I received an email from Ester:

Thank you so much for this message, it is so right for me today.

I have someone to whom I would like to send these messages, but I don’t always know where and how to contact her.

It is my daughter. She’s been addicted to drugs for seven years.

I still struggle a lot with how and where I have to be involved and your child can never become your project, but I keep praying for wisdom on how to deal with this situation.

She is my eldest, was Victrix Ludorum at school, achieved honorary colours in athletics, and studied after school.

She went to rehab for 10 weeks for the second time in six years. She was healthy and clean and her younger sister and I went to counselling with her.

We were so hopeful this time; we trusted that this time will be different. She looked so pretty.

It lasted five days. Five days.

I don’t know where to contact her.

And the hurt is back, hurt because I don’t know where she is sleeping, what she is eating, and when she gets hurt.

Please pray for her.

My heart trembles for Ester and her daughter. Evil has a way of destroying people bit by bit. You stand at the door to your child’s future filled with so much hope. With everything in you, you trust that this time will be different. But after five days, yes, five days only, your trust and hope are shot to pieces.

I’m sure Ester’s knees are numb from praying for her beloved daughter. I’m sure that again and again she gets up with a bag full of hope, believing: “This is it!” But …

Paul says: ¹³So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me.

Let’s be honest with one another: IT’S NOT THAT EASY! It’s not easy to trust again when your trust is shot to pieces time and again. Our trust tank runs dry when it breaks again and again. We unlearn to trust. We become skeptical and eventually go into defensive mode.

I do think the lesson here is that we shouldn’t put our trust in people and things. We must trust in the Lord, in Jesus, because you see, He never lets go of us. He will not allow our trust in Him to be broken, because He loves us too much. If there is someone we can trust with everything in us, it is Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

If we put our trust in God, we can trust the people around us again and again and again, and then we can keep on hoping for recovery, even when others shoot our trust to pieces.

Scripture
2 Tim 1:13-14

Reflection
Where is your trust being shot?
What can you do about it?
What can Jesus do about it?

Prayer
Lord, You know it’s difficult for me to trust when I’m in pain and get hurt again and again. Please help me to put my trust in You. I know You will never disappoint me. Thank you that I can know that You will also help me share grace and forgiveness and love whenever someone needs it, because You are the source that never ends. Amen.