I struggled with addiction for many years. I have spent time in counseling and much more time in searching for the root to the addiction. It has been a journey that God has taken me through to find freedom. Addiction can often feel like a very deep, dark chasm that has no end. However, in all of its ugliness and all of the many details that make up addictive behavior, I am finding that it really is just another distraction from Satan to find something other than God to fill our need. Addiction is striving on our own power to find healing for our pain. It is self- medication and behind every addict is pain.
For me, it was the pain of not feeling accepted for who I was. So, I chose to turn myself into someone I thought was acceptable to everyone else. The poison that I chose was food and over time food became the substance that I turned to for everything. I found solace and safety in food. It became my focus and I felt that I had to have food in order to be ok. It became a substitute for God in my life.
That is what addiction really is about. It is a substitute for the only person that can offer us complete healing, forgiveness, and wholeness. Jesus is the only “substance” that will never leave us wanting more. He is the living water that quenches our thirst and the bread that satisfies our hunger. (John 4:14, John 6:35) Jesus is the answer to addiction. When we begin to focus on Him, fix our eyes on Him, and throw aside every other thing that hinders us, we will find healing from addiction. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
If our vision is consumed with Him, then there is no room for us to focus on anything else and really nothing else matters. In Him we find completeness, fulfillment, everything. Anything that is not of Jesus, is simply a distraction.
I believe that I will always have the tendency to be a binge eater. To be tempted to turn to food for my fix. Why? I believe there are two reasons. The first is because I am human. I am prone to temptation and distraction. Satan desires to pull my attention off of Jesus, whether through addiction or some other means. Secondly, it is through my weakness that Jesus is made strong and through which His grace is sufficient for me. Because of Jesus, though, I am not a slave any longer to those tendencies. When I choose to fill my line of vision with Jesus; the temptation no longer matters. The issues in my life that are causing me distress do not matter, because I choose to focus on Jesus. He is my peace, my strength, and He is all I need. It reminds me of an song we used to sing in church when I was a little girl:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
For me, it was the pain of not feeling accepted for who I was. So, I chose to turn myself into someone I thought was acceptable to everyone else. The poison that I chose was food and over time food became the substance that I turned to for everything. I found solace and safety in food. It became my focus and I felt that I had to have food in order to be ok. It became a substitute for God in my life.
That is what addiction really is about. It is a substitute for the only person that can offer us complete healing, forgiveness, and wholeness. Jesus is the only “substance” that will never leave us wanting more. He is the living water that quenches our thirst and the bread that satisfies our hunger. (John 4:14, John 6:35) Jesus is the answer to addiction. When we begin to focus on Him, fix our eyes on Him, and throw aside every other thing that hinders us, we will find healing from addiction. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
If our vision is consumed with Him, then there is no room for us to focus on anything else and really nothing else matters. In Him we find completeness, fulfillment, everything. Anything that is not of Jesus, is simply a distraction.
I believe that I will always have the tendency to be a binge eater. To be tempted to turn to food for my fix. Why? I believe there are two reasons. The first is because I am human. I am prone to temptation and distraction. Satan desires to pull my attention off of Jesus, whether through addiction or some other means. Secondly, it is through my weakness that Jesus is made strong and through which His grace is sufficient for me. Because of Jesus, though, I am not a slave any longer to those tendencies. When I choose to fill my line of vision with Jesus; the temptation no longer matters. The issues in my life that are causing me distress do not matter, because I choose to focus on Jesus. He is my peace, my strength, and He is all I need. It reminds me of an song we used to sing in church when I was a little girl:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
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