Journey to Recovery

Lesson 3 Topic: Jesus Loves Me Bible Verses to Memorize: ● For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV ● … Bible Story Luke 15:11-32 We have all probably felt like we were a prodigal son or daughter. Making wrong decisions that made us feel lost, wanting to be found and just be happy again. Like the prodigal son, we looked in all the wrong places and with all the wrong people. God is just like the prodigal son’s father; he wants us to depend on Him for all our needs, and even when we have made bad choices, He is just to forgive us and love us with open arms. We may feel our sins are too great and we are unlovable, but Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. In life, we often want a quick high or an adrenaline rush, but they never last long, leaving us wanting more and more. When the addiction sets in, there is no turning back without the Lord. The Lord will give us the strength we need because we are not strong enough to do it ourselves. Let the Lord help you with any problems because He loves…. _________________________________________________________________ Testimony Before 2004, I hadn’t been exposed that much to people who were under the stronghold of addiction. Sure, I had already been serving as a pastor for several years, but my experience with drug and alcohol addicts was minimal. I served in my third pastorate, and everything seemed to be going well. I had a son who had just graduated from high school and a daughter who was seven years older and was married. My son, Dustin, had never given his mom or me any reason to worry. He had always been a good young man with Christian values that we were proud of. In fact, he even answered the call to ministry when he was 15. His mom and I were so proud of him but then came 2004 and graduation. Something happened that would change our family forever. Reflecting on those times, I wonder how I missed the signs that something wasn’t right with my son. He became distant. He had been given many opportunities to speak at churches, but he began to turn them down. He started losing weight and would often become agitated with his mom and me. Finally, one Sunday, our family doctor, who went to our church, noticed that Dustin’s weight loss wasn’t normal, and he asked him to come to his office the next day for some blood tests. That Sunday afternoon, Dustin went out for a drive, which wasn’t unusual. However, he didn’t return home. My wife and I tried to call him several times, even well into the evening hours, with no success. We had family and friends who knew that our son was “missing” who came to our home that Sunday night to love and support us. I felt hopeless that night. I couldn’t find him; none of his friends had heard from him; we didn’t know what to do. I was ashamed that I felt so upset because I was a pastor, a man of God, but it seemed that my faith had all but disappeared that night. We finally heard from Dustin about the middle of the next day, on Monday. He called and told us that he was on his way home and needed to talk to us. We didn’t know what he was going to tell us, but we sensed that it would be awful. When he finally arrived home, we sat down, and he shared things with us that no parent wanted to hear. He had been using drugs, meth in particular. The next few days, I remembered waking up each morning after having nightmares throughout the night that our son was on drugs, but then realizing these were not nightmares but had become our reality. This is sadly still our reality. So far, this has been a 19-year journey dealing with a son who is addicted to drugs. The last 19 years have been filled with lies, sadness, incarcerations, rehabs, sober living houses, times of hope, and times of hopelessness. I would liken it to a rollercoaster ride with many ups and downs. There have been months of sobriety during this time, but they were few and far between. I often feel like the prodigal son’s father that Jesus spoke of in Luke 15. That young man left the comfort of home only to find later himself broke, without friends, and eating pods of grain with the hogs to stay alive. But it was in that hog pen that something wonderful happened. The Bible says that he came to his senses. He decided to quit living the way he was living and to go back home, if his father would have him. Like the prodigal son’s father, I’ve not given up hope that my son will come to his senses. I pray that one day, I will see him coming down the road toward home with a repentant heart and a life that’s been changed by the power of Jesus. I can picture myself hugging him as the prodigal son’s father hugged him and said, “My son was dead, and now he’s alive again; he was lost, and now he’s found!” Points to Ponder A. God is our Father, He cares for us and always loves us. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1 NIV B. … Complete the following statements 1. A time in my life that I really regret is…. 2. I believe God can… 3. The story of the prodigal son says…….. to me. 4. …