What Ever Happened To Lorraine...

The following is about a friend I will simply refer to as “Lorraine.” When I first met Lorraine, she was a young, vibrant mother devoted to her husband and children. Lorraine was dedicated to her church family and very involved with an outreach ministry. Her life was calm and peaceful until she contracted Lyme’s Disease from a tick bite. The Lyme’s triggered multiple health problems and Lorraine became very ill. Over the following years, she suffered from increasingly severe chronic pain. During that period Lorraine also became addicted to pain medication. Her life was out of control with irrational behaviors, frequent visits to the Emergency Room and random blackouts. Her husband and teenage son lived with constant worry, never knowing what to expect next.
 
When Lorraine attended church, she could be seen after the service weeping at the altar, or being prayed over, but few knew about her struggle with addiction to pain medication. She would habitually stop using for a brief period of time, but then relapse. One night, she died in her sleep of a massive heart attack. Although Lorraine’s premature death was not directly caused by a drug overdose, her frail health was further compromised by her dependency on Oxycontin and Percocet.
 
Lorraine’s case is not unique. There are Christians of various age groups, and ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, who drink or drug to excess and struggle secretly with their addictions.
 
The stigma and aversion connected with substance abuse often reinforce the abuser’s hesitation to seek counsel or help. One misleading claim is that all people who take drugs are morally weak or have criminal tendencies. Another is that addicts and alcoholics can stop drinking and drugging if they would just be willing to change their behavior. Those of us living with husbands, wives, sons, and daughters, who have committed themselves to follow Christ, can’t understand why our loved ones repeatedly slip back into abusing alcohol or drugs. Why can't they just stop? These and other misconceptions about addiction sustain our prejudices.
 
Many people in our communities view substance abuse and addiction as strictly social problems, but for the Christian, this problem goes far beyond being socially or morally objectionable.The Bible says that the body of the believer belongs to God.
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV)
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Therefore, defiling one’s body with drugs, alcohol or nicotine is sinning. This parasitic disease, called addiction, destroys its host’s spiritual, physical, and mental health. It is an exhausting obsession that captures the abuser’s thoughts and attention, making every other concern secondary. Even to the point of the abuser neglecting a one-time fervent and intimate relationship with the Lord.
 
Some, including those who are addicted themselves, may not believe that a Spirit-filled Christian could become addicted to drugs, alcohol or chemicals. To compound the matter, many churches remain silent or declare that no one in their church has a substance abuse problem. The scorn associated with alcoholism and addiction, conceived through ignorance and denial, keeps us from facing the fact that this problem affects people from all social, racial, and religious backgrounds. No one group is exempt, and unfortunately, even Christians can become addicted.