Addiction: Innocent Until It Owns You Ep. 11

Sarah Annie Schneider: ⁓ Welcome everyone. This podcast is for anyone who feels tired, defeated, overwhelmed, or completely discouraged. You want a real relationship with God, but you're not sure where to start or how to make it last. For over 10 years, I have mentored women in our local jail. That's exactly where the Addicted to God movement was born. So many of them walked into my room to meet with me carrying addictions that had stolen everything, their freedom, their families, their hope, and even their sense of self-worth. The ones who experienced real and lasting transformation weren't the ones who just tried harder to quit. They were the ones who learned how to transfer their addiction, taking that same desperate hunger and drive and giving it fully to God and His Word. But the biggest barrier most of them faced wasn't that they didn't want to change. It was they simply didn't know where to start. That's why we're here. And today, I want to talk about bondage. So, I want to begin with a question. Would you rather be an addict or a slave? If any of you ever played board games, you might remember or have played a game called Would You Rather? And a question like, would you rather be an addict or a slave is kind of something along the lines of what that game would ask. And generally speaking, whatever those options are, neither sounded that appealing. And it's not just a game. With this question, addiction is bondage. And bondage means slavery. If you went to dictionary.com and you asked for the definition of slave. It would tell you it is a person who is entirely under the domination of some influence or person. Doesn't that sound like addiction? It dominates us. It owns us. I asked the women in jail this question. 33 year old Danny was facing 23 years for embezzlement and identity theft. She didn't hesitate. She said, that's the problem with addiction. You know you're in bondage to it, but you just don't know how to get out. Or worse, you don't think you'll ever be able to get out. It has you that ensnared. So maybe you're sitting here thinking, that's not me. I don't have a real addiction. But if you go back in previous episodes, you will see that we're all addicted to something. The only difference is the degree of control that it has over you. And here's the other part, the eventual cost. So let's talk about the different kinds of bondage that we find ourselves in. I actually have three that I'm gonna talk about on this episode. And the first one is the bondage of denial. Denial is so sneaky. A good friend once told me that deny, D-E-N-Y, is an acronym for Don't Even Know You're Lying. And you know who you are really lying to? Yourself. Jesus in John 832 says, will know the truth and the truth will set you free. And until the truth breaks through, you will stay trapped in that lie, not even realizing you believe it. The second one is the slippery slope. This one starts so innocently. For me, there are many, but I'll pick shopping. I would tell myself, I'm just gonna run into the store and get one quick thing. I need a new skirt, I need a new shirt, I need a new pair of shoes. I insert whatever my goal of that particular shopping spree would be. And the next thing you know, I'm in a full-blown shopper's high. Bags are literally cutting circulation off my arms. I'm hiding things from my husband, you know, and pretending like, ⁓ I've had this for ever, that old thing. ⁓ you know, and it also, you know, could even turn into a fight. Like I was defensive. ⁓ you never noticed. ⁓ And then like even a month later, when the bills started rolling in, I would start getting aware at that point of the fact that, okay, maybe things got out of hand and it's too late. I've already taken the tags off. I've already tucked them away. I may even have washed them and they came out of the cycle, shrunk, wrinkled, and certainly not as oppressed and pretty as they were on the hanger a month ago. And that quite frankly was a really ugly season in my life when that financial burden almost cost me my marriage. And it certainly didn't make living day to day pleasant. It seemed innocent to walk into that store. and think I needed something. It was how it took over and ultimately cost me or almost cost me something. It definitely cost me some credit for a period of time. So what's your slippery slope? One drink, one click, just one bet, one harmless peak. The next compliment you chase, that runner's high or adrenaline rush, it always starts innocent. And then it ends, whether that's regret, shame, or some other layer or something, a more significant depth of bondage. Let's look at food for an example. If that's your addiction, you may not see the problem until your pants get tight or your doctor warns you that you need to start changing the trajectory of your eating patterns because you might be getting sick. Or if work is your addiction, it's not until you suffer from chronic pain or your performance starts to suffer or your kids grow up and desert you because your years of being absent fueled their independence. Or if you feel like I'm talking to you right now, It's possible that I am, but I can talk to you about these things because I'm talking to me first. These are the kinds of things that at some point in my life I either thought was okay or I was the exception to the rule. It wasn't that bad. I may not have ever been in a jail cell or in a state penitentiary for something that drove me into trouble or resulted in a criminal behavior or even cost me my reputation, my family or my home. But here's my point. Whatever we do, whether it's the choices we make, experiments that we do to feed our curiosity, or even that strong drive work ethic and even passions, they all start easy. The slope. And there's a reason we call it a slope. is because at any point that you decide you want to turn around and go back, the steeper and harder it is to stop, to climb out of your mess, to change your direction, and to make different choices. And then the slipper part, the slippery slope, the slipperier part. It's easy to lose your footing when you go to that dinner with friends and you're celebrating. Or when that promotion comes up at work and your competitive edge kicks in or that box of donuts that shows up in the break room because someone's having an anniversary, a birthday, a craving, or they're just kind. See, that's right. I'm talking to that everyday person who's just like me. I'm also talking to that person who says, yeah, you have no idea the slope I'm sliding