“Be anxious for nothing, but for everything by prayer and supplication,
With thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God;
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
Will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”
(Philippians 4:6, 7).
There are many people who, to face life, need a «crutch»; that is, something to lean on and without which they do not conceive of survival. In some cases, the crutch that people lean on can lead to their death; I am referring, for example, to those people who cannot lead a normal life if they do not have an addiction, such as food, compulsive shopping, work, sex, drugs, money, the computer and the Internet, television, gambling or drugs. Far from being a real support for a full life, these «crutches» lead to the abyss.
These addictive behaviors can produce a temporary and momentary relief to an unmet hidden need, but they inevitably lead to an outcome of pain, leaving behind broken relationships with loved ones, with oneself and, of course, with God.
Contrary to what many think, addictions are not learned on the street or with friends; most are gestated within the family. For this and for many other reasons, we must take care of the stability of the home with devotion and responsibility, creating an affective bond in which all its members feel accepted and recognized for who they are, without continuous demands for perfection.
We see workaholic husbands who prefer to be away from the hostile environment of the family; we see young people addicted to technology so as not to hear or see the continuous brawl of their parents; We see children with television addiction as an unconscious way of avoiding the confinement to which they are subjected by busy parents who do not take care of what they have; we see women with an urgent need to go shopping or compulsive eating when they do not receive recognition for what they do for the family … Anyway, this is a sad reality that we cannot avoid and that, possibly, is affecting you.
To immerse ourselves in addictions is to resign ourselves to irretrievably losing the best that God has given us: the family and the people we love. Let us ask for wisdom from on high so that we do not fall into an addiction or, if we already have one, the Lord help us to throw away that crutch to lean solely and exclusively on it.
#WomensDevotional
#RadioJovenAdventista
#MeditacionesDiarias
Take From: Daily Devotions for Women’s 2021
«BRUSHSTROKES OF GOD’S LOVE»
BY: Erna Alvarado Poblete
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Magda S
