speaktruthoveraddiction.com

Let me be clear, there are many ways to cope with an addicted parent, but our loving, heavenly Father is the only true way to cope and heal. The fear that they may relapse, the fear that they may never be in recovery again, the fear that they will no longer be in your life, the fear that alcohol will kill them, or my worst fear, the fear that their own shame and guilt, along with the devil will convince them to end it themselves. Even though my life seems like it is in a mess, and nothing is going right, the Lord knows exactly what is going on and what the future looks like. Get on your knees before God and ask Him to heal your parent, ask Him to remove Satan’s grasp from your loved one!

Addiction is such a uncomfortable thing to talk about, especially a daughter to her father, but because my dad actually read some of my blog, the conversation came up. Some are dealing with losing communication with their families who just don’t want to deal with them any more, or the loss of a job due to their addiction. If they haven’t been in recovery, what is the best time of day that I could talk to them without them being at their worst? Now, trying to talk to them when they are not sober probably isn’t the answer, but once they are sober again, or the best you can get, try talking to them without making them feel worse then they already do.

My dad always tells us, “You can’t understand what I am going through, unless you are an addict. Yes, addiction is a terrible thing that causes so many other sins and can destroy a family, BUT I am a sinner, just like my dad, so even though I try to help him fight this addiction, I can never think that I am better than him because I sin differently. The difference between addiction and other sin is that I can usually hide my sin. Usually the people closest to you first, and then if you seek help, or go to rehab, usually more and more people will find out about your addiction, your struggle, your sin.

I have been wanting my father to begin to claim his label and use it for God’s glory that I hadn’t even begin to think about how hesitant I am to share my story to bring glory to Him. ’s daughter because he still doesn’t want to claim his own label as an addict. Maybe your label is wife of an addict or girlfriend of an addict, but whatever your label is, claim it. If I could choose any label for myself, I promise you, daughter of an addict would be at the bottom of my list, but the Lord has given me this label because some how and some way it will bring Him glory.