"My addiction defines me more than God's redemption ever could."
How it sounds in your head: When I think about my life story, the addiction years are what stand out - the drama, the chaos, the rock bottom. My testimony is about what I came OUT of, not who God made me. Even in my nineties, when people ask about my life, I talk about the addict I was more than the daughter I am. My past feels more real than my present identity.
"Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
-- Isaiah 43:18-19The enemy keeps victims focused on the pit they were in rather than the palace they've been brought to, making past sin louder than present righteousness.
Decades of sharing her story in recovery circles emphasized the drama of her addiction more than the power of her transformation. The addiction narrative feels more substantial than her identity in Christ.
She was a professional prostitute, her entire identity wrapped up in sexual sin for years. One act of faith hiding the spies, and God immediately shifted her identity - she's not called 'Rahab the former prostitute' but listed in Jesus's genealogy and the Hall of Faith as a woman of FAITH, not shame!
I REFUSE the lie that my addiction defines me more than God's redemption! IT IS WRITTEN that God commands me NOT to remember former things because He is doing a NEW THING in me! My story is not 'addict in recovery' - my story is 'DAUGHTER walking in freedom!' The most important thing about me is not what I came OUT of but WHO I came INTO - Jesus Christ! IT IS WRITTEN that I am a new creation, and new creations don't introduce themselves by their old nature! I am defined by the BLOOD, not by the bondage! The BARAK blessing doesn't say 'blessed despite their past' - it says 'BLESSED because of covenant!' I am a daughter of Abraham, an heir of promise, the righteousness of God in Christ, and THAT is my story!
Sweet daughter, the Father doesn't introduce you to Heaven as 'the former addict.' He introduces you as 'My BELOVED daughter in whom I am well pleased' - your past is not your introduction, your IDENTITY in Christ is. He's already writing your story as one of VICTORY, not survival.