You don’t have to be an addict to have a relapse.
And you don’t need to hit rock bottom before making a new start.
Today is that start. Not this morning. Not last night. Right now.
Everything can be different.
Easy words. Cheap. Perhaps you’ve heard them all before. You can be everything you want to be. Nothing to fear but fear itself.
Save them for a greeting card, Emma. You know nothing of who I am or where I’ve been. Your life’s no better – in fact it’s worse.
I agree. But the words aren’t mine. And the one who says them does know you. He’s been where you came from. And lower besides.
Everything can be different.
More than what’s been done to you. More than what you’ve done to yourself.
Not because I say so. Not because your therapist tells you you’re making progress. Not because you want it to be or you’ll try harder. Not because the cheque’s come through or the tests are clear or your family have said, that’s finally it.
Because it’s true.
Bigger than the sheaf of doctor’s notes. Bigger than the story so far. Bigger than what you think or feel.
A Person, living and real. Who breathes life into dead people.
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:1-14
I really needed this. Thanks x