Famous Enough

Here we are. I made it-the end of another semester of college. It seems that my college career has taken longer than expected, which is true for a variety of reasons, but nonetheless I am one step closer to being finished with my undergrad degree in Counseling.

The start of this semester looked rather different for me: a new college, a new schedule, new classes and new people to meet. A new start was something I was half excited for and other half I was deeply dreading. Part of a new start that I figured would be nice was that no one will know who the Matchett’s are and no one will have ever heard of the church that I am from or anything else about me. I can just be another face in the crowd and if I decide I want to not be a hermit crab, then I’ll make that decision eventually. What I came to quickly realize was here at Clarks Summit University it seems almost everybody knows more about my family and my home church more than I do.

My Uncle Tim was a missionary in Togo, Africa and was a CSU graduate and unfortunately, he was killed while on the mission field. God has used his death to His glory and the work that my uncle has started is still being carried on. About three years ago I was able to go to Africa on my first ever missions’ trip. There I met a pastor that heard of the man that started my home church as well as my Uncle. It was a neat experience to hear about the work that has been planted and still growing.

When I arrived at CSU, some of the first few people that I met asked the million-dollar question, “Are you related to Tim Matchett?” Other questions followed: “OH, you grew up at Shawnee Baptist Church, do you know this person?”, “Does this couple still go there?” From there many connections were made. I thought ‘well, I guess I can’t hide from anyone anywhere here.’ The first few weeks of school I spent the weekends church hopping and I found myself walking into the doors of a church right down the street. I was welcomed right away and the questions started all over again. It was like no matter where I went everyone seemed to know my family and who I was more than I did.

This new circumstance brought on a different feeling for me. Suddenly, I wanted to try and live up and carry on a torch that was left behind. A man that I had only met a few times had suddenly become extremely close and I felt that it was up to me to carry on the last name that I inherited. My home church name was also something that I felt I had to represent in the best way possible.

The issue that I was having was I found myself wondering and worrying about what people thought about me. Do other students and community members know who I am and who I am related to? Do they know where I am from? If they knew who I was, where I came from and my story would they see me differently? Am I a good representation of where I have found my roots that make me who I am today? These and about a thousand other thoughts swarmed my mind constantly.

These thoughts and anxieties that I was experiencing weren’t necessarily the worst of things. Sure, one should try and represent his or her family well. One should try and represent his or her home church and where he or she is from well. My problem was I became more concerned with what others thought about me more than me representing the God that I love so much in the best way possible.

Then it hit me- it really doesn’t matter what others think. No matter where I go and what I do, there will always be someone that doesn’t like what I do or what I have to say. There will always be someone that doesn’t approve of me. I know, shocker, right? I tend to think that everyone likes me everywhere I go. What a pride buster that was to realize the contrary.

The beauty in this is I am famous enough. What in the world does that mean, you ask? Well, I’m glad that you asked. I am a child of God. That means I have a value that is far beyond what this world can measure. As Psalm 139:14 says, “…I have been remarkably and wondrously made.” I have been brought into this world by a divine creator that made me exactly the way that I should be. I have flaws and how funny it is that we do so many things to always try and improve ourselves. We diet, take medicine, vitamins, and nowadays people are always trying to figure out the way to live longer and escape death. The way that I am was designed by a perfect and holy God and His blueprints for me are far beyond what I could have ever designed myself.

Yet, still from time to time worry I what others think. I wonder if we, myself very much included, have the same fear for God? When I say do we fear God, I do not meant that we are scared of God and want to hide from Him. No. Rather that we have a reverence for Him that causes us to live and behave in a certain way. Hebrews 12:28 says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe.” Think about someone that you have a high regard for. How do you act around them? Does your behavior and speech change around that person? Why?

Now for the believer, think about who we represent. I must look in the mirror and realize that I represent far more than just a last name and a home church that many in the area may know or have heard about. I am a small representation of what a Christian, a Christ-follower, is like. I’m sure we have all heard the saying, “your life may be the only Bible that someone ever reads.” So, how are we doing in that department? I know I have failed a many time. That doesn’t give me an excuse just to throw my hands up and say “well that’s that. oh well.” What it should do to the believer is encourage him to be different.

