Angels and Demons

I usually write with some humor mixed in to make the topic lighter, this topic is not funny. Pray for those afflicted and help those crying out:

It is a truth that most of us have issues of one kind or another. Some of those issues are not major and we go on with life fairly happily and content in spite of them because they aren't debilitating. Other issues we have may be monstrous afflictions that cause life to come to a screeching halt for a time until some recovery and peace can be accomplished. These I would call demons that beset us and several of us have them. For those that say they have no issues or demons at all, I would suggest they, at very least, suffer from the issue of denial. For those to admit to have them is to also admit the need for help.....when the honest admission for help is acknowledged, true recovery and healing can begin. I would say just about every human on the planet deals with an issue or demon in one form or another whether it is an issue of a loose tongue and gossip or the demon of drug addiction.
I believe most of us want to be whole and healthy. We want to live productive and successful lives. We want purpose, love, joy, happiness, fulfilling relationships, and peace within ourselves and with others. I have yet to meet a person who confessed they started out in life to become a failure and outcast...that this was their goal and ambition from the beginning. Most of us have lofty dreams....some of us achieve them and some of us don't. Some of us just get by, we just go through life and our insides yearn of something more.
One demon in particular afflicts millions of people around the world. A demon I am personally well acquainted with. This demon is alcohol. He, once in his grip, will steal your integrity, your honesty, your sense of humor, your laughter, your hope, your ambition, your friends, your finances, your family, and your health, to name a few. He will eventually steal your life if he can. He will convince you he can help you cope when life situations are harsh, and he will convince you that he will help the celebration be livelier when life situations are happy and achievements are made. He lies, he always lies. All he does is take and he leaves us empty and alone. We become embarrassments to our spouses, our children, our families, our friends. We are ashamed because of his grip on our lives and we become a shame to those around us. We feel misunderstood and incapable of seeing our lives as anything different than it has become. We lose jobs, marriages, houses, and some of us become acquainted with the inside of a jail cell. This demon is cruel, ruthless, and seeks only to destroy our lives and the ones we love. The road to forgiveness and restoration of relationships with those we've hurt is a long, rocky trail with many winding turns. Sadly, some of those relationships are never restored no matter how badly we want them to be....but....the story doesn't end here.
No matter how far the fall from grace with people, we never fall from the grace of God. He loves us no matter what we do. I heard a definition of God's grace once and it stuck: " There's nothing you can do to make God love you more and there's nothing you can do to make God love you less....He just loves you, He can't help Himself." That should give us afflicted ones hope. In His grace He strategically places angels in our lives who reach out to help us when we are at the lowest points in our lives, in our deepest ditch. They may be family members who never stop believing in us, who won't let go, who see the real "us" deep within the turbulence we have created for ourselves. They may be faithful wives or husbands who stand with us even when the storm is blowing hardest and all hell is breaking loose. Perhaps a pastor or a friend, who when all the other friends have left...stays..... and pours in the oil and the wine of encouragement. It could be the testimony of a fellow struggler who is winning the fight and moving on to achieving the lofty dreams he or she dreamed as a child.
For me it was my best friend who told me she wouldn't leave me, she wouldn't give up on me no matter if everyone in my life did....Someone understood me and accepted me and loved me right where I was. It was freeing. With the power of just a few words of encouragement, I knew tomorrow was going to be different. My tomorrow's have been different since. I got my hope back, my vision back. I knew God wasn't finished with me, His plan for me hadn't been ruin by the attack of this monster on my life. If He would flood such hope in me, He will do the same for my fellow strugglers'. His plan is simple: He wants us to overcome every day, He wants us to win every day. Why can we do that? Because He has overcome the world and all that is in it. I in faith stand on that one day at a time!
To those who read and are acquainted with this demon, I pray you find encouragement in this article, I pray that perhaps God can use this to flood your life with hope and vision. I love you that struggle in a very heartfelt way....because I too struggle....don't give up the fight. I stand with you, along side you....always.