Found and Free: Overcoming Trauma and Chemical Dependency

The familiar places where chemical dependency has flourished often intersect with where we crave acceptance and affirmation. We may have been battered in areas that drove us to medicate personal pain with drugs, alcohol, and addictive substances. Scripture clearly shows that the adversary often appears as an angel of light in difficult circumstances.

Simply put, we don’t see the downside of chemical dependency when we begin using it. Often, when we don’t recognize ourselves or our behaviors, we discover that substance use demands a payment beyond what we can afford (Romans 6:23).

The pain of unresolved trauma invited us to take the edge off, to forget, or to relax with substances that seemed benign. We underestimated the power of a drug in its ability to seize our brain’s processes, believing that the false promise of “just one time” or “just one more” would make us feel better.

Instead, the substance’s allure resulted in chemical dependency, multiplying the impact of traumatic experiences on our psyche and our emotions. While our lives have been forever changed, we can evolve and emerge into who God imagined us to be. In Christ, we find forgiveness of sin and freedom to live abundantly, crushing the power of addiction under our feet.

Although the same enemy who has tempted us into substance abuse also accuses us, leaving us in shame concerning our chemical dependency. This looks like a battle against self in the private space of our minds. We may have played into narratives scripted by the condemning voice of shame and the debilitating pain of traumatic incidents.

We don’t have to cower and remain enslaved to chemical dependency or the familiar scripts of our past. Dying daily to our flesh and renewing our minds in God’s Word is a process. The miracle that unfolds in our present is the one already secured in our risen Christ whose shed blood sprinkles our consciences to purify and make us new in Him.

Wherever we are in healing from trauma and recovering from chemical dependency, God is already there. Even as the Father searched for Adam and Eve, His Word locates and finds us, answering our need for identity and esteem with Himself.

Jesus promised to never abandon, commissioning His Holy Spirit to live and lead from within as our forever-present help. We only need to call out to Him. He is the Word sent to heal our soul’s infirmity and the Truth who frees us from the clutches of chemical dependency.

Next steps for overcoming chemical dependency

God knew in advance all the disqualifiers you would encounter, including a substance abuse disorder, but He selected you anyway. God is perfect and didn’t err in creating you, crafting your personality, or calling you to display His glory. Embrace the story that you’re living and receive the unique healing and deliverance He desires to infuse in your life.

As the author and finisher of your faith, Jesus knows how to inscribe your story with a grace that reaches the hungry and the lost. He is making a living letter of your life, such that others will read and rejoice, encountering the Father’s love through you.

The Holy Spirit is always near. He has already empowered you with the yoke-breaking anointing that destroys the strongholds where chemical dependency has gripped your mind, hijacked emotions, and controlled your brain and body. Despite the adversary’s lies, freedom is possible.

While you search the site, identify a counselor and schedule an appointment. You will find what’s needed to journey with God into the splendor of His purpose, plan, and preparation beyond your history of past trauma and chemical dependency.