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"Clean" does not only mean that a person doesn't use drugs. The bible states, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9) And again, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18) I praise God because He has made me TRULY clean! I love hearing these kind of stories because I can relate to the feelings that cause this sort of behavior. We all have something ugly in our past - here's some of mine... Throughout Junior High and beginning High School, I had everything going for me - two wealthy parents, good grades, popularity, etc... After a while I realized this wasn't making me happy. I came to a conscious realization that the "world's reality" was just empty. Like many other people that discovered this, I tried to create my own reality through drug use. I didn't go as far as the lady above mentioned because I knew that if my success and popularity began to slip, I would be in big trouble. After a few years of allowing the abuse to gradually get worse, I hit a crisis point. My then girlfriend (now wife), who did not use drugs, threatened to leave me because of my behavior. I knew that I had something special and didn't want to lose it, so I voluntarily entered an intensive, in-patient drug rehabilitation program. After completing the rehab program, I made use of my previous public speaking training and began talking to large groups of students (usually 1 - 2 thousand at a time) about the dangers of drug abuse. This is a good way to feed pride. My pride grew so large that it drowned my feeling of emptiness - for a while. I love Ecclesiastes because I can look back and see places in my life where I came to the same conclusion as Solomon, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1) This was one of those places. Without having any reason to do otherwise, I started using drugs again. This time I used more - and more often - than before, just to try and run from those feelings of emptiness that were in me. The next part of my life was probably the most exciting. I believe that if I become involved in an active, person-to-person ministry, it will be in the area of helping people replace drugs with Christ because this image has been pressed very firmly into my heart: People who use drugs are ready and searching for Christ and it is only a matter of time before either death or Christ catches them. The reason for this lies in the fact that Satan, though a powerful and crafty adversary, has finite knowledge. His purpose in these people's lives is to destroy (which I assume is why he is referred to as "the destroyer" in at least 7 different places in the bible). What he does not realize is that he continues beating and beating and beating a person until the final blow - which usually brings a person to his knees. Only when a person has been broken and brought to his knees can he truly appreciate the love of Christ... Which brings me back to what you wrote in the book you gave me the other day. I have been wondering what the Lord has in mind for my life. I know it must be grand because the enemy was so concerned with destroying me and God was willing to reach so deep to lift me up. I know that at one time I had the verse that you wrote committed to memory, but for some reason, I couldn't retrieve it from my memory banks. And the Lord said ,"He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..." (Philippians 1:6) Thank you for the encouragement... Click HERE to return to the edited story Click HERE to create a banner that links to this story! Your e-mail address will be kept private!
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