Grief arrives in a flood of tears and the residue of pain lasts longer than many people can truly appreciate.

Depressions and addictions can lurk like vampires in someone’s head, sucking at their soul and draining away any desire to carry on. Yet, many people think the solution to this is to declare victory over it or to simply pretend that evil doesn’t exist…but the tragedy of deception, including self deception, is that it only denies an unpleasant reality. It doesn’t change reality, and ultimately, self deception just keeps you a prisoner of that dark reality. True freedom can only come after you acknowledge reality.

The reality of the pain, the sin, the anger, the trouble you have created for yourself and others in your efforts to escape reality. When you finally face up to the reality of what you really are, helpless…powerless over the addictions, the pain, the grief, the sin.

Let’s face it, the reality is, you just can’t do this alone any longer, you need a community of support around you. You need a strength that comes from outside yourself to raise you up, to put you back together again.

As a wise man once said, the truth will set you free. Why not acknowledge it and reach out for help today?

True freedom, true change is a lot closer than you think. It’ll be hard, perhaps the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but you’ll never regret it.

***

In the storm you lose a lot, more than you expect.

You find out that a lot of lightweight people don’t want to stick around when things get heavy.

You find that a lot of people know how to talk theory but don’t know how to deal with reality.

However, through the storm you find more empathy for others…through it all you are forced to evaluate what exactly you are investing time in and the returns on that investment.

In the end you come to appreciate the golden people who have survived the fire with you.