“Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.”

Psalm 27:10

What is worse, being a drug addict or being a food addict?

When a baby is born the first source of comfort is to suckle at breast of the mother. We spend our lives being comforted by what we put in the mouth. When we fall off the swing we learn that a sweetie makes the pain go away. Losing a parent, sibling, child, lover spouse or even a friend cause tremendous deep feelings of abandonment or rejection. We choose our soother in the form of chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol, sex, drugs and so many other “comforters”.

The problem with any of these comforters is that they only numb the pain for a little while, thereafter the backlash leaves us with self-loathing which in turn leads self-rejection. Smoking cigarettes will inevitably lead to Emphysema, over eating will lead to diabetes and a barrage of other weight related issues, excessive drinking of alcohol will cause liver damage, cocaine abuse may damage the kidneys etc.

When we experience addiction at any stage in life we turn to a soother ….anything to make the pain more bearable.

The million dollar question is thus: how do we “cure” addiction? The answer is simply by healing the rejection. When we feel safe, loved and accepted our brain secretes Oxytocin, Dopamine, Serotonin, Estrogen and Progesterