For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭13

For those wanting to simply pull themselves up by their bootstraps, recovery can be a drag.

The consistent insistence of self-forgetting, of surrendering, and of spiritual redirection gets in the way of me wanting to simply fix the problem at hand.

Yes, it is a natural and good desire to fix broken things and to repair the damage that I’ve finally recognized.

Trouble is, the very root of these issues springs from the same self-interested part of me that wants to fix it in my own way…and quick.

Can some people simply quit drinking or using? Sure. And good for them. That’ll put them in parallel with anyone who needs help stopping. That’ll put us all right at the start line.

This is the beginning, not the end.

All stopping does is remove the blockage from the artery of my life. Now for the living part.

And it’s here where we are all woefully ill equipped. It is God who necessarily must work in and through us, influencing and molding us.

We aren’t puppets, but we are creations made to be most alive when we allow Him to be our director.

Where will I go in the day ahead of me then? Will I resort to the standard desires that so easily entangle me—those centered around what I can get out of life? Or will I trudge toward His kingdom—striving to remove as much of myself from my own way as possible?

God, help me to stop tripping over myself.