MLC BS

[missmyfriend]

Patrick, it sounds like faith is important to you. I know that you have mentioned that it is important that the children go to church. For some people, it is a tradition or what they feel is expected or concern over their children and what challenges that face them which drive people to go to church. For others, it could be those reasons plus they want a real relationship with God.

I am mentioning this because it is important in helping you with how much you are being "attacked". I can feel the anguish you are going through. As rough as my situation is, I hurt when I read your posts. I want to do something to help. I can't. I wish I could.

For me, I did not want to give everything over to God. I felt like I had to be in control of my life. I thought that if I gave it to God, He really didn't do anything and that I was simply ignoring my problems. I learned that this was the opposite of what I received back from Him.

I am receiving peace back from Him and I receive verification everything is okay and that I am going to be fine. The only times I feel pain and anguish myself is when I fall back into my old routine and forget about Him. After suffering for awhile, I hit my head with my hand and realize I have tried to do this on my own again. I start talking to Him and asking Him for help. And I began to relax, reading His word which tells me that I am looking to closely at my situation and not remembering that this is not the rest of the story.

I cannot force you to seek Him out and would not dream of doing so. I am encouraging you to sincerely have a R with Him to save you from a really, really tough situation. The constant emotionaly strain is so unhealthy and the temptation to strike back has to be enormous. If you can reach some sort of peace, the challenges may not completely go away but they can be greatly reduced while you are living next door to your W and the OM.

I know a man who had a terrible alcohol and drug addiction that completely controlled his life. He only worried about his next fix and what he could score. His life was in a complete shambles. He had no home, no family (he stayed away from his parents because of his problems), no job and no future. A friend of mine, did not force God on this man but my friend showed God's love through his care and compassion. My friend did tell this man that he could get free of his addictions and change his life if he really wanted to by asking God to be the master of his life.

My friend spent over a year helping this man out at different times, finally helping this man to move out of the town he was living in and to a new place where he could move into his own apartment. This man decided enough was enough and he could no longer do this on his own and asked God to heal him and guide him.

The man did this at the beginning of this year and has remained clean and sober since January. He had no withdrawals. He has a job. He has his own apartment. His parents are in his life again and they all go to church together. This man is a strong man because he knew he was too weak to do this on his own and turned to the Lord.

This is a true story. Will he make it or will he turn back to his old ways? I believe his sincerity about his relationship is real. I believe he belongs to God and He will see this man through the "wilderness".