This week’s word is REACH. Go.
Parents worldwide are drowning under the stress of substance use and addiction. They do not have a problem with substance use; however, their beloved child does. Day in and day out, the demons of this chronic issue haunt precious moms and dads. They are lost with no guide, no map, and no direction.
For over a decade, I have done all I can to reach my child. I wailed the prayers between moments of anger and debilitating sorrow and defeat. My words of encouragement were plentiful yet fell on deaf ears. Lies and manipulation shattered my attempt to build up through a hand-up.
I feel the failure in the inability to reach my loved one. I walk through the memories of my efforts and ponder if I did it right or wrong. Did I help too much or not enough? Did I assist the addiction, or did I help my loved one? These runaway thoughts intrude through my mind daily.
The definition of reach is to extend or stretch out or touch or grasp by extending. However, it can also mean arriving at a conclusion or destination. My life has involved extending a hand and stretching out to grasp my loved one (sometimes by the hair). There is profound hope in knowing what I have done in this effort for another’s life. Yet, I struggled to end my walk in their addiction, knowing I could not reach my child and carry her into the healing recovery she deserves.
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Follow my new endeavor on YouTube. “Authentic Truths in Addiction” is the latest podcast from this mother’s perspective of family addiction.
Authentic Truths 
I’m so sorry for your pain and your ongoing grief. Thank you for addressing such a terrible truth which does haunt parents in every neighborhood and zip code.
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Thank you and you are welcome. No one is immune to this epidemic.
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It’s true.
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I’m so sorry for your pain in this ongoing struggle. I pray that you find God’s peace in the midst of it, and that your loved one finds healing. Visiting from FMF#15
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Thank you. The peace comes and goes.
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I’m so sorry.
When with all efforts you can’t reach
someone, it is not what you lack,
because to cross that awful breach
they have to try to reach you back.
Don’t think, my friend, that you have failed,
and hide within a heart of stone,
for it’s in pride others are jailed,
and you can’t do this alone,
so step back but don’t dry your eyes
quite yet, for more tears are to come.
Speak the truth to Satan’s lies,
and do not ever succumb
to thought, however days get rough,
that you did not do enough.
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Thank you 🙏🏼🙏🏼
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Wonderful response to Lisa’s heart in truth.
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Lisa, this is such a powerful expression. I will read more of your work, as I see it is on the same theme. I struggled with addiction and denial and have watched my sons do the same, but there is hope. One son has completely come clean of his own volition. I too am now 8 years sober today – I wrote a little about this in #26
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