Monday, February 17, 2014

Only One True Way to Overcome Addictions?


Thank you Beth Patch and CBN.com for running my blog today!
http://blogs.cbn.com/battlingaddictions/archive/2014/02/14/only-one-true-way-to-overcome-addictions.aspx
I'm including it here:

Only One True Way to Overcome Addictions?


The number of fractured families grows daily. You may be part of this growing number and might feel overwhelmed in your situation. This is one of my favorite verses to read when I need motivation to press on:
“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.” Psalms 27:13 NKJV
I have noticed that there are those who seem to be able to work a 12-step program, those who because of mental health issues still need medications, those who can do it with Jesus only, and then there are those who need Jesus and much, much more. We just don’t hear enough about the fact that there is no ONE way to recovery.  Sometimes it seems there are people in rival camps fighting against each other, saying that their way is the only way that works.
I believe that recovery can be attained if you do it the way that works best for YOU and your family. We are all individuals; we learn differently, have unique beliefs and certainly each have our own truths. That does NOT prevent any of us from accepting the pieces of the process that work for us and traveling a path less known or accepted if that helps us and our fractured families achieve our dreams, sanity and sobriety.
There is no One Way Only road to recovery.
This statement is becoming more true to me as I think about the uniqueness of our Lord and how He created each person individually. We let go and we let God; yet sometimes He gives us ideas to help ourselves and others and bring hope for each situation. What works for one family member may turn another one completely off.
A Radical Intervention
For years I was waiting on a daughter to walk herself into rehab, and all those years she felt unloved and unworthy until I took a legal step to help her – I Marchman Acted her.
According to Okeechobee Florida Clerk of Court, “a Marchman Act is a means of providing an individual in need of substance abuse services with emergency services and temporary detention for substance abuse evaluation and treatment when required, either on a voluntary or involuntary basis.” The process is initiated by petitioning the court and a judge decides if the person meets the criteria. (Not all states have adopted the Marchman Act into their laws.)
In my daughter’s mind, taking that step to insist she get help spelled love. The Bible says in Lamentations:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:22-24(NIV)
I had to wait on the timing of the Lord before I took this legal step. The love was there all the time, but she was not able to receive it or even believe that it was there until the Marchman Act was served. My action allowed her to feel loved. That was her view; the Marchman Act spelled love to her.
Yet many have gotten treatment for their loved ones to no avail; there is a timing, and it is the Lord’s. That is when we breathe and pray, breathe and pray, breathe, cry out to the Lord and pray.
Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. Zechariah 9:12 NIV
Prayer: Lord, we come to You today, praying Thy will be done. I can’t fix this situation or family member, I never could but it took me a while to figure that out. You Lord, love my children even more than I do, so I leave them with You, asking for serenity for my own life, protection for children and hope for the future. Yes, I will be a prisoner of hope for my family and loved ones who wrestle with addiction until the day I die or the day that You bring the healing needed. We thank You that although there may be more than one way to recovery, You are the only Way, Truth and Life and the only “one way” to live. We give you all praise and glory in Jesus precious name. Amen.

Donna Collins Tinsley, wife, mother and grandmother, lives in Port Orange, Florida and has been included in several magazines and book compilations. She is a lover of the Lord Jesus and a sister among you. Find her at Facebook,   http://thornrose7.blogspot.com/  or join Somebody’s Mother Online Prayer Support Group athttps://www.facebook.com/groups/119408188089314/ Please email her at Thornrose7@aol.com with CBN blog article in the subject.


Saturday, February 8, 2014

Second Chapters and God’s Business


Second Chapters and God’s Business


    I am so amazed at times at the second chapters or acts in some of our lives. I look around me and what seemed to surely spell only disaster for someone’s life now rings of new hope and healing. I was very happy to share this news on the first day of a New Year about my daughter, Regina. After over five long years of working a program, paying it forward to many others through sponsorship and help in other ways, studying, counseling and more my oldest daughter not only is on the Board of the Rebecca Schneider Foundation but has just been officially "BADGED" to go out to the Volusia County Correctional Facility and spread the message that in her own words, "an addict, any addict, can lose the urge to use and stay clean! Woooo hooooo!"
      She went into the jail this week for the first time and from what she has said, was very blessed to do it. We know when the Lord has a great destiny the enemy tries hard to keep a person down and he has tried his hardest but didn’t win in Jesus name. It is true as the Bibles says that weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. Her second chapter is looking hopeful.
     I remember some years back that I felt that the Lord said “Life as you know it is getting ready to change.” I think it was right after that Shiloh and Brian came to us and said they wanted to get married in five days! Wow! What a whirlwind romance they had and then them leaving right after that to go to Rhema Bible College, life was really changing and probably truth be told I am still in shock. But it is a good kind of shock as in when the Lord gives you a very special favor. They make me laugh amidst many tears of life as I picture Shiloh having an animal farm someday, because she just can’t seem to get enough pets to love but their first love is youth ministryJ More about Shiloh and Brian as their second chapters evolve into beautiful works for the Lord.
   Life has seemed hard for Amber this chapter as the results of a “good, upscale doctor’s advise” at times which led to make her life harder. She has battled some medical things since she was five-years-old but rededicated her life to the Lord I think it was Sept. 2012 and I fully expect to see her giving her testimony one day on stage. I saw it in my mind many years ago and look forward to what the Lord has ahead for her. Little Aryel has been one of the greatest joys of my life, as the same can be said about all my grandchildren, but when you see someone who has an autoimmune disease live, laugh and love in the way that she does…well it makes my heart sing.
     Ashley, being the private person that she is, I try to give her that space, but she is one of the most beautiful, kindest women that the Lord ever created and one day all of my prayers for her will come about, I am sure. Her second act will be great.
     My second act is probably third or fourth at my age and only the Lord knows my days. I hope to see a family healed and whole before my final chapter. I am amazed at the goodness of the Lord as He continues to free me from the chains that had me bound for so many years. I am grateful to be married to Bill and will write more about him and all of our wonderful grandchildren one day.
     How can we conclude our second, third, fourth and following chapters without a really knowing what is ahead in our lives? This is my conclusion, and I believe the Lord gave it to me. Our lives, mine, yours, and our family’s are “God’s business.”
      I have always fervently believed and clung to the verse in Romans, 8:28.  I still do. But how God will work all things for good to me, because He loved and called me, I don’t know. There are some things we will not know until we face Him in Heaven. I have always believed that Jesus is with me, from the time I accepted Him as a young child. I couldn’t have survived a chaotic childhood, my own sexual abuse, first marriage to a pedophile, and then the ensuing years of struggle, without that knowledge. 
    Sometimes the pain has been so great, that I haven’t felt His presence, but I believe. Sometimes, I have felt that I would rather die, than live, but I believe. Sometimes, I wish, I could take the pain away from my family, but I believe that God will use it to perfect them, in some way, at some time. I believe that God can conceive the plans He has for me, for them, and for you, my friend, plans for a future and a hope.
     Why do I believe that I can leave my hopes and dreams to Him as His business? Because He is a good businessman!
      If we can trust earthly men who are great leaders and businessmen with our affairs how much more, can we, must we, trust the ultimate Father and businessman; the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him I dedicate my life and give the glory for what He will bring about and accomplish. He is the true lover of my soul; my dream come true! Donna Collins Tinsley
God will do what it takes----whatever it takes
To bring his children home
Max Lucado



And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
Romans 8:28