Addicted to Faith {excerpts}

I visualize this God-given gift of faith to be like a favorite comforter. Not just any comforter, but a wonderful goose down blanket, soft and warm, luxurious to the touch. This comforter entices you each night, so as to anticipate climbing into bed and wrapping it’s softness around you. A blanket that you will keep wrapped around your body on a cold morning in the dead of winter, a quilt that you hesitate to stow away even when the warm summer nights arrive, one whose security is so familiar that it keeps you in bed those few extra minutes each morning. You pause to replace it even after it has grown old and began to unravel and fade; it is as much of you as any other memory you hold. On those nights when you sleep away from your home, away from your comforter,  your rest is not as deep, you are aware of the comforter’s absence. A comforter whose delicate aroma reminds you of your wife or husband and the times you have shared.

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Remember that warm and cozy blanket we wrapped ourselves in; now consider the circumstances that may cause His blanket to fall away, because at times it will. The painful and difficult steps we take in a life of recovery will tug at our blanket of faith. Sometimes we will kick off a portion of its protective cover without even realizing we have done so. Other times the blanket is pulled away by a wife or husband unintentionally (or sadly with intent), leaving you with little or no comfort. On occasions it just seems to fall away with no explanation. And other times, well other times we remove this blanket with purpose. We throw it aside because we think we no longer need its protection. Maybe we toss it away because we don’t think it provides the comfort we need. We pick it up and throw it down in anger, swearing never to seek its embrace again. There lying on the floor, always within our reach, is God; discarded, gathering dust, and soon sadly forgotten.

What ever the cause, when we expose our life to anything not covered by God’s gift to man, this blanket that soothes everlastingly, we are in essence telling God “No thank you. I don’t need you right now; my faith in you is not enough.”

    Or maybe we say “Thanks for the gift but this time I will try to stay warm on my own.”

My friend, faith is a gift! A gift that you will need each day in your battle to overcome the addictive life, standing by your side like a great warrior ready to fight any foe for his comrades. Like any gift that we may become bored with, replace with something newer or what we hope may be better, when not used the gift will begin to gather dust. The batteries will corrode with little use. Hinges will rust and open with noisy reluctance. Or worse yet, we will forget where we put the gift, stored away in some forgotten corner of the seldom opened hall closet.

Then the day comes when we really need this gift. We need our faith. We need God.

But we have forgotten how to use it, or where we put it.

Perhaps I lost it.

Then we begin to doubt if we ever really had it at all.

We have forgotten what it was like to be on our knees in prayer with God. We can’t find the comfort our faith once provided. We don’t recall that we were no more worthy of His grace and mercy then than we are now. Our anguish begins to conquer. Old habits come back. Curse God and take a drink, place a bet, pop a vein, after all who cares?

The good news is God has not forgotten; He cares. He hasn’t forgotten His promises. He hasn’t forgotten you. He has waited with patience for you to return to Him on bended knee and dust off His gift. Take the blanket of faith and wrap it around your life again. Trust in Him, the designer of the gift. Remember the peace. Experience the comfort.

Oder now Addicted to Faith