We are all addicted

Hi, my name is Suzanne, and I'm an addict. That is, we're all inclined to be addicted to ourselves. Self-addicted. And so I offered this prayer at a success event for women in drug and alcohol recovery this last Monday.

Dear Lord:

It’s because of you that we are sitting here tonight. You’ve been so good and gracious to us.

The truth is that each one of us here tonight has a tendency toward addiction. We are addicted to ourselves. Self-addicted. And that addiction shows itself in our relationships, in our longings, in our substance abuse, and in the way we often ignore you, forgetting that you have created us and made a way that we can know you personally. Forgive us, Father.

Sometimes it’s been hard to receive your acceptance and love, because we don’t feel loved by others. Break down that barrier, Lord, and help us to receive all that you have to offer us. Help each one here to be grateful for the amazing blessings you’ve poured out on us, and to turn their will and their life over to you.

And thank you for this amazing time of celebration—for the success we are celebrating tonight.  Surround these amazing women with your strength, bless them as they seek to thank you and to make things right in their lives, help them to know that they are always loved.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. 


What we learn from Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous is that the first step to recovery of any kind is that we admit we are powerless to help ourselves. You don't have to be shooting up or draining a shot glass to need help in your life. You just have to admit that you need Jesus...and yes, others, too, because they are the hands and feet of Jesus in our lives. 


Have you taken the first step? And if you know Jesus, are you becoming less self-addicted? How?

Her first Bible

This morning, I sat on a picnic table with the sun beating down on my neck as I read through the 2nd and 3rd chapters of John with a 20something who is in addiction recovery.

And we talked about crazy John the Baptist, and the first few disciples who bravely followed the seemingly-insignificant Jesus of Nazareth, and the way his mother got a little bossy, which instigated his first miracle of turning water into wine.

The person of Jesus was alive between us, and we were both excited about his ministry getting started in the beginning of John. And after we read and talked for awhile, I reached into my bag, and pulled out something wrapped in sparkly purple paper. "I've got something for you," I said. "And this slow grin just broke out over her face, and she said, "It's a Bible, isn't it?" with excitement in her voice. "I've never had my own before..." And looking inside she said, "And it has words I can understand, too."

And something within me shivered, picturing the many Bibles at home upon my shelf, so many of them untouched.

I told her to mark up her Bible, to not be afraid of it. I recommended she keep on going through John for the story of Jesus' ministry, and that she consider reading the Psalms, especially Psalm 139. I told her God delights in her.

I prayed for her and she said each time we meet her heart leaves lighter, and I told her that is because her spirit is involved. That she is made to know God.

And then she grabbed her brand-new Bible in her arms and turned to go back inside, promising to meet me there next week. And I don't know whose heart was more filled up to the brim with joy, dribbling out as I got up from the picnic table to walk to my car.

"For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the ^[a]breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart."
Hebrews 4:12, The Amplified Bible