Lutherans For Life (LFL) is offering a new eight-page booklet whose author emphasizes that forgiveness in Christ is the key to helping those affected by addictions deal with their lives.
Titled “Forgiven in Christ,” the booklet (Item 908B) may be ordered for 25 cents per copy, plu
s shipping, from the LFL Web site. Go to www.lutheransforlife.org and click on “What’s New” in the listing at the left of the page. Or, order by calling (888) 364-5433, or writing Lutherans For Life, 1120 S. G Ave., Nevada, IA 50201-2774.
The anonymous author recalls how she was once trapped and tormented by addictions — including physical, sexual, and alcohol abuse — self-inflicted and at the hands of others.
“I could not believe that God Himself could possibly love and forgive me,” she writes. “How on earth could He?”
She says a turning point came when she heard a Lutheran pastor speak this Bible verse over the radio: “Thou tellest my wanderings; put Thou my tears into Thy bottle. Are they not in Thy book?” (Ps. 56:8).
“Suddenly,” she writes, “my tears stopped flowing as I thought, ‘Oh, wow! If God is careful to tend to tears shed over sin, then it must be true that He has forgiven the sinner after all — even me!’
“Indeed, through the Gospel message of Christ, I learned that God did love me on earth as much as He does from heaven.”
“Today,” she concludes, “I can live with myself without horrific feelings over memories.”
The author admits that her experiences with addictions “are not about pleasant subjects, but it seems important to tell them only in light of God’s mercy and grace in Christ and with the hope that it will benefit those with similar experiences and inward turmoil.”
Posted Sept. 6, 2005
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