When We Wake Up

I woke up this morning feeling a little bit more tired than normal.  However, I was also feeling a little bit more motivated than normal. If you have been around long enough to become an adult, then you know that these two normally do not go together; typically, they go in quite opposite directions.

Upon drafting this article, God gave me a revelation of what it looks like to be accountable. When we are amid addiction, accountability is quite the opposite of what we want. Yes, we want a solution, we want to feel better, we want to do better, but no we do not want anyone to know about it.

However, we reach what I will call the “wake-up” period. At a certain point in time, for all addicts, we realize that we need help. This realization is the “wake-up” period. During this time, we have a choice to make. Do we fight the slumber that addiction has placed us in, or do we wake up at a time when we normally would not and act?

"The choice that we make will only be our own."

I know from my own personal experience that when I overthink in these moments, I am not going to do what God wants me to do, but if I choose to act instead, then God will use me to carry out things I could’ve never imagined. To fight addiction in a way I could have never imagined.

When we choose to act in these moments, we begin to taste freedom and strength like never before. We find fellowship, friendship, and other men who thought they were just as alone as we did. We learn tricks of the trade that help us to live better, healthier lives. We learn about even more things that we should avoid being recovered. We learn what it looks like to be able to live a good, Godly life.

But we must understand that all this hinges on one decision. Will we wake up?

If you are reading this article, then you have already begun to wake up. If you’re feeling a little groggy or a little sleepy still, then let this be the snooze alarm to remind you that it’s still time to get up, to keep moving, to keep getting ready, and to prepare for the life God intends for you to have.

There is another aspect of this analogy as well. As a kid or a teenager, even maybe now as an adult, occasionally, we encounter a situation where someone is helping wake us up because we just can’t seem to do it ourselves. This is a form of accountability. When we make the right decision and surround ourselves with good men and a good support system, we have someone who can come in from time to time and wake us up.

Sometimes they know that we need help and sometimes they do not know. Sometimes God just gives them instruction.

"All I can say about this is that we have a greater chance of having that help if we first seek it and find it."

So, wake up this morning, choose to get up, get dressed, get ready, go put on your armor and prepare to fight the good fight. Live the life that God has intended for you.

Gaven F.

A grateful believer in Jesus Christ.