents even stole money from me and my four brothers. We became homeless when I was 15 years old, and the seven of us lived in one motel room for over two years. Eventually my father lost his job because of drugs, and my two older brothers began using drugs.

Feeling hopeless, I remember sitting on my bed and wishing that someone or something would change my family.

At age 22, I met a group of Christians who shared the love of Christ with me. After a really bad fight with my mom while she was high, I ran to my room, fell on my knees, and cried, “If You are real, if You are who these Christians say You are, then show me.” Later that night I gave my life to Christ.

I changed, but my family did not. I remember coming home from Bible study to find my parents and brothers high. Then, after three years of prayer, my parents, brothers and grandfather gave their lives to the Lord and allowed Him to start restoring all that drugs and alcohol had taken.

Over the years I have come to learn the difference between a wish and a prayer. A wish is like a balloon released in the air; we watch it having no clue where it will land. A prayer has a destination; it goes straight to God’s ear.

This revelation is something that we teach our Wonder Club students regularly. I may not know the specifics of the students’ home lives or which students are growing up with addictions in their home, but God does. He cares for each of the students at Wonder Club and has a plan for them just like He had a plan for me. As we teach our students how to pray, I know He hears the prayers, aimed directly at His ears, of students struggling with addiction in their homes.

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Previous Posts in this Series: Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love Dying to be FREE She Walked In Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land Quitting is the easy part! Preventing Teen Drug Use Realizing our addictions (remember... even Jesus was tempted) Now That Was God Access to Health & Hope Healing from Hurts, Hang-ups & Habits A Journey to Christ

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

A Journey to Christ

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction. When I look back at it now, I see that God guided me to Him. Each step of my journey led to the next. Each step was needed to get me to where I am today. Each step I was given a choice, yes or no, good or bad, right or wrong. Even the bad decisions I made were necessary to bring me to where I needed to be. They were lessons I needed to learn. I can look back now and see God working through it all. The times when I thought to myself; is this all there is, isn’t there anything more in life, these are the moments that God gave me to realize that He was what I needed. Even though I didn’t turn to Him, He still continued to guide me and protect me. He knew where, when, why, and how. And He knew in the end, I would be His.

Me, being a mortal man, did not want to give up my will. I kept telling myself I can do it, I don’t need any help. All the while I kept spiraling down, falling farther into a pit of despair and hopelessness. I knew the whole time that I was falling deeper, yet I was unable to stop myself. I even came to the realization that I wanted to see the bottom, I wanted to see just how far down I could go.

Well, I found the bottom; I saw what it looked like to me. It wasn’t the suicide attempts, or living on the streets, or 3 weeks in a mental hospital, or Lancaster County Prison, or even walking into Water Street Mission. The bottom for me was my wife telling me that I was not the man she married. That was when I realized that not only did I need help, but I also wanted the help. I saw the bottom, now there was nowhere else to go but up.

The question that now remained was, how do I climb back up. At the time it seemed impossible. I didn’t even know how or where to begin. How do I begin to rebuild a life that I deliberately tried to destroy? Unbelievably, the answer to that question came from a doctor at the Water Street Health Services. Through a conversation with him, I learned that Christ was the Way. While the doctor prayed, I accepted Christ as my Savior. At that moment I actually felt a giant weight being lifted from my shoulders. I found my place to start, it was with God, and Jesus was the Way.

Since that day in April, 2010, the transformation has been incredible. It can be summed up in one word, hope. Although I am still homeless, unemployed, and estranged from my family, I now know there is hope. I feel there is a purpose to my life, a reason to go on. At this point I don’t know what all God has planned for me, I don’t know what his purpose for me is. But the one thing I do know is that there is hope, and that my life has been and will continue to be, A Journey To Christ. - From a Resident

We love hearing from you! Post your comments below, or Click Here to visit our Facebook page and join the conversation! Previous Posts in this Series: Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love Dying to be FREE She Walked In Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land Quitting is the easy part! Preventing Teen Drug Use Realizing our addictions (remember... even Jesus was tempted) Now That Was God Access to Health & Hope

Healing from Hurts, Hang-ups & Habits

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Healing from Hurts, Hang-ups & Habits

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

Article 5 (of 8) in the Messenger magazine - Winter 2011 Edition! This article is adapted from an interview between Emily Towers, Residential Administrative Assistant, and our staff facilitators of Celebrate Recovery.

