Your breaking point, do you know when or where that is?  If you do then you are aware of th truth "sometimes all you can do is hold on!"

This past weekend a friend of mine had reached her break point.......she was at the end of her options!  The answer was in her mind.......return to the familiar--DRUGS

Then as a result of getting to that point, she had no HOPE.....it seemed the solution was "ending it all"

Have you been there?  Well I have on more occasions that I would care to admit to.  Hold on!!!! That is what I say to you that is what I needed said to me and that is what my friend needed to hear.....

No fancy sermons, no questioning about what was right or wrong.....just Hold on!!!!

I am so glad she did!  So this morning we chatted and she is ready and able to hear the sermon, and even a few questions........I was directed to the following passage as she shared with me, the horror of Thursday through Saturday late night, wee hours of the morning Sunday.........

The scripture was 2 Corinthian 1:9 -11 through to the end of the chapter, but mostly those 2 verses.......here it is in The Message version.

"We don't want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row,  that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally-not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation-I don't want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God's deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part. "

There are a couple of things in these verses I would like to talk about:

• we didn't think we were going to make it

-in the battle for your health and freedom over addiction, you will at times have that feeling "I am not going to make it!"   HOLD ON, you will get through it, this will pass and you will get to the other side

•·        Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally

-in the battle for your health and freedom over addiction, you will not be able to overcome by trusting in "your own strength", it did   not work the first time or the second time, it will never work, you must learn to trust in a power higher and outside of you, in this case it is God!

•·        he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again

-in your battle for health and freedom over addiction, you will come to know that just as in the past, yes you will have to look at the past, and see what he has brought you through, in order to give you the courage to know and trust that He will do it again! And he will do it as many times as you need it.....he does not  keep count, does not require us to only receive it once or twice, no as many times as we need rescuing he will do it!

This goes on to say that the reason we receive his many times of rescue are based on these very important things:

1. We have a support group build up around us that prays for our health and recovery-you must have a support system..those that you can be honest with, and when you are not they call you on your stuff, but most important they are looking out for your health through prayer
2. You will be able to give this kind of support and encouragement to those who are going through it in the future!   Here we are told to encourage others by being honest with ourselves first and crying out for rescue when we are going down for the count, but then also to be on the look out for others that we can be an encourager to, and to be able to say.......the following words to them......

I have been here, I know this very well, and I am saying to you HOLD on!   He will do it again!...........