RE: What Exactly Does the Holy Spirit Do?
June 1, 2015 at 8:53 am
(This post was last modified: June 1, 2015 at 9:08 am by Drich.)
(May 31, 2015 at 11:52 am)Rhythm Wrote: -after her detox-
Would have been more impressed by your story if you claimed the magic worked -prior to her detox-. It's not uncommon, you know, for people to be "entirely different" when they are off a drug, than they are when they're on it. Pretty sure theres an explanation for that that doesn't involve you wishing her into wellness......don't you think you're being a little silly?
We did the 'detox' cycle a couple dozen times at that point. Matter of fact I even made mention that her failed detox at a $10K treatment center was the reason her parents washed their hands.. Because they lived this cycle 5 or 6 years before I came into the picture..
At the time I reached my limit, I was done. Matter of fact I had her bags packed and she was sleeping on the couch when the sheriffs department came and got her at 2AM. She has detoxed at the county facility before (it was free.) so to me there was no reason to look at this any differently. But, it was different. She said it was like someone flipped a switch and turn off the part of the addiction she could not control.. Which was after much prayer and heart felt pleading from both of us.
Once the 'switch was flipped' She didn't need meetings or support. We just started to live a 'normal' life.
(May 31, 2015 at 12:45 pm)Nope Wrote:(May 31, 2015 at 11:34 am)Drich Wrote: I was actually referring to helping my wife though her addiction. 'We' quickly ran through all the help and mercy our friends had for us. We burned through several trips to 10k dollar rehab facilities which had her parents turn from us. This also triggered an 8 year shunning between my dad and I because he was convinced she had me hooked on heroin as well. My mother didn't turn, she just stopped showing up. Then she started to steal from our company and nearly bankrupted us. Then she started selling things like her wedding bann and everything that was not nailed down. So I essence she turned on m as well. I carried us like this working 12-15 hours a day all the while making sure she got to meetings and methodone clinic and then. Starting over when she fail. Over and over again maybe a full year maybe a little longer. Then she OD'ed in the bathroom of a barns and noble. She was found blue on the floor with the needle in her arm not breathing... That was the end for me the lies, the drugs, the stealing, the hatred she had for me, the isolation was all too much.. I prayed for mercy and I prayed for God to take this responsibility from me...
He did in the way of the sheriffs department at 3 am.. Once she was bailed out we had a long talk with both of us among God to take this addiction from her. It was like someone turned off a switch.. After her detox it was like a completely different person.. That was almost 10 years ago now.
When I said God uses the rains to strip you of everything that is keeping you from seeing him, he will do exactly that. You will know that what ever happens comes from Him. Not because it happens but how it all comes about.
You stuck out a bad situation with your wife and got her help. She almost died and decided to turn her life around. That isn't miraculous.
Of course, you lost everything because you chose to remain in a very toxic relationship.
I am glad that your wife is free of drugs and your life is better but the only thing religion did was help provide you with a crutch. That is one of the reasons why I don't usually try to deconvert people Perhaps you needed a make believe friend to get you through that period in your life but that doesn't mean that god is real.
Drich, give credit to yourself and your wife.
I stuck it out for 2 or 3 years, at the end of which I wanted a divorce. Like I said above her bags were packed and I was going to send her to her brother's house, because I couldn't do it anymore.
After the arrest (not the OD on the floor of a public bathroom) she finally admitted that she could not 'work her way out.' Up to that point she had a 'it's under control attitude, and if she just tried hard enough she could over come this.' After she was bailed out she finally humbled herself before God, and allowed him to lift her up. I'm sure it was not easy, and I am sure she had to work at it like she thought she could. The difference? Before she prayed the goal was completely unattainable through conventional means. (Rehab, meetings, Support from friends and family.) After our Prayer/petitions We did not have any of those things to help us out. Only what God provided.
If this was as you say all with in our own abilities then why did she struggle with this for 10 years/3 or 4 with me? Why not just 'flip the switch' the first time she was arrested/DUI? or the second? Or the first time she OD'ed? or the second? To see it, to live it, it was obvious that it all because easier obtainable after God intervened than it was before.
(May 31, 2015 at 2:07 pm)Tonus Wrote: I find it somewhat dismaying to think that god was there, ready to lend a hand, but only if Drich knew the secret handshake. Can you imagine if god was grading on spelling or grammar?
The only secret is humility. We learned to check our pride and approach God as He has instructed. When we did His help/blessing flowed down on us.
