Having to fight addictions is difficult regardless of what the addiction is. Addictions will drive you, hound you and beat you over the head with their insistence. They have me. My response has been mixed. Like anyone else fighting addictions, some days I’m ahead of the game and other days I am not.
My primary goal for the last 10 years has been to get rid of addictive behaviour by removing the root cause from my life. My theology told me this is what would please God. This was the way I could become like Christ. But it hasn’t worked out that way. Not even close. Not only have I been unable to “get rid of” the addictions, the more I try the worse I get.
I also understand “Blue water theology”. Blue water theology is a simple concept. If you have a glass of blue water and you want to get rid of the blue, the only way to do it is to continually pour fresh, clean water into the glass so that the blue water is replaced with clean water. It’s not a quick process, but it is a consistent one. If you stay at it, the blue gets less and less and the water becomes clearer. Over a period of time (usually much longer than we desire) the glass becomes clear.
The Lord is at work. There is clear water beginning to flow into my glass at a rather astonishing rate. As the clear water flows into my glass, I see the blue water of my life becoming less and less obvious.
How did He do it?
I have experienced a dramatic change of heart in the last several months. I’ve begun to see others who are less fortunate than I in a new light. The Lord has seen fit to open my heart and insert their plight into the fibre of my being.
I am different.
I am changed.
Nothing looks the same anymore.
Everything is different.
A young lady named Gisela that I never met has been the spark that started my heart burning for her people.
Her memorial service was like liquid fire to my soul.
I met her family, her father and mother and her people.
I see how the Lord has used this burning love for others as clear water to my life. Nature abhors a vacuum and there can be no removal of the blue water in one’s life without something filling the void. It’s impossible for me to do that. Only God can do that. Only God can remove the blue water of my life with the pure, clear water of the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit has moved to fill my heart with love for the Hispanic people and specifically her congregation I sense the blue water of addictions in my life becoming less and less obvious.
It’s still there … but much less visible.
My heart burns for answers to questions that haunt my newfound friends. Answers to difficult questions. Questions that seem to defy answers.
I know the democrats don’t have the answers I’m looking for.
I know the republicans don’t have the answers I’m looking for.
God is the one with the answers I’m looking for.
God is the only one that has the answers I’m looking for.
I am pursuing God with abandon for my new found friends, for the answers to their questions are answers to my questions.
Stay tuned as the adventure continues.
