Hi guys,
I know it’s been a few days since I posted, but I had to spend some time living in the present. Since I wrote Bite Size last week I have failed my Maths Prelim I will get over it), been at Applicants Day at Strathclyde University, attended the beautiful wedding of Josh and Vanessa Fraser.
Tracy, Naomi and I also visited the beautiful city of Krakow.
Been utterly astonished by the story of a 14-year-old girl who wrote a journal whilst entrapped in the Lodz Ghetto in Krakow during WWII. It is a heart wrenching account, much like the Diary of Ann Frank, of a 14-year-old young lady under Nazi Occupation. A remarkable and honest account of everyday life under an occupying force hell-bent on destroying her and her entire people.
More about that another time. My heart was broken in Auschwitz and Birkenau, (the Nazi Death camps just outside Krakow).
After all that emotion, we celebrated Tracy’s birthday (21 again).
So why do I mention these things you may ask? Because the purpose of my writings, my blog, is to show that there is a way out of hopelessness. The brokenness, not just of addiction, but that feeling that life is passing you by – that feeling itself can be broken and kicked into touch by hope.
My story interests you who keep coming back because it has an ending. The tales of old Easterhouse are good and invoke feelings that many of us may not experience much these days. The clamour of someone else’s pain can help put our own into context.
But I strive for more than “at least I’m not as bad as that”, for that in itself can actually make us feel even more lonely, more broken.
“The addicts have people helping them, but who hears my cry?” The anguish of isolated soul inside a functioning body.
The reality is that God did, and does hear your cry. He leans down like a Father, promising you hope and strength in the midst of your pain, He is your anchor.
In my case being anchored to Rock that is Christ meant addiction streamed further and further away from me. He held me close til I understood He wants to hold you close.
My feelings over the past week are normal feelings, of a normal(ish) husband, father, brother, uncle, classmate, and, in the case of Auschwitz Birkenau, human being.
How incredible though that I survived my pain and brokenness to feel the normality and be normal.
His arm is long enough to reach your pain. All you have to do is reach out and grab.
So I will re-join the journey of my past tomorrow, telling you the story of when I was in the lions’ den. How even in my teens God shut the mouth of lions and even made some of them lifelong friends. Today though, my present is my present to you.
Don’t avoid the question, but ask yourself, where is Christ in my brokenness, and could He help me?
Thank you for indulging me.
Stuart
Link to Diary from the Ashes
Rywka Lipszyc
This POST is part of a wider collection to show the journey that would eventually lead me to the cross of Jesus Christ, my personal redemption, and my journey of faith afterwards. If you would like to know more of my story, please click on my “About” page and take it from there.
Alternatively, you can visit the Media Links page and see a short visit done by BBC Radio Scotland for an interview I did there.
I have now released an early edition of my story, Completing the Tenner.
I have also published two poem books: Simply Jesus and Five Weeks in May
You can purchase these direct from Amazon (please use Amazon Smile link below and Amazon will contribute to ECC at no cost to you), They are all available in both Kindle and Paperback formats.
Or you can buy directly from me. Email me directly to arrange this.
There is now a devotional aimed at new Christians called “Take a seat“ this is available direct from me.
If you or someone you love, needs help with the Christian response to addiction, or if you would just like to know more or need hope, please click on one of the following:
The Haven Teen Challenge Strathclyde Teen Challenge UK Teen Challenge Global Street Connect Bethany Christian Trust Jumping Jacks Outreach Cornerstone Assemblies of God, Maryland Broken Chains Ayr Easterhouse Community Church Stuart Patterson
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