You, yes you, the person that is reading this, you have value. You are worth it. If you are a believer, sure, you may have flaws and things about yourself that you may not like, but this world needs you. Today needs you, tomorrow needs you. You are an important piece of the big puzzle. I don’t ever expect to become “big time” or famous. I am famous enough because I know how God sees me. So, let’s be different and carry ourselves in a way where perhaps we can point others to Christ.

Little Reminders

One of the current classes that I am taking is called Crisis Counseling and it has been a great class. Recently, we had an assignment where we had to find a video of someone that is experiencing a personal crisis and how it is beneficial for a counselor. While I was looking through some of the videos that had been posted, there was one that struck me and God really spoke to me.

It was a video about children and the effects of having parents that are lost in drug abuse. As I watched the video, the Lord reminded me of the path that I was once traveling- how I was so engulfed in my own addiction not that long ago. Everything around me didn’t matter. The only thing that I could focus and care about was when the next high was going to come. I chose the intoxicating feeling over my family, friends, the church, God, and anything else. I threw away so many opportunities that I wish I could go back and relive. There is often much regret whenever I seem to look at my past. I often think “if only” or I look at other people’s lives (typically friends who are younger than I am) and see their ‘success’ and become envious of where they are and what they have. God often reminds me that my path is in fact just that: my path. I cannot live someone else’s path. It was all a part of His plan whether I understood it then or even understand it now.

Things could have and probably should have been a lot worse than they ended up, but God in His grace and mercy has given me so many second and third chances. People probably could have made a Youtube video about my life, but my life has not ended. Yes, I struggle. I mess up. I have and will continue to in the future. For those that compare themselves with others lives and think ‘that should be my life’, I want to encourage you.

Your path is YOUR path. No one else can walk in your shoes other than you. There is no other you. Your path is unique and beautiful no matter how messed up you think it is. There are bumps and bruises in the road that are a part of who you are, and those victories aren’t anyone else’s.

Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God says that He has plans for me, not plans that are somebody else’s; not messed up plans, but plans that are perfect and divinely created. I may have messed up things, but that doesn’t mean God just left me high and dry and said “well, we tried. I’ll focus on someone else now.”

As I look back and was reminded of where I have been and where I am, I am amazed by what God has let me experience and where He has brought me today. Yes, there are things that I wish I could change and redo, but I can’t. The future can very different and brighter than what my past has been. 

New Year New You?

New Years is always an interesting time. New Year’s Eve has a variety of different celebratory rituals and then there is the group that could not care less and just go to bed. At one point in my life I wanted to party and rage the night away. These days I don’t see the point in waiting for the ball to drop. I think it’s just another day.

A new year, for some, is a time to look forward to because they feel as though they get a fresh start. Perhaps 2018 was not the best year for some people while others may feel that it was great and hope that the success can continue.

I have found that every year there are things that were great and things that were anything but. I have concluded that every year there is something that isn’t going to go my way or that one day I am going to get news I am unprepared to hear. 2018 had it’s share of mistakes and failures, but it also had many victories and successes.

I was reading the other day in Jonah, which is one of my favorite books of the Bible, if not my favorite. We all have heard the many Sunday school lessons about this man. We hear about the whale, or the fish, (always an interesting debate) that swallowed him, and we hear about the gourd and the tree, but anything more those few lessons we seldom hear much depth about Jonah.

