"The Journey"...An amazing production by Teen Challenge

Last night I went to watch a musical called "The Journey", a dramatic story of an addict's search for freedom, put on by Teen Challenge UK and hosted at the City Temple, Cardiff. I'm not really sure what I expected, but I was absolutely blown away by what I experienced. All of the cast were recovering addicts as were much of the crew. It was so powerful that I, amongst many, was in tears.

It charted one man's decline into drug addiction, with all of it's chaos, fear and pain, and followed his story right through until he had invited the life changing power of Jesus Christ into his life. All of the scene's having well thought out props with amazing music and lyrics to boot. It was a very accurate and true to life script, it didn't over sensationalise addiction, but nor did it pull it's punches either.

It ended with the lead actor, David Cartwright, giving his personal testimony about how Jesus had freed him from his own heroin addiction. He spoke of his life now - happily married, working in a Christian ministry with recovering addicts, with such a complete look of joy and freedom upon his face that his peacefulness shone from him.

Personally, it helped me to reconsider my position in life. Where I had come from, what I had achieved, and where I hoped my life will lead. It re-grounded me in my recovery, and I gratefully thanked the Lord Jesus for also ridding me of my addictions, reiterating my promise to follow his teachings and example in my everyday life. 

When I bump into old using friends, a common question from them is "how come you succeeded in quitting drugs this time when you'd failed so many times before. What was different this time?" None of them expect the answer they get, "Becoming a Christian and using Jesus' strength, not just my own". Life still has ups and downs, but now I have a mental and spiritual strength that I didn't have before, and a God that's always there for me. 

Check out the trailer on the Teen Challenge website.

 

Is there a God??? - Part 1

This was a question that I had decided I knew the answer to through my teenage years. Only I was in control of my destiny, of course there wasn't a God. I was an atheist, and quite happy with it.

By a few years later an element of doubt had crept in, I was living in a hostel with a drug addiction for company and was struggling with life. A guy called Wayne worked at this hostel, he was a young guy and easy to get on with. He'd take us to play 5-a-side football, out for coffee, that kind of thing.

Wayne was a christian, wasn't too pushy, but then again he didn't hide it either. Sometimes he'd tell me about what Jesus had done for him, changing his life for the better, and that Jesus also loved me and wanted to change my life too. He said Jesus loved me, always had, always would. I found this very hard to believe. How could he love me, when I hated myself? This couldn't be right! I was an heroin addict, what did God, if he existed, want with me? But I was intrigued.

There was a Gideon Bible in my room and I started to read it a little. I came across a passage in one of the Gospel books, I know now it was Mark 2:17. In it Jesus explains the kind of people he's come to save,

"On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

If there was one thing I was certain about, it was that I was a sinner! When I read that I realised that Jesus did love me, and even loved me enough to die for me!

I had to speak to Wayne right now! I ran around until I found him, "I want Jesus, and I want him now", was all I could say. He asked me a few questions, was I ready to turn away from the sin in my life? YES! Was I prepared to put effort in to changing with God's help? YES! Would I proclaim Jesus as my Lord and Saviour? YES! We prayed together and it was like a great weight was lifted off my shoulders. Before, I'd always had an internal mental feeling that my head, if described in a picture, was a great big jumble of knotted string, it almost hurt when I closed my eyes. But now that was gone, something had definitely changed within me!

But, for the next 6 years my life was to get a lot harder. Was there a God??? I still wasn't completely sure.....

An interview with God

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

"So you would like to interview me?" God asked.

"If you have the time"

God smiled. "My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?"

"What surprises you most about humankind?"

God answered, "That they get bored with childhood, they rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.

"That they lose their health to make money.... and then lose their money to restore their health.

"That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future.

"That they live as if they'll never die, and die as though they had never lived."

God's hand took mine and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked, "As a parent, what are some of life's lessons you want your children to learn?"

"To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved. To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. To learn to forgive by practising forgiveness. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love, and it can take many years to heal them. To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who needs the least. To learn that there are people who love them dearly, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently. To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves."

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly. "Is there anything else you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said, "Just know that I am here.... always."

I came across this article and thought it contained a profound insight into life, and lessons that I for one would like to apply to my life. The beauty of this article being that it isn't just applicable to those among us who consider themselves to be spiritual or religious but for everyone. Love, worries and forgiveness are things that everybody experiences, and sometimes struggle with, in their lives.

In my recovery, I realised that holding in feelings of resentment and malice towards others, whether they actually deserved it or not, did nothing to harm anybody but myself. It was MY development in life that was held back by MY actions in not forgiving others, realising this and putting this model of forgiveness into action was self-empowering and an essential part of my recovery. I spent the darkest years of my addiction hating myself, I wouldn't even look in the mirror for many years, I have come a long way since those days but forgiving myself is something I still struggle with at times. When that happens I take a step back and assess my life, reminding myself how far I've come and that I can't change the past, I can only shape the future with my actions in the here and now.

Thanks to Joy Magazine.