When Someone You Love Is Struggling with Addiction

When someone you love is caught in addiction, you're carrying a grief most people around you can't see. In this episode, discover what God says to the ones who keep loving, keep praying, and keep standing at the door.Charles and Janet Morris were the kind of parents who prayed for their kids, and they needed to be. Their oldest son Jeff struggled from early on, and as the years passed his behavior grew more destructive. They prayed for him constantly, did what they could to keep him connected to the church, and watched him move in a direction they couldn't turn him from. In the last few weeks of his life, he had started coming to services on his own.Then came a late summer night in 2003, a phone call, and the news that Jeff had been found dead from a drug overdose.If you love someone caught in addiction, you know something of what Charles and Janet carried. The grief of it doesn't show up on your face the way other losses do. It doesn't look like other losses, and most people around you can't quite see it. You've made promises to yourself that you've broken, and you've swung between pulling close and pulling back. Neither one seems to move things forward.This episode doesn't offer a formula, because Scripture doesn't give us one. What it does give us is a God who knows this grief from the inside.Hosea 11:8-9 is one of the most personal passages in all of Scripture. God is speaking to a people who have kept running from Him, and He describes what that costs Him: His heart is torn. His compassion overflows. He knows what it costs to keep pursuing someone who keeps leaving, and He has not stopped.That's the God who is with you in this.This episode also takes an careful look at the line between love that holds the door open and love that lets the destruction keep going unchecked. Loving someone in addiction means keeping the door open. It also means recognizing that absorbing every consequence of their choices can let the addiction survive longer. That line is different for every family, and most families need outside help to find it. If you're not sure where to turn, Celebrate Recovery exists specifically for people who love someone in addiction.Through Charles and Janet's story and Hosea 11, this episode moves slowly through the grief without rushing to answers, and offers one concrete step for the person who has been carrying this alone.BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:What Hosea 11:8-9 reveals about a God who knows the cost of loving someone who keeps runningThe difference between love that keeps the door open and love that enables the destruction to continueOne specific step you can take this week if you've been carrying this by yourselfGod's grace is for the ones caught in addiction. And it's for the ones who keep standing at the door.Share This Episode:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/230Need Prayer? Leave me a voicemail:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemailWant to keep these devotions coming? Please consider supporting this podcast.https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support/Rate and Reviewhttps://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/reviews/new/Connect with BartFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusylivesWebsite: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.comFeeling spiritually drained? Start here. Download your free copy of my eBook Making Time for Jesus here.Mentioned in this episode:Join Our Private Facebook CommunityIf you're looking for a place to connect with other Daily Devotions listeners and pray for each other, I'd love for you to join our private Facebook community group. Come find us at https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/group