In chapter three of Jonah, one of my favorite passages of the Bible is found in verse one. Jonah 3:1, “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the second time…” Why is this such a great passage of scripture? I’m glad you asked. In this sentence we find the grace of God put on display. Jonah runs from God and then realizes that he can’t actually hide from God. I have found myself in that same situation multiple times in my life and I’m sure that you may have as well. Many times and in many ways we attempt to run from God and perhaps have many reasons why we think we need to run. We can run and hide from many people that we are close too us such as pastors, preachers, accountability partners, judges, the law, family, etc. However, we can never run from God. He is omnipresent, meaning that He is everywhere. Jonah confesses that he has done wrong and the belly of the whale that he has been trapped in is no longer a prison for him. God gave Jonah a second chance, which means that you and I are capable of receiving this same amazing grace and wonderful second chances in this thing that we experience everyday called life.

This causes me to rejoice and also reflect the many second and third chances that I have been given by God that I should have never gotten. That is the beauty of what grace is. We receive far greater than what we have ever deserved. For some, a new year may not be exciting because just a few days ago your 2018 was in shambles and you may have been wondering if God had taken the year off. It’s now 2019 and you aren’t hyped up for new beginnings; a new year of challenges and things to get victories about because the struggles that you carried a handful of hours ago from the previous year are still very much there, but the thing is, when Jonah finally got to Nineveh and preached to those wicked people like he was supposed to, the whole city was spared. The people of Nineveh probably didn’t know the path that Jonah had taken to get there, unless of course he shared that with them, but we have no evidence of that. The people of Nineveh didn’t know the mess that Jonah had made. They just heard the message that he carried.

The new year means for whomever may be reading this is that you have a chance to spread a message. One that is unlike any other. A message that is a light in a dark place. We all have a testimony of the amazing grace that God has given us. So, this year instead of staying worn down because of our faults and failures of 2018, share the victories that we had.

“Jonah’s narrative reveals God as forgiving and willing to hear and respond to prayers of repentance – whether from rebellious individuals or pagan nations. We learn too that repentance is a lifetime need, not a one-time event.” – David Jeremiah

Go Back And Remember

Yesterday I celebrated a great 4 year anniversary of a time in my life that was very dark for me. Below is from my Facebook post but I would like to expound a little bit further.

I died. Pronounced dead at the scene. Hit by a car and laying in the middle of a major highway. I’d wake up to half my body being paralyzed and doctor’s telling me I would never use my right arm again. It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 years. The doctor’s said that there was no medical reason I should be alive. Drugs and alcohol were the reason I got hit. The life I thought was great and wonderful actually almost took me out of this world early. I wish I could say I haven’t relasped since the accident. But I have, but I’ve gotten back up. I refuse to go back, I refuse to let my past drag me back to the place where God brought me from.
Relapse is not a part of recovery, recovery is so you don’t relapse.
I’m not alive because I just got lucky or because I have some superhuman body. I’m alive because God started something in my life and has been continuing to use me despite the many times I’ve failed Him. I think sometimes I’ve done more damage to Christianity than I have good, yet God in His grace keeps using me and keeps blessing me.
So, to whomever is reading this, whatever you struggle with, continue on my friend. Keep on fighting. Fight everyday for yourself and for others. YOU MATTER. Today and tomorrow needs you. Recovery whether it be physical or mental, or spiritual or addictions related, we all need each other. Im thankful for the life I’ve been allowed to live and the second chance that I got. I’m thankful to be alive today. 4 years came and went. I’m not where I want to be but thank God I’m not where I used to be.

There are many things that I am thankful for. The road has been long and rough, frustrating, hard and many other things. But it was a great day to just reflect at the journey to where I am now. Holidays are sometimes not the easiest times for people. There are some dates on our calendars that we see and we dread the day it comes. There may have been certain events that happened that particular day that we do not ever wanted to be reminded of. But consider the dates that bring us joy. Perhaps it is a day that we celebrate when we got saved, or a birth, or a graduation, or a milestone.

I was looking through some of my Bibles the other day and I have many dates that are written throughout various passages. There are some dates that I made a decision or God just moved and great and mighty way. Some dates that I have written I could tell where I was the message that was preached, it is like I am there again. I need these reminders.

Lately, depression has set in me for. There have been some events in my life that have taken place that have been difficult. I would like to say that I handled dealing with these things in a positive way but that is anything but true.