One of the deadliest elements of addiction is isolation; it is easier to maintain an addiction when no one else sees it. On the other hand, relationships allow us to air the hurt that we ignore through the addiction.

In the Women’s Transitional Program at the Water Street Mission, we use a twelve-step class called Celebrate Recovery to help clients who struggle with addiction. The course is also intended to be part of the after-care for women who have moved out of homelessness, by providing a place they can stay connected with current clients and staff.

The materials, provided through a grant from The Huston Foundation, are based on Biblical principles, like the Beatitudes, and focus on God’s freeing power. We recognize Jesus Christ as the one who creates true heart change and heals us from hurts, hang-ups or habits.

As we are building relationships in the class with our clients through the bond of similar struggles, the clients are building relationships with each other. For many of the women this is the first time they have shared their addictions with anyone. Ultimately, it is our relationships with others and God which allow us to authentically share our hearts and heal our wounds.

In recovery, when someone stops practicing one addictive behavior, they sometimes replace it with another, be it eating, reading inappropriate materials or co-dependency. These are unhealthy ways of coping that we also address in the class.

As a result of what they’re learning, we see ladies growing and developing in their walk with the Lord. One client shares, “I didn’t see a need for [the class], because I wasn’t addicted to drugs or alcohol. But I realized a month ago that I am addicted to pain medication. Knowing this, I saw the class in a whole new light.

“I saw that everything I read and discussed can be used for everyday life,” she continued. “It helped me to discover who I was. I learned I wasn’t alone. I was able to forgive myself as well as others. It also helped me understand God more clearly. With all this I am able to like myself. Because of this class, I am on the right path.”

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In
Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land
Quitting is the easy part!
Preventing Teen Drug Use
Realizing our addictions (remember... even Jesus was tempted)
Now That Was God
Access to Health & Hope

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

Access to Health & Hope

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

Article 4 (of 8) in the Messenger magazine - Winter 2011 Edition! By Gale Thomason, Executive Director, Water Street Health Services

Carol* sat in the chair in Exam Room One with her head hanging low and the drool running in a slow drip from her bottom lip. The friend who helped her get to Water Street Health Services described Carol as having been “overmedicated for the last few days.” After checking Carol’s prescriptions expecting a month’s supply remaining, the friend found nearly empty bottles.

As I looked at Carol I silently prayed, “Dear Lord, What do you want me to do for this child of yours who has no idea how much you love her?” Often drug addiction is mainly perceived to be an issue of street drugs. However, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, more people abuse prescription medications than cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy and inhalants combined. Carol is one of many legal prescription drug addicts.

In Carol’s dangerous situation, our role at Water Street Health Services was to ensure her safety until the effects of the pills wore off. This warranted sending her to the local hospital by ambulance. Without help, Carol may have choked to death on her own vomit or even stopped breathing!

Once the initial emergency was addressed, Carol needed to discover what pain she was trying to numb through drugs. For Carol, her addiction was an attempt to mask the effects of years of sexual abuse.

I got to see Carol last month, two years after her life-threatening overdose. She had a sparkle in her eyes, and she held her head high. Smiling, she was hand in hand with her dear 5-year-old daughter. She expressed how much Water Street Health Services meant to her as we supported her through the years.

The key, Carol says, is that even in her stupor and subsequent visits to Water Street Health Services for treatment for psychiatric conditions, arthritis and GERD, she knew she was loved and not judged. For the first time, she began to understand how valuable she is to God and that He promises hope for her future.

In addition to access to health care, Carol is one of nearly 2,500 patients who find health and hope for a future at Water Street Health Services through the power
of God’s restoration.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In
Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land
Quitting is the easy part!
Preventing Teen Drug Use
Realizing our addictions (remember... even Jesus was tempted)
Now That Was God

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

Now that was God

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

By Chuck Albrecht, shelter manager, Water Street Mission

I recently was blessed to witness God's hand leading me clearly in His perfect timing.

Jose* came to Water Street as an alcoholic who could no longer live with his wife. Due to his age, he was enrolled in the Mission’s Supportive Services Program, which is designed for individuals who can’t easily find employment to support themselves. [This program invites individuals to live at the Mission until we can help them move into permanent supportive housing.]

