It was a Sunday afternoon after church; my team and I were walking home with our full bellies and debriefing from the day. We were stopped by one of our boys from Save the Children at the gates of our property. We saw him in the distance licking a stranger’s trash from the sidewalk. The moment he spotted us, he ran to hide.
When we caught up to him we encouraged him to follow us back to the house. He shook his head and held it low. My teammate walked up to him, embraced him, and prayed over him in English words only his spirit could identify. It was after a few moments that he embraced her back and came home with us.
If you knew his story, you would understand. Allow me to share it with you. A few years ago his parents left him in an abandoned home with nothing but his younger sister to care for. While most boys are learning their alphabet, he was left to feed him and his sister. So he dug. He would dig for bugs and animals to feed them because that’s what he knew. And they survived. Some time later they were found and brought to Save the Children.
Now, every day has a routine. He wakes up, gets dressed for school, eats breakfast and is able to be a kid. A luxury he was unfamiliar with. But even though he is putting these routines into practice, there is something he has not yet let go of. He still digs.
He doesn’t have to dig anymore; he can let go of his past. Yet he is so overcome by this spirit of poverty that the digging is now a mentality and an addiction.
I remember vividly my mentor speaking to my squad before we left “the difference between a habit and an addiction is with addiction, you have no control.” It was then that the Lord spoke to my heart that this would be a year of breaking addictions. There are some things in my life that I want to let go of, leave behind and never return to. I have prayed with my teammates and leaders about them, and I’ve discovered places of freedom where I’ve never been before. Temptations still creep up, but for the first time I’m able to move past it. I have my self-control back.
Addiction is ugly. It allows shame to enter into our lives that God never created us for. Shame is why we hang our head low. Shame is why we lose hope. Shame is what keeps us from running back into the arms of our Creator and letting Him fill the voids instead. I’ve been going through a devotional by Christine Caine and this is what she had to say on the topic, “When God moves in and you give Him full access to your soul, He heals your soul with His presence and allows it to flourish. When God moves in, we move on.”
So back to our boy. Yesterday after school I made it a point to stay near and play with him hoping to distract him from digging. We played soccer and tag and he laughed the whole afternoon. When it was time for VBS, he was attentive to listening to the story of Daniel and the Lions den. Then we had an impromptu dance party. At first, he stood still with discomfort, but it didn’t take long for him to join in. Our boys got moves. He stole the floor and danced and laughed like I had never seen him before.
Chains are being broken. In his most vulnerable state, we stepped in. We’re not giving up. It won’t be an overnight change but one day he’ll stop digging. He has to. Because we’re speaking things into the spiritual realm and the word says,
“ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.” –John 1:5
The light will shine through in his life. The light will shine through in mine. Believe the same for yourself. Allow God to move in, so you can move on. Stop digging.
