I’d like to write a bit about why I’ve felt led to share my story.  Very early on in my counseling I had a strong desire to help others (if I could) who were struggling with addiction.  So it’s something I’ve prayed about a lot.  Over the past several months I’ve had a lot of ideas on different things I might do but never took any action.  I had hoped that if I prayed enough, God would give me a clear sign of what He’d have me do.  While I certainly believe this is possible (there are countless examples in scripture) I don’t think it’s the norm.  I think sometimes God wants us simply to take action in faith.  That’s what I’ve attempted to do by starting this blog, acted in my belief that God can use my experience in some way to help others. 

The Purpose Drive Life book by Rick Warren speaks to this.  In Warren’s MEDITATIONS on the PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE, which I include in my morning devotionals from time to time, he talks about how God uses experiences to shape us for service:

EXPERIENCES are one of the most important things God uses to shape you for service.  There are five kinds of experience God uses:

  • Family experiences–interactions with parents, children, spouses, and anyone you call family.

  • Vocational experiences–everything you learn on the job, from skills to getting along with others.

  • Educational experiences–times of learning throughout your life, from elementary school to continuing discovery as an adult.

  • Spiritual experiences–those special moments of incredible closeness with God, when you discover something new about who he is and who you are in him.

But most important of all:

  • Painful experiences–disappointments, hurts, and sorrows cause you to lean heavily on God, and develop empathy in your heart for the hurts of others.

Painful experiences are hard to understand.  We ask God, “Why me?”

But…

  • Who can better help the parents of a handicapped child than other parents of a handicapped child?

  • Who can better help somebody going through the pain of divorce than somebody else who has gone through one?

  • Who can better help an alcoholic than somebody who has struggled with alcoholism?

Often, the very problem that you struggle most with in life, the very thing you like the least about yourself or your circumstances, the very experience that you’re most embarrassed and ashamed of, is the tool God wants to use in you to bless, encourage, and minister to others.  God uses not just our strengths.  He also uses our weaknesses.

I’ve read those two pages of that book many times. Clearly it speaks to me and my desire to help others. In my own strength I’m not sure I can do much for anyone but, with Jesus and His power who knows what can happen?

Until next time, I’m thankful for the scars, may God Bless you!

KB