Finding Hope: A Plan for Loved Ones of AddictsSample

Day 2: We’re All A Little Crazy

The enemy longs to see you shamed into a corner, and he has a special tool just for you and your family. It’s this devastating tool he uses, leaving you stuck in your home, lonely, tired, depressed, and angry at whatever has happened to you. It’s this tool he uses to keep you and your family from being the beacon of hope that you can really be. It’s what he wants to wedge between you and the rest of your loved ones. It’s how he is planning to break up your marriage.

I bet you think I’m going to say that tool is addiction, but it isn’t.

This tool the enemy uses to destroy families is pride.

I don’t mean pride as you traditionally may view it, in the sense that you are arrogant or conceited. Rather, I’m talking about the type of pride that convinces you that what you are dealing with is an isolated incident, and no one else is struggling with anything similar.

This pride makes us feel like we have to have it all together. This pride keeps us from opening up about the reality of what’s really going on in our lives. It barricades us from the rest of the world, and makes us think we are crazy.

But we’re all a little crazy.

Parents Perspective: Wendell Lang

From a parents’ point of view, we all want to view our families as functional and healthy. However, we are all surrounded by dysfunctional people, thus we all have dysfunctional families.

Pride is the forerunner of all sins. Pride is self-absorbed. Pride can reveal either how miserable we are or how wonderful we are. In Isaiah 14:13-14, we even see that pride is what made Lucifer the devil.

Until we are able distance ourselves from our children’s choices, we will continue to be weighed down by the subtlety of sinful pride. We are so prone to taking credit for our children’s good choices that we feel embarrassed when our children make poor choices.

I remember wondering what our community would think of me as a local pastor when it became evident that my son had become a drug addict. But it's only when we crucify our personal pride and shame over our children’s actions that we will be able to come alongside our children and become part of the solution.

When we disembark from the pride ride, we can start the healing process that each parent desires and deserves. We must love our children enough to eradicate our egos for the sake of healing from the albatross of addiction.