-----Original Message-----
From: AMO A JESUS, MAS NÃO CONSIGO LARGAR AS DROGAS
Sent: terça-feira, 10 de fevereiro de 2004 18:38
To: contato@caiofabio.com
Subject: PRECISO DE AJUDA (I NEED HELP)

 

Dear Caio Fábio,

 

I’m 36 years old, married, I have three wonderful children and I love my wife very much. But despite all this, I’m on drugs.

 

I don’t know what else to do. I attend the “Igreja da Graça” (The Church of Grace *) in São Paulo, and I’ve done everything in my power to get rid of this evil… But to no avail.

 

I pray, fast… Then I calm down for about two weeks. I’m at peace with my family. But after that the urge comes back, and everything is thwarted again.

 

I have no idea what else I can do, because I’m desperate.

 

I can see my home collapsing… and everything else going down the drain.

 

My wife can’t take it anymore… neither do I: I can’t even put up with myself any longer!

 

I know the Scripture, I was baptized, but I don’t know where else to go for help.

 

Please give me some orientation.

 

Thankfully,

 

____________________________________________

 

 

 

Dear brother,

 

Peace and deliverance on you!

 

I know you’ve been taught that faith will set you free. And it will! In Jesus’ name, you’ll be freed. Believe it and you will see. It’s going to happen.

 

Without faith it’s impossible to please God, and it’s impossible to do anything else as well.

 

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and being certain of what we don’t see.

 

Do you see yourself healed? Freed from the drug dependency?

 

The first thing in this process is the person seeing himself healed. He who doesn’t see himself cured will never be cured.

 

The second thing is to believe that you will live the way you wish you could. You need to have this vision of the life you desire to live and seek it.

 

And the third thing is to be realistic about the situation. Nobody makes the cure easier only by saying to themselves that the disease isn’t serious.

 

Truth makes us well. Truth sets us free.

 

And the truth here, dear friend, is that you have a drug dependency and need to face it and look for suitable treatment.

 

Therefore, besides the fast and the prayers, you need medical and technical help.

 

Some people think that God wants to compete with Medicine or the human techniques.

 

Everything comes from God. There’s nothing that does good to us and doesn’t come from Him.

 

Therefore, medicine is God’s Grace even if the doctor is an atheist.

 

So, brother, I recommend that you look for medical help. You may need to spend some time under treatment in a clinic.

 

I myself have seen many dear brothers who truly love and believe in Jesus, but can’t manage to get rid of certain dependencies, seek such treatments with successful results.

 

Some beat their bodies and lead them captive for a while, but eventually they fail again, just like you.

 

And they get more and more distressed. Then they hear so many people witness that they quit using drugs as if by magic—sometimes it does happen, as it did to me in my teenage years, but, in general, the process is different— and they start to think they don’t have faith, as they keep on struggling but very often aren’t that successful.

 

What I see is that there’s a period of joy after the conversion … it’s when almost everybody “suspends” whatever problems or dependencies they might have. After that, when things start coming back to normality and the daily struggles overtake the joys of the Encounter, most ex-dependents begin to miss “something”.

 

There’s the rub!

 

It’s much worse when the thing comes and finds the ex-dependent as a “liberation testimony professional”. Then the person can’t even seek treatment again. He has to live up to his “released brother” reputation. At this point, though, he has developed another dependency: the financial dependency on the church and the testimonies he gives.

 

Thank God, such isn’t your case!

 

I suggest, therefore, that you see a doctor, a specialist in chemical dependency, and tell him your story. Also tell him that you’re willing to being interned if required.

 

Some things must be handled as we deal with any other disease. The problem is that both society and the church see such matters as moral and spiritual evils. And they are not. In fact they’re psychological or even genetic diseases that show in a bizarre way through a dependency behavior.

 

Your family will have to take part in it in order to help you.

 

A dependent’s relatives develop a co-dependency that need to be treated as well.

 

I’m sure that if you continue in faith, and keep loving the Lord and being conscious that you’re loved by Him—with or without drugs—, you’ll have peace to enter into the Peace and be delivered from this evil.

 

This, however, will require faith and will, and a good understanding of the process involved.

 

My affection goes to you. I’ll be praying for you too.

 

 

In Him, Who carried our sorrows,

 

 

Caio