By Brenda Groves The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
Dear Readers, I wrote this column several years ago, and today I feel as if someone needs to hear this message regarding addictions. Maybe it’s for a loved one, a good friend, or even yourself. There is hope!
I once bought a blouse that tied at the collar with tassels attached at the end, and without thinking I tossed it in the wash with some other items. Well, when I plucked it out of the machine, the tie string and tassels were in a tangled/wadded mess! Rats!
Apparently, the thread got frayed, frizzled and then wrapped around and around into a tight knot. Now, I’m not a “crafty” person and my patience in this area is easily frayed as well, so I grabbed a pair of scissors preparing to cut the blouse free from the hopeless mess.
My hasty plan was to cut the strings off at the top as close to the collar as I could get without damaging the material.
But just as I was about to snip away, the Lord put it on my heart to cut the knotted ball of string away instead. Immediately, I doubted this move. “But Lord, what good will it do? The tassels are obviously ruined. Anyone can see that! Even if the thread could be removed, the string is shredded under there. It would look stupid!”
Silence.
Annoyed at myself because I was running a little behind that morning, I replied, “Okay Lord, You know I’m in a hurry, but I’ll do it for You.”
So I sat in my recliner and began to cut through the rat’s nest. Sometimes, long pieces would fall away, in other moments it would only unravel a 1/4 inch at a time. But surprisingly I managed to keep my cool and even started to sing/hum a favorite tune.
“What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus …. white as snow … blood of Jesus … hmmmm, hmmmm, la la la, nothing but the blood of Jesus …”
By this time, I was down to a very delicate part where the thread was wrapped so tightly around the string & tassels (like a strand of hair around a toddler’s finger), I was afraid I would slip and mistakenly cut the tassel.
So, tediously I worked until — with one intricate snip — the whole ball of twisted string suddenly fell off and into my lap.
Amazed, I started because underneath that whole mess were two PERFECT strings and tassels. I soon discovered that an old bath towel, the exact same color as the blouse, had gotten thrown in the mix with the good clothes, and a string had unraveled from the towel and entangled itself around the tassels.
For a brief second I thought, “wow, good thing I didn’t cut them off, there was nothing the matter with them. They are perfect.”
The Lord spoke this to my heart: “That’s how addictions are with people. These are demonic spirits that attach themselves to vulnerable/willing people and over a period of time that spirit, or spirits (of alcohol, drugs, food, pornography, sexual immorality, gambling etc.,) begins to gain power over that person as they give into the lie.”
(These lying spirits suggest things like, God does not exist, or, He is not enough. He is holding back from you. You don’t need Him. He doesn’t love you. He is disappointed in you, you have gone too far now. ALL LIES!!)
Contact Brenda Groves at: ads@alvinsun.net