Here’s the point that I want to make. We need reminders. Reminders of where we have been. The good times, the times where we laughed until we cried. Memories are beautiful. So, I invite you to take a journey back in time with God and reflect the good times. David, the Bible says, encouraged himself in the Lord. I need to do that more often and if you are anything like me, you may need the same thing.

But we can also get encouragement from others as well when it is hard to bring a smile to your face yourself. So, call that person that you used to laugh all night with. Find a brother or sister that you trust and go back and re visit the memories of times when things were a little bit easier.

Yesterday, I was reminded of a horrible failure of mine but was also reminded of the amazing grace of God. I am thankful for my doctors, nurses, physical therapists, friends in church, pastors, family members and everyone else that has journeyed with me along this journey.

The human body is an amazing thing, but the healing and restoring power of God is even more amazing.

Step 6

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 

It is one thing to ask God, will you and can you help me become a better follower of Christ. I have often asked God, show me the things that I need to be laid aside so that I can continue to go forward with you, in the direction that you want me to go. But, then God shows me what He wants and sometimes I butt heads with God. I dig my feet in and think and even say, God, I’ll give some things up, but I don’t really want to give that up.

In the road of recovery asking God to remove things is usually asking God to help us with our habits or our addictions. We suddenly realize that the choices that we have made are not only affecting us, but they are hurting the ones that we love and care about around us now.

Romans 12, encourages us that we should be dead unto sin. In verse 13, we are encouraged to not just turn away from sin, but that our bodies should be used as instruments of righteousness.

You see with our addictions we use our bodies that is not glorifying to God or ourselves or anyone else. Physically, depending on what our addiction may be, we can damage ourselves severely. Maybe we can lose an unhealthy amount of weight, alcoholics tend to develop liver problems, smokers lungs or heart issues and mentally we can be damaged.

Recovery involves turning away from that lifestyle that we have been become trapped in. I wish that I could say that you could just easily read Romans 12:12-14 and that you’ll never use your body in an ill fashion. For some, the urges or the temptations may never leave you. I have talked to different men and women that have had many years of sobriety and they have said the temptations and thoughts have never left. Let me say that is not to discourage anyone that is reading this and make you think that you will never have any freedom. You will, and you can. Rather, it is a humble reminder that we must always be on guard and never get to a place that we don’t think that we need to do the daily things that have helped us before anymore. In Reformers Unanimous, there is Principle 8 that says, “It is not possible to fight a fleshly temptation with fleshly weapons.” 

How we use our bodies does matter. So, how can we in recovery better use our bodies in a positive way? There are many different things that we can do. Exercise is great, going for walks, reading, journaling is all different things that experts say can help in recovery. I don’t doubt that they are and I have found these things helpful. Biblically, just as it was in Romans 12, we have been set free, we were dead in our sins and addictions, but now we have a new life. Prayer is a great way that we can use our bodies. Taking personal time to talk to God about how can we better our bodies to His glory. Physically getting on your knees and praying is helpful and beneficial. When the temptations come if we stop and take the time to just say, Lord, you know the thoughts and the urges that I am having and I need your help. That doesn’t mean that magically the thought may go away immediately, we have to be willing to put some work in ourselves. When the temptation maybe we finally call that person that always tells you they are free any time of day or night for us. There is nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, I encourage you to do that.

There are so many things that we can watch or listen to that have an influence on us whether we realize it or not. Perhaps maybe changing the music that we listen or the things that we watch on the TV or Internet. Studies have shown that the more you think, see and hear about something the more that you may want to do it. It’s like if you are on a diet and someone tells you well just don’ think about that bowl of ice cream or that pizza. What is the first thing that you think about? Whatever unhealthy food your friend just mentioned to you. So, let us protect our minds and our ears and our eyes to what we will choose to expose ourselves to.

We need a daily renewal of our thoughts every day, every hour maybe. But there is hope. We were dead, but now we have new life. Will you take the new path? Or run back to the one that seems to be a never-ending pitfall of destruction? The choice is in your hands, my friends.

