If you read my last two posts, then I think you would agree that I’ve got one INCREDIBLE mom! And I bet you can now understand why I love her so much?! I’m so grateful that God has brought us both through my mess, all the way to this place where we have a great relationship based on the healing God has brought to us.
The thing is: the whole time I was using, I knew my mom was praying for me. Even though I was so inwardly focused I could barely see to the end of my own nose, I still managed to occasionally glimpse the pain and hurt I was causing my parents. I knew my mom was praying for me because I saw it in her eyes. I watched her crumble slowly with each pill I took, with each poor choice I made, with each occasion when I didn’t show up to a family gathering, or let my phone ring rather than talk to her.
When I did answer the phone, she would plead with me. She would always try to talk sense into me or quote scripture to me, but it always fell on deaf ears. I was just not in a position to hear her cries.
But God was. She prayed for me steadily through all ten years of my ordeal, forming every possible thought and shaping every sentence she could think of. She combined all kinds of words in prayer, all on the same theme: God, please save my son.
Eventually, however, my mom took a different track in her prayers, and I think it’s one to consider if you’re in the same situation she was in, loving a person who simply cannot shake their addiction. Her prayer became simple, but the slant on it was different than anything she’d prayed before:
“God, please do whatever it takes to help Lance find a relationship with you.”
And you know what? He did.
What I love about this prayer is that any mother can pray it. Or father, for that matter. Or any loved one or any person who cares about another person. Just switch out my name for theirs and you’re on your way!
“God, please do whatever it takes to help ________ find a relationship with you.”
It’s a risky prayer, though, because you have to mean it. The second you start considering the implications of that prayer, you tend to want to take it back. It’s the whatever it takes part. That thought can be pretty scary, but it’s also very necessary. The addict who simply came to their senses one day and left behind their addiction is extremely rare (and possibly doesn’t exist—I know I’ve never met one).
So, if you’re looking at a loved one who is far from God and close to an addiction, I would like to encourage you to be brave enough to pray this prayer for them. Moms, it can be tough, I know, but God loves your child even more than you do. You have to dare to leave them in His hands.
With Hope,
-Lance
For more on learning hot to live with addict in your family, pick up my new book: Finding Hope.