Our staff described Jose as a lively elderly man with a twinkle in his eye, and “easy to like.” A few weeks ago, this seemingly healthy man went to the hospital with chest pains. As they were running tests, the doctors discovered he had metastasized cancer in his kidney. The cancer was so severe that it had spread through the rest of his body. Within a week of being admitted to the hospital, he couldn’t walk.

A nurse had been trying to contact his wife of 20 years, but the phone number wasn’t working. I was asked to try and find her, but my schedule was completely booked the day I received the request. Then a caseworker told me that one of our clients no longer needed a ride to an appointment, which opened up two hours for me. I knew this was my opportunity to look for Jose’s wife.

With a street address but no apartment number, I arrived outside a building with seven doorbells to choose from and no names. I rang them all and only one elderly woman answered. Thankfully she trusted me enough to let me in. As I spoke with her, I was blessed to hear she was the grandmother of one our former clients, and she voiced her concern for him and thankfulness for our help. Then she showed me to Jose’s wife’s apartment and gave me the tip that if she wasn't home, she would most likely be at the restaurant across the street.

I walked over and sure enough there she was! We were both glad I had found her. Jose had remained in contact with her while he was living at the Mission, but she hadn't heard from him for a week (since he went to the hospital) and was really worried. She was grateful for the ride as we drove to the hospital’s trauma unit.

I took Jose’s wife to his room, and we were able to pray together before I left them alone. On my way out, a nurse thanked me for finding Jose’s wife, and I replied, “that was GOD,” thinking of all the ‘coincidences’ that enabled me to bring her to the hospital.

Jose responded to the devastating news of his condition like a champ. He didn’t want any extraordinary measures because he knew Jesus and was ready to be with Him. He has since been transferred to Hospice and isn’t expected to live much longer.

So no matter how long we think we might have somebody, we never really know. Jose’s story is a good reminder to love everyone God puts in our path, and listen to His promptings.

*Jose’s name was changed to protect his identity

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In
Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land
Quitting is the easy part!
Preventing Teen Drug Use

Realizing our addictions (remember... even Jesus was tempted)

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

Realizing our addictions (remember... even Jesus was tempted)

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

I borrowed the book Overcoming Addictive Behaviors (Anderson and Quarles) from a coworker to better understand what a lot of the clients at the Lydia Center, the Mission and Water Street Health Services are experiencing. I was surprised to find out, though, how closely the concepts connected with my own life.

Over the weekend I read a section about strongholds developing in a person’s life. It starts with a temptation, which in itself isn’t sin. Jesus was tempted three times in the desert, but the Bible tells us He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). What a comforting reminder!

If we entertain that temptation, meaning we consider it or start to follow through on it, then it starts to become dangerous – sinful. It becomes a stronghold. Within just six weeks of following through on a temptation, the authors said a habit is formed.

The way to beat a stronghold, the book recommended, is with Scripture. When Jesus was hungry and tempted to turn a stone into bread, he quoted a verse from Deuteronomy 8:3 which says, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

I may not struggle with an alcohol or drug addiction, but for me, self righteousness, pride and my performance have become, in a way, addictions.

This week when certain thoughts – temptations -- crept in, I scrambled for a verse that speaks the truth. Time and time again, portions of a verse I had memorized in my childhood came to mind: whatever is admirable, whatever is lovely, whatever is pure, think about such things (Philippians 4:8). It was amazing to see how my sinful attitude just melted away! I found myself almost surprised by the power of Scripture.

I’m excited to become more aware of my thoughts, so I can arm myself with applicable verses to fight off the temptations. I have a long way to go to take captive every thought, but God’s on my side.

- Maria Schaszberger • Director of Communications

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In
Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land
Quitting is the easy part!

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

Preventing Teen Drug Use

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

Article 3 (of 8) in the Messenger magazine - Winter 2011 Edition!
By Jack Crowley, Executive Director, Teen Haven

Many teenagers use alcohol and drugs. If you have ears or eyes, this is not a shocking revelation to you. Seventy-five percent of teens in America have experimented with alcohol; almost 40 percent with marijuana (CDC, 2005).

What may be shocking to you is that many teens began using before they even reached their teen years. More than 25 percent used alcohol before age 13, and almost 10 percent of teens have tried marijuana before age 13 (CDC, 2005).

The biggest factors leading to early use of alcohol and drugs that Teen Haven has observed among youth in our communities include: peer pressure and unhealthy family influence, family problems and the “need for escape,” natural curiosity, the perception of “fun”, and the adolescent need to declare independence.