down, which is my segue to the third point, the third form of bondage. And that's the bondage of helplessness. This one hits deep. It could be for those of you who are stuck in a broken marriage. Maybe you are drowning in debt, exhausted by a soul crushing job, raising kids while running on empty or watching someone you love destroy themselves with a really devastating addiction. You didn't choose this prison, but you're living in it and it feels pretty out of control, doesn't it? So, Here's where we go deeper, and this is the part that most people never see. There's an invisible bondage that fuels every other kind. And I think it's said best in 2 Corinthians 4 that says, Satan, the God of this age, has blinded the mind of people who do not believe. They're unable to see the glorious light of the good news of Jesus Christ. They just don't understand what the message is about. because Satan has blinded you. He doesn't want you to see that there's something in your life that's going to harm you, hurt you, destroy you. As a matter of fact, that's exactly why he exists. That's exactly what he wants to do. But he's sneaky too. And Jesus tells us in John 8-44 that Satan is a murderer and the father of all lies. This is heavy, but you know what else it is? Freeing. Because once you see the real enemy, you finally understand why you have felt so powerless. Satan doesn't want you to see the glorious light of the good news because that light is the only thing strong enough to break. The chains. Friends, you might be in bondage to shopping, approval, sugar, work, porn, perfectionism, people pleasing or something else. You know you better than I do. But the deeper bondage is that you've been blinded. You've been lied to. You've been owned. So here's the hope. That moment truth breaks through, the power of that lie is broken. The moment you see Jesus clearly, the chains literally start falling off. That's why some of the women in jail after months or even years of destructive bad choices and things that took everything from them suddenly throw their hands up and say, I'm done. Only Jesus can fix this mess. And when they do that, their eyes are opened. They finally see who they were enslaved to and who. is willing to set them free. So here's a few honest questions I want to ask or invite you to jot down. Ponder, meditate, process, do some soul searching. You don't even have to answer to anybody for them. This is between you and God. And take your time. There's no rush. These answers that you have to these questions just might be what changes your life. So question number one. What am I really in bondage to right now? Number two, where have I been lying to myself or living in denial? Number three, am I exhausted from trying to manage something that actually owns me? And number four, I would consider it to be the most important question. Am I ready to see the truth, even if it's uncomfortable? Am I ready to take that step of faith? If you are, I can assure you the truth, God's truth, Jesus Christ will set you free. You don't have to clean yourself up first. You don't have to break every chain before you come to Jesus. You just have to be willing to admit you're in bondage and believe that He is stronger than whatever it is that has been controlling you. And this isn't the end of the story. This is the beginning of your rescue. Even more, welcome to the family of the broken, discouraged, tired, frustrated, and fed up. It's time to let God do what God does, redeem, restore, and replace. Taking whatever this world has been keeping you entrapped, enslaved, or in bondage, and revealing His powerful plan through your purposeful life. The life that He gives the future that He has and the access only He can provide. And that access and all that He has provided and has available to you is because of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins. The power of His Holy Spirit that you can receive when you invite Jesus to start running your life and you stop running your life from this day forward. And one more thing, a simple thing. Pick up God's Word. God's Word is His love letter to you. He has guidelines that will help keep you awake from the denial. He'll conquer that defeating slope and tear down those walls of helplessness. And honestly, I hope that you also, after listening to this episode and maybe taking that brief evaluation, that you would share it with someone you love or someone you know who feels trapped. because you never know how God might use it to bring freedom. So before I close this episode, I'm going to just pause. Apart from the message on bondage, and I want to share just something that's been on my heart. And that is that this is episode 11. Episode 10 was the first major milestone that I have achieved on this Addicted to God journey. And I'm not savvy enough to follow the stats, the trends, the number of listeners, the number of followers or likes. I try to capture comments when I see them, but I'm not doing this for that. I am bringing the Addicted to God message to a hurting world. I struggle in my own sense of inadequacy in being the person God would call to do that. I'm just going to confess that. And the reason I do is because It's surreal and surreal from the standpoint that all I am is a girl who picks up my Bible every single day like it is a drug. And I pray and I will ask God, reveal to me today, Lord, how I can be changed, who you are and what your word is telling me to do. And friends, I have to tell you, I've been doing that for about 25 years. And I would say that the last 10, possibly it was part of my own testimony since I've been doing jail ministry and addicted to God became my message to them, that all of a sudden I realized if I'm telling them to be addicted to God, I need to model what being addicted to God looks like. And that's what I show up for every single day. So I'm trying to bring you messages of inspiration. I'm trying to bring you perspectives that will inspire you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength. That is the verse that this entire ministry is based upon. Because when we do that, that's what addicted to God looks like. And that's when our eyes, lives, and hearts are completely transformed. So, as I close this episode, I want you to remember that you're not defined by your past or your struggles. And when you transfer your addictions from this world to God, He truly is the one and only healthy addiction. So until next time, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. God bless you, friends. Thank you for listening.