Monday, February 27, 2017

Save a Life



Life came one hurtful day at a time.  Losing all I knew without anywhere to turn.  Every night I prayed to be taken in the middle of sleep, never to wake again in this life.  One choice at a time, I slowly walked toward death.  I headed down the path of a slow suicide. 

Trapped by my own mind, imprisoned by my own actions and living in hell every moment.  Life held absolutely NO JOY when addiction sucked every breath out of every second of every day!  Every decision made to please my eating disorder.  Every situation striving to numb out any emotions felt. 

Eventually, the one thing I used to control life began controlling me.  I turned down thousands of invitations over the years due to fear of judgement, food and emotion.  I punished emotion with starvation and purged failure through exercise.  Trapped, imprisoned and living in hell.

Eating disorders are no joke!  Early recognition of signs provides the sufferer another option to process life.  Signs are not always blaringly obvious.  Weight cannot be the only sign to look for in eating disorders.  The scale may reveal “ideal weight”, but the abuse still occurs daily.  On the outside, a sufferer may display happiness; but, covering up any emotion keeps the eating disorder thriving. 

The disease begins inside and works its way outside, affecting the entire person.  Emotional and physical damage steal life one day at a time.  Organs weaken.  Confidence begins to decrease.  Memory is lost.  General thinking and reasoning become distorted.  The eating disorder controls every single moment.

Recovery is possible; but, cannot be done alone.  The eating disorder holds too much power.  Irrational thinking and physical weakness prevent the sufferer to walk in the direction of recovery.  Without help, the sufferer will die in the arms of their eating disorder. 

You could be the voice that overpowers an eating disorder.  You could be the hand that pulls another from the pit of eating disorder hell.  You could be the person the sufferer is screaming to find.  You could save a life!

Thankfully, I found that person.  I built confidence, broke down walls and reached out.  I began walking a path toward the Cross.  Approaching the Cross in humility, God pulled me in tight and promised to never let go!  He did not bring up the way I treated His creation for the past 10 years.  He did not list the countless nights over the toilet, running until pain overpowered emotion, rejecting Him or refusing to live.  He simply said, “I have been waiting for you.”  

I cannot express enough gratitude toward God for saving my life.  I cannot wrap my mind around the reason for sending angels to pull me from the pit.  But, daily, I will strive to give back to God what I received.  He saved me!  He provided healing.  I cannot explain in words the feeling of His Power coming in and taking over my life.  With one swift kick, He booted the eating disorder out for good.

The enemy still entices me with the old ways of living.  In some storms, I fall to my knees in prayer for an army of angels to get the enemy off my back.  Every time, God wins!

He wins for every believing and faithful child.  He created each of us in His Image.  He gave His Only Son for YOU and for ME!  This allows for an intimate relationship this side of Heaven.  It is only through that intimate relationship that I chose recovery and strive to meet Him at the pearly gates when my time here is done.  I cannot wait to fall into His arms and sit with Him in Heaven.  He knows when my time here is done.  Until then, I will approach the Cross daily and pray harder than the devil can work!   
   
Day TWO!  Will you reach out a hand?

Live life. . .One Day at a time! 

Sheree Craig   

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