What is it about substance abuse and addictions that have such a great pull over people’s lives? It can be very devastating.

Tonight I was mulling over my life and the situation with my family. Substance abuse has a way of darkening the environment. Constricting the very air around you, or so it seems.

It’s very troubling to see a loved one go in and out of rehab. It’s equally troubling to have a loved one to want to purchase drugs as soon as they get out. You want to grab them by the shoulders and say “Don’t you see what this is doing to you and the family?” It can be heartbreaking.

Yet, through all this I am reminded of the scriptures that state the “My children are taught of the Lord and great is their peace.” Other’s that state that children are a blessing.

In my thinking tonight I remember these stories:

1. David who was a military leader, took his men away from their homes in Ziklag. As they were away, the Amalekite’s came and attacked the city. They burned it to the ground.
   • Wives, children, loved ones were all taken. Including their possessions and livestock.
   • David and his men were devastated and wept, until they couldn’t weep anymore.
   • The men wanted to stone David for their loss out of desperation.
   • But David strengthened and encouraged himself in the Lord. Praising and worshipping his God.
   • He sought the Lord for direction.
   • The Lord delivered the Amalekite’s into his hands. All the loved ones, and possessions, and then some were returned to him.
   • There was great joy had by all.
2. Norvel Hayes speaks of how his daughter Zona was out of it when she was a teenager. She was going to clubs every night doing the “Funky Chicken.” She was far away from the Lord.
   • The Lord instructed him to not preach at her, but to love her.
   • He confessed the word over his daughter regularly. Being extremely careful of His thoughts and words.
   • The Lord had an Angel show up in Zona’s room one night and scare the hee-be-jeebies out of her.
   • Zona is now a minister of the Lord.
3. I remember another testimony from Cho Yonggi:
   • How a person that attended his Church was ashamed of her daughter who was prostituting herself.
   • But Cho Yonggi encouraged her to see her daughter not as the prostitute, but as a wonderful child of God.
   • The daughter turned and became a wonderful devoted Christian.
4. There was a time I was interceding and praying in tongues over a situation regarding one of the people in the Church. In a vision I saw:
   • The air shimmying and vibrating with the sound of my voice.
   • In that environment I saw a half man, half horse creature staggering under the vibrating air. It was leaving under great duress.
   • What I was praying for came to pass as the person’s life turned around.

In these four stories, I am reminded to:

1. Encourage myself in the Lord.
   • To worship and rejoice in Him.
   • I will seek him for solutions.
   • For I know nothing is impossible to Him.
   • I will be expectant for His deliverance.
2. Not preach at my daughter.
   • Not to make her feel bad.
   • But to express love for her.
3. Confess the Word of God over my daughter.
   • I need to be extremely careful of my thoughts and words.
   • I choose to speak words over her that I want to come to pass over her life.
   • Knowing that the Word of the Lord will not return void.
4. To see my daughter as a wonderful child of God, and that drug addiction will become a thing of the past in her life.
5. To pray often in tongues making life as difficult as I can for the demonic entities that have had her bound.
   • Exercising my imagination – seeing the air shimmying around her as I pray
   • Believing for Jesus and the blessed Holy Spirit to move in her life.
   • Seeing the yoke of bondage broken over her life.
   • Imaging her as a devoted women of God.

At this time this is an unfolding drama in my life. I’m hopeful that just as with the stories above, I will be able to write in the future about God’s great deliverance in her life.