Step 5

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

We looked briefly in step 4, at the life of Jonah and how he had to admit that he himself was the one in the wrong.

Admitting that we are wrong is a hard thing. If you are anything like me, there have been times where I can blame everyone around me and make it all sound really good as if things are not my fault. Excuses are too easy to come up with at times.

Recently I found myself in a situation where I had every angle covered about why things weren’t necessarily entirely my fault. “Well, if they had done this or that” was a line that I had polished up pretty well. I talked and too many people about this particular situation and everyone came back with the same piece of advice. “You know, there is a common factor in the situations that you are finding yourself in. You.”

Well, that wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but you know what, it was what I needed to hear. Whatever situations and circumstances we face, we can easily blame shift.

If you are struggling with a substance there are many things that may have happened to you, and I am in no way minimizing those events, but, no one forced those things that have a grip on your life into you. You made a series of choices that have lead to where you find yourself now. I will even say this, and this is a different discussion for a different day, but I don’t think that you have a disease either.

See, there was a point in my life where getting high was I all I wanted to do and think about. Being intoxicated was the only thing that I was focused on and if that couldn’t happen then I could not function. I had every excuse of why ‘it had to happen.’ The bottom line was, I was the problem. No one had forced me to do those drugs and smoke those things.

It was hard enough at rehab to admit to others that were there with me that I had a problem and was the problem, but now I have to admit that to God? He was the one that I was wondering if he was even real or not. My thoughts were even such that I wondered why, if there was a God, was he letting my life take the turns and bends that it was.

Proverbs 28:13-14, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confessesth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Happy is the man that feareth alway, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”

You ever try and cover something up or a series of things that you have done? It’s actually rather difficult. I remember growing up when my brother and I would try and cover up things from our parents, we thought that we were really slick. The issue was we couldn’t keep track of the lies that we were telling and eventually our parents, who we thought didn’t know any better, started to figure out that our stories were making no sense at all and we were found out. What we didn’t realize that if he had just told the truth in the first place we would have nothing to worry about.

So, I wasn’t very good at trying to fool my parents and I’m sure that some of you have been in similar spots throughout your childhood or maybe you are a parent now and are experiencing this with your children.

But you have ever thought about how we try and do this with God? We try and cover up different things that we have done and cover sins that we have committed, the problem is, God already knows. The more we try and cover up things the more lies we tell others, ourselves and God and the deeper into a fantasy world we live in.

The encouraging thing is, not only when we confess but when we forsake blaming everything on everyone else and accepting our faults and wrongdoings wee can obtain mercy. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all righteousness.”

It is probably easier to ask and be given grace and mercy if we are honest and proven to be upfront rather than if we are known as a repeat liar.

David tried to cover up the death of Uriah, but when he was confronted by Nathan his sin was exposed greatly and would face hardships as a consequence of his actions.

Yes, we may be able to fool parents, accountability partners, pastors but it is never worth it because we can never fool God. He sees and knows all. Before God has to do something that gets our action and makes us realize that He knows the things that we are trying to cover up and bury and hide, let us be honest and true with others, ourselves and God.

 

Step 4

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Well, this step was one that I wanted to avoid, but looking at it I realized that the Lord used it in a convicting way.

When we are lost in an addictive lifestyle we sometimes are confronted by other people that are trying to help us. The issue that we face is ourselves and a little thing called pride. Pride is one of the most destructive things that we face in our everyday lives whether we are recovering addicts or not. When we become confronted we have a tendency to think that we ourselves do not have a problem. When we take a step back, we make ourselves believe that we got in the situation that we are in because of everything and everybody around us. Truly, the problem is always ourselves. No one forced you to become a drug addict or an alcoholic, there was no one that held you captive and forced you into the things that you do. We consciously made a series of decisions that lead us down a road that we are on and at the destination we have landed at.

