Thanks for being honest about your feelings. You've expressed them well. What is your wish in the last line?

I can't help but respond with this personal experience of hope. I am a sister of a brother who used to do drugs during his high school years. Watching him damage himself just about ripped my heart out because I could see the value in his life. I am so thankful that me and my parents had strong faith in God during that time. We spent most of that time on our knees praying for him to come out of it. It was as if everything else in life was put on hold and this became our primary focus.

I have never prayed so hard for someone in my entire life. The main prayer I prayed for my brother on a daily basis was that God would give him a vision of His plan for his life. Without a vision, people parish. I know it was the hope he needed. He had dropped out of high school during his senior year and left home to live with his drug friends. Several months later, he came home and announced that he owed a dealer money and that the dealer had threatenend to kill him. He told us that he had decided that this lifestyle was not the route he wanted to go. We could not have been more ready to receive him back home. In that moment, my parents and I laid hands on him and prayed that God would deliver him from the drugs and He did! It was one of the greatest answers to prayer we have ever experienced. He did not go through treatment.

I would like to encourage you with these words. The moment my brother came home and announced that he was done with drug, my parents and I did not care what my brother had done or how long he had done it. All that mattered to us was that he had come home and was not doing it anymore. We absolutely NEVER bring this topic up and throw it in my brother's face. When we mention it, we ALWAYS focus on God's goodness in restoring his life. We were so ready to forgive him and move on! We wanted him to know that freedom of forgiveness because we believe this is how God welcomes sinners to Himself. We are a tough love family, because we have been loved with and everlasting love that only God can give.

As a result, God has turned my parents and my heart towards urban youth ministry and we reach out to at risk youth because we have lived it. In the Bible we read the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Years later when they come to him for help and did not recognized him. He reveals himself to them and tells them, "What Satan meant for eavil, God meant for good." God certainly has brought some great things out of this horrible situation for us. Praise His Name!

I have a limited understanding of the cutting thing, and know of youth who have done it. It always greives my heart to see people hurting themselves because everyone's life is so valuable and precious.
I pray that you can see that for yourself.

Posted: Nov 24, 2008