Just Breathe: Hope And Help For Those Drowning In The Pain Of AddictionExemplo

Encourage Others with My Life and Story Part 2

Having experienced a spiritual awakening, I must now step outside of myself and encourage others with my story and continually changing life. You don’t have to wait until you feel like you are completely there to be used by God. Let God use you as a person in process. 

You may be like me and not have a ton of great insight. You may not yet be able to offer the kind of counsel and wisdom as someone who’s further down the road than you. But you can say to people, “I’m not where I want to be, but I’m not where I used to be. God is changing me. He’s setting my feet on a new path, and helping me walk a new direction.” 

You know, there’s always a “so that” involved in transformation. Companies will make changes in their business, “so that ... .” Teams will make changes in line-ups, personnel, or coaching staffs “so that ... .” There is always a goal in mind. God does the same when he changes someone. 

Check out Ephesians 2:8–10. You can see that God planned to use my life and yours all along. But you maybe took a detour like me and did your own thing, but by his grace and power he brought you back. And he did it so that he could use your life to do the good things he’d always dreamed you would do.

I never imagined I would get to do something like write a book and talk to people about freedom. A former alcoholic, drug addict who was addicted to and distributed porn?

I’m telling you, from personal experience, if you will cooperate with the leadership of God, he can and will recycle all of your pain, your failures, your screw-ups, your dirty secrets, and your past into an unexpected ministry to help other people.

When you become broken, humble, dependent upon God, grateful for grace, and grateful for a second chance in life, then you become a real player in God’s redemptive plan. You become empathetic, compassionate, and understanding because you’ve been there. You know you’ve been forgiven much, so like Jesus said, now you are able to love much. You know how futile self-help is. You know how destructive bitterness is. You know how freeing forgiveness is. You understand the value of complete honesty. You know where to access real transformational power. You know what it takes to make the courageous choice to walk down a different path. You understand the power of feeding your mind and changing your focus. You are in the process of changing a little more every day, one day at a time. I mean, think about it. If you were God, isn’t that the type of person you’d want on your team?