Jonah, one of my favorite characters in the Bible, him and I are going to have a lot to take about in Heaven someday, he is a great example of someone that had to admit that he was the problem. He had to take a moral inventory of himself. God had told him to go to Nineveh and preach, but Jonah decided he had his own plans. Suddenly the ship and the crew that he is traveling with find themselves in a storm and are wondering, will we make it out alive? Frantically, the crew tries to come up with solutions and they begin to throw things overboard.

I can just imagine Jonah finally realizing what is happening all around him. There he is standing on the deck of the ship and all chaos is around him. He hadn’t realized how bad the situation was because the Bible tells us that he was fast asleep, which is another lesson for another day, but he wakes and realizes, whoa, this is very bad. But like you and I can be sometimes, I can see Jonah blaming the situation on everything else around him, well it’s just the weather, maybe it’s the route that we traveled, etc. I remember having a ‘Jonah moment’ and realizing that I had a problem that suddenly was affecting everything and everyone around me. Suddenly, chaos had broken out, but it wasn’t my fault is what I kept telling myself. I’m not that bad, there are people that are worse than me, I can get out of this somehow. Jonah sees the men tossing things overboard and realizes it’s me. I’m the one that you have to toss into the sea. But before that, the crew casts lots to see, as the Bible says, “for whose cause this evil is upon us.” There was no surprise that it fell upon Jonah. Now, circumstances can play a factor, but the reality is, it always falls on us. Jonah here does what is the hardest thing to do as a struggling addict, admit the problem. In chapter one, verse nine, Jonah says “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.” He doesn’t say well I used to be a Hebrew, or that I use to fear God, he says I am. Verse twelve he tells the frightful crew, “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea,; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.” 

Now let’s be honest admitting that we are the problem and taking a hard look at ourselves is never easy or fun or something that we just wake up excited to do, but it is necessary. Once Jonah had dealt with the issue, himself, he was then able to be brought to a place where God could continue to work on him, which just so happened to be in the belly of a whale.

So where are we today? Are we looking at everyone else and comparing yourself to them? Or are ready to take a look at ourselves and make some changes?

 

Made A Decision to Turn Over Our Will And Our Lives Over To The Care of God, As We Understood Him

We have looked at steps 1-2 in the 12 step recovery program, now let us look at step 3.

Step 3 says,  We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him.

In step 3, the interesting part of the step is the last phrase, “as we understood Him”. So we saw in the previous steps that there is hope and a way out of the bondage that we have become entrapped due to the lifestyle decisions that we have made. But here we see that we are encouraged to surrender to God but only as we know God. So then the question can be made, how can one know God? How can we know God in such a way that those who are trapped in addictions can have a sustaining victorious life?

Philippians 3:10 says, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

Here again, hope. This passage is in the Bible and because we have the word of God we can know God. But this involves work on our part. Think about your favorite authors, you read their books, their blogs, maybe even follow them on social media and at some point, you feel like you know a small part of the author. God gave us the Bible so that we may know him. We can see his promises that He has for us. Through getting to know and understanding God we learn about the death and resurrection of his only begotten Son that died for you and me and the entire world. Once again, hope.

The beauty in knowing who God is the fact that we can always learn more and more about Him and from Him. It is like being in a relationship, the more and more you spend time with your significant other the more you learn. You begin to appreciate that person more and more. As I have spent time with God the more that I appreciate Him as my heavenly father and want to learn more from him. It takes work, hard work, it takes discipline and devotion. Just as the hymn says, ‘I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.’

We have to come to a decision that we can live trapped in our addictions or we can break free. The choice is ours. When we decide that we want to know God and follow, that is what replaces the desire for the substances that we are so readily chasing after. The more that we experience God and His awesome power, the more that we will want to be with Him and be close to him.

When we turn over our lives to God, He will take care of us. That is a promise, the scriptures say that He will never leave us or forsake us. The Bible also says that God will be with us even til the end of the world. That means that no matter what God is always there. When we make a decision to follow God we become His children, and God holds us in the palms of our hands and nothing will ever separate us.

