From the depths of my despair I call to you, Lord. Hear my cry, O Lord; listen to my call for help.

Psalm 130:1-2

We know about misery don’t we?

Oh, it didn’t start out that way. In fact, at the beginning of our addiction, it was all fun and games. The good times we had with our friends. The good feelings that we felt. The belief that what we were doing would never have any negative results. And we loved it.

But then, little by little, the good times, the fun times, the good feelings all began to become something we had to do. We began to lose the ability to make a choice. It was like we were on some kind of emotional roller coaster and there didn’t seem to be any way to get off.

Now, what had initially been fun was becoming an obsession—something we had to do—something we were compelled to do in spite of ourselves.

It may have been work or food or sex or booze or our cell phone or any one of a hundred other things. It didn’t matter. All we knew was that we had to have it in our lives.

And we tried to “put on the brakes”. We tried over and over again to tell ourselves that we wouldn’t do that again but it never worked. In fact it became worse and worse until it took over our lives; and we became more and more miserable.

The Psalmist knew about misery, about despair; and from the depths of that misery and despair he cried out, “God help me!”

When we finally discovered that we couldn’t do it ourselves, that we needed the help of a Power outside of ourselves, that was when a change began to happen. And today, it is still happening.

Prayer: Thank you God, for hearing my cry for help, for reaching down to me and for lifting me out of my misery and despair. Amen