Ironically, while two of these contributing factors are related to negative family influence, the most commonly agreed upon preventative influence in teens’ lives is healthy family influence. Positive engagement of parents in the lives of their teens is consistently shown to lower the likelihood of drug and alcohol usage (including studies by The Mayo Clinic; Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse - CASA; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Journal; Teens Today; and
Youth Specialties).

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., chairman and president of CASA, made this powerful statement: “Parental engagement in children’s lives is the key to ridding our nation of the scourge of substance abuse.”

But what about kids who don’t come from healthy families? What about teens whose homes create more stress and problems than those homes resolve? This is the reality faced by many of the teens who attend Teen Haven. At a recent girls retreat, only three of the 51 girls attending had a male father figure in their home.

In light of this, the family atmosphere provided by Teen Haven helps influence teens to make healthy choices in their lives. An environment built on love and trust is critical to helping teens know that they have somewhere to turn when faced with the temptations of drugs and alcohol.

Can Teen Haven be as effective of a deterrent as a healthy, engaged family? It is hard to know for sure, but we see how Teen Haven plays this supportive role in the lives of many teens every day. Text messages to staff members that start with: “Hey Dad, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something…”, and phone calls to discuss struggles with pressure at home, school and among peers, remind us that we often play the role of surrogate parents to those teens
who don’t have a confidant in their home.

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In
Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land
Quitting is the easy part!

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

Quitting is the easy part!

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

“Quitting is easy; I’ve done it a hundred times. I’m actually quite good at it. I have learned to do it at just the right time to get me out of the trouble I’ve gotten into by using. People get off my back when I quit.” Said by an addicted man.

The problem is staying quit!

I was reminded of this again this week when a man returned after leaving our facility four years ago on a reasonably good path. When he arrived back here, he was incoherent, emaciated and had an infected hole in his arm from using a bad needle for injecting cocaine (one of rarest but most serious methods of cocaine use). My heart broke; but, honestly, we could tell when he left that he would not do well.

I guess that probably sounds bad, that we would assess a man as he leaves for whether he might make it or not, but imagine who we would be if we didn’t. We are not just a place to stay for the homeless – we are a bio-psycho-social-spiritual hospital for the broken.

In my own journey out of the bondage to addiction, the hardest work began after I realized that quitting did not change me. I eventually discovered that my way of relating to life, learned on the way into the addiction, and reinforced by the addiction lifestyle, didn’t go away when I quit using.

It took many catastrophic relapses before I learned that my ways of relating to life were producing the problems that led to the relapses. Once I owned that, my life began to improve. Once my life began to improve, relapses stopped.

The key I discovered worked for me and has been working for many others as they come here for help. The key to relapse prevention is, ‘learning to live the way we were designed to live.’ We were designed to live out the truth that ‘others matter at least as much as I matter.’

As I began to learn and live that out in the hardest moments of my days, my life got better. As my life got better, resisting the urge to use was easier because I had more to lose.

In the LifeRecovery program of Water Street Mission, we partner with men to learn how to live according to their design, according to who the Lord says they are.

Aaron Eggers, Director of Men’s Ministries

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In
Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

Caught Between Egypt & the Promised Land

This post is part of our current Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

Article 2 (of 8) in the Messenger magazine - Winter 2011 Edition!
By Carrie Libonati, Learning Center Instructor, Lydia Center

No one likes to hear about relapse in recovery, because we often equate it with failure. The harsh reality is that many times, relapse is part of recovery. This is hard for those of us working with women we’ve grown to love and care about. It’s also very painful for family members to accept.

Recently God brought to my mind that many times people need to go back to their Egypt, their land of slavery, to realize just how bad it was. However, they do not go back the same; they take with them whatever changes God has done in their hearts. Because of these changes, they may not fall as hard or as far.

When Susan graduated from the Lydia Center last year, we were excited to celebrate the changes in her life, like the fact that she was living drug free after more than 25 years of addiction. Most importantly, she had learned that God genuinely loves her.

As Susan started to look for employment, we once again could see her looking back to her Egypt. The more she had to accept responsibility of any kind, the more her fear paralyzed her.

When her Lydia Center counselor met with her, Susan realized she was in a stage called dry relapse*. Susan shared, “I have a fear of making choices and taking responsibility, so I just don’t make them. There are things I haven’t given to God yet.”