Some people are afraid to let go of their addictions. Let’s be honest, some don’t want to. When we leave that lifestyle we are losing something but we are losing a part of us that needs to be let go. But replacing those toxic things with things that will last forever will always be worth it in the end.

Step 2

In the 12 step program, step 2 says, We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 

In Titus 3:5, the Bible says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

I remember that after I had got saved and decided that I was to give my life to Christ, that the crowd I had used to run with had said that I had been brainwashed. I was a church thumper, Jesus freak, goodie-goodie, and I’m sure a whole bunch of other adjectives. The more I thought about it, the more that actually made sense. See, I had in my brain all these things that I thought were acceptable lifestyle choices when really there were far from okay. So my brain did need washing. I need a washing and something to regenerate me.

To wash, in the context of Titus 3:5, means to cleanse or to purify something and regenerate means to make something new. There was a time in my life that sin had taken me to a place of insanity. Perhaps not in the sense that I needed to be placed in a mental hospital, but if you were to look from the outside in, the decisions and the behaviors that I was doing were chaotic and destructive. But that is what sin does and will do to our lives, it will cause us to make decisions that we would otherwise never make and bring us to a place that we would never have dreamt of being. Some may say this is a place called this rock bottom, and if you are reading this and you are there, it’s actually not the worst place that you can be.

See God may have you at a point and place where you have nowhere else to go but to Him. Whether you struggle with substances, anxiety, depression, self-harm, mental health etc. There is a help and hope in Jesus. But how do we become a new person and start a new life and leave the one that we have been living? Well, this is what happens at salvation, by calling out to God and admitting that you are a sinner in need of a savior but it doesn’t just end there. It is a lifelong commitment and journey. There are those that would say if you get saved, that the rest of your life will be a bed of roses because God is in control. Yes, God is in control but that doesn’t mean that you will no longer have any more problems in this life. You may still continue to have struggles and trials, but now you have a help, a divine help that will never fail you. You have the Bible that can sustain, recharge, encourage and direct you.

In John 6, in verse 33 the Bible says, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit; and they are life”. Here Jesus makes it very simple that the words that He has given us are life. Our flesh, meaning ourselves trying to fight our own battles will profit nothing. Let me use the example of phone chargers. My girlfriend has an iPhone and I have a Samsung (by the way I love Android over iPhone) and if her phone battery is low she cannot use my phone charger to get more battery life and I cannot use her phone charger. This is like our walk with the Lord, there are certain things that we cannot plug into to get recharged when the things of this life has drained us. When we have fought and fought after a day and are tired and weary, there are people places and things that we simply cannot use to recharge. Psalm 1 is a perfect example of this, so I encourage you to read that chapter and see what the Bible says about those that get counsel and help from godly places and those that get help from not so helpful places and their lives end very differently.

The Power in step 2 that can restore us, is God, but not just God, or the big man upstairs God, but the God that made heaven and earth and sent his only begotten Son to die on a cross for the sins of the entire world so that we could have an eternal home and have a lifelong relationship with Him. He gave us many tools to fight our struggles, the Bible, the help of the Holy Spirit, church, prayer, fellow believers and many other things. These things are the correct things that we can plug into when we need a recharge, and if you are like me I need to recharge every day. Back to John 6, in verses 65-68, the Bible says, “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” 

What a great question Peter, to whom or where should we go when Christ has the words of eternal life right in front of us at our grasp. I have realized that whenever I have fallen flat on my face and have given in to my temptations that it was because I tried to get help and a recharge from something other than Christ and the tools that He gave me. That is not to say that advice from parents, counselors, friends or pastors are not useful and shouldn’t be sought out. No, but sometimes I want to call the man of God before I call to God directly. Sometimes my friends aren’t available and I’m left frustrated and questioning and have forgotten that I have a friend that is available 24-7.

So if you have lost your way, come back. If you are looking for help, it is here.  If you are at a point where things are chaos and seem to just be insane, there a restoration. There is a way to become new and whole again.