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

Encourage Others with My Life and Story Part 3

I’m blown away by how many people God puts in my path that need the same kind of touch from him that I have received. You never know how God will use you. You never know when your story, no matter what it is, will intersect someone else’s life and give them hope. God has always used ordinary people, broken people. 

Please don’t misunderstand, people are helped immensely when we share from our strengths. But many more are helped when we’re also not afraid to be honest about our weaknesses, and the way that God is giving us the power to change. 

Who better to help someone struggling with alcohol or drug addiction than someone who’s been there?

Who better to help someone with an eating disorder than someone who’s been there?

Who better to help someone through the pain of abuse, unfaithfulness, bankruptcy, chemotherapy, the loss of a child or a miscarriage than someone who’s been there?

There is no more effective healer than a wounded healer: someone who’s been there. God never wastes a hurt! Never. If you are willing, he will take your pain and struggle and recycle it in such a way that your life will ripple on people in ways you never dreamed. 

Pray that God will intersect your life with other people. And then notice them. Never see them as an interruption, but as an answer to your prayer to help someone else. Seize the opportunity to humbly, tactfully, and graciously share what life is like now that you and God are walking this new road together. All you have to be able to say to help somebody else is, “The road is long, but with God’s help I’m getting there one step at a time. And I’d sure love to take you along with me. How about it?” 

As you share your story and as you encourage and mentor and coach and sponsor other people who are where you used to be, pretty soon you will feel as impassioned as Paul felt in Acts 20:24. 

If you’ve read my story, you know that I am a man who is recovering from materialism, lust, jealousy, resentment, gluttony, procrastination, lying, anger, inferiority, grief, heartbreak, gossip, malice, and more. But you also need to know that I am a man who has experienced the amazing grace, patience, power, and unfailing love of Jesus Christ in his life. He gave me a new start. He took out my cold, hard heart and gave me a new soft one. He gave me a new direction to walk and some new shoes to wear. He surrounded me with people to help me along the way. He is transforming me daily with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. So as long as there is breath in my lungs, you will not get me to shut up about the kindness of God. It’s part of my recovery, and it’s part of yours. 

Grab someone who needs the hope you’ve found, and take up your mat and walk.

Watch Keith's testimony and start reading Just Breathe at keithrepult.com.