Addiction is not just about getting high. For Susan, drugs, alcohol and compulsive behaviors had helped her in the past to avoid uncomfortable feelings like guilt and shame. It was a way for her to feel “normal”. We advised Susan to allow herself to feel the discomfort of things like responsibility instead of repeating her lifelong habit of avoiding it.

Unfortunately, Susan made a different choice. We were sad when she left the Lydia Center, especially because she was avoiding something that she had said was so important to her: restoring her relationship with her four children.

Change takes place one decision at a time, and it always involves risk. We know that God is not done with Susan yet. Pray with us that she will allow God to continue to heal her and to bring life change.

*For a chart on 'dry relapse,' see page 6 within the Messenger: Click Here to view.

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE
She Walked In

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!

She Walked In

This post is a part of our Blog Series - focusing on Addiction! As you read these stories we invite you to share your thoughts, reflections and insights. This series will include stories on addiction, along with 8 articles from our most recent Messenger magazine. Our hope is that as we engage in conversation together, we can gain a deeper understanding in the midst of trials and celebrations of overcoming addiction.

Yesterday, she walked in. A few weeks ago, she had walked out. Now, she was back. Beautiful. Gentle. Intelligent. And high. Very high. Very doped-up.

I remember when she-I don’t know her real name-left. She had only been here, Water Street Mission, for a few days. I don’t recall saying anything special to her, anything more than what I said-or would say-to anyone else who passed my outpost as a “deskman” in Kuhn’s Hall here at Water Street. I simply try-and often fail- to be Christ to those who come and go in the constant cycle of the human tide as it ebbs and flows. I see my duty as a deskman as redemptive, being called to reshape and be God’s hands in transfiguring the world. It is part of my calling to become ever more “Godlike” by growing more human, as one writer put it. In so doing, I appeal to the “godness” that exists in not only me but in all I meet. I like best how Metropolitan Anthony Bloom says in quoting Father Evgraf Kovalevsky: “When God looks at a person, He does not see either virtue, which may not exist, or success, which may not have been achieved, but He sees the unshakeable, shining beauty of His own image.”

So, there she stood. Again. She had left with another girl a few weeks back-was it that long ago-to “live” with a guy. Well, two guys. One for her, one for her friend. I guess that’s how these things work. Some young man told her he “loved” her, like some modern day Pied Piper. And, lured by his sultry good looks and sweet talk, she listened. I remember thinking, ”She’ll be back.” I just never thought it would be so soon. And like this. I remember wanting to tell her that her body, her soul, herself were sacred. To not sell or give away the holy. But I didn’t. And she left.

Now, she stands here in Kuhn’s Hall entrance again. Something brought her back. Or Someone. She walked back in. And she speaks.

“Hey! I just wanted to say, ‘hey.’” She’s high, really strung out. I’m not “streets,” if ya know what I mean, but it’s obvious. And I have to talk to her. With her. I was silent once, but how do you speak truth in love to a beautiful young woman who is hurt and covering it up in a drug-induced haze? Shall I tell her that she’s a sinner, that she’s headed to hell? I won’t. In that moment, I know what I won’t say, which is good, because I wouldn’t need to convince her of how “bad” she is. I need to convince her that she is an icon, that no matter what, no matter how damaged she is by sin, that there is still the beauty of God’s image within her, and that I care, that I venerate what remains in her of that icon, and that I want her to care. I want her to feel that her vocation is so much bigger than sex, so much bigger than getting high. I want her to become a “god-man” in Christ’s image. And how do you say all that?

I look at her, my heart breaking. And I speak. “What are you doing with yourself?” She answers, "I’m living with a guy, but a different one.” In a week she switches guys. Another boy, her self-esteem, or what is left of it, tied up in men-if that’s what you call them; they’re of that gender. And I hurt for her, and I speak, knowing that she will walk out again, and I have one chance to be Christ to Her. And I get this sudden rush that this is what Jesus felt when He looked at the rich young man with love and sorrow.

“You are meant for so much more than this. God wants so much more for you.” In that moment, I love her. Not in a romantic sense, not in a sensual sense, but I venerate the icon that could be her. And, in the briefest flicker of a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, she sees it. She reaches… and then draws back.

“I know.” She turns and leaves and walks out. And it is night.
- From a resident

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Previous Posts in this Series:
Fighting Addiction With the Armor of God
Fighting Addiction, and Experiencing God's Love
Dying to be FREE

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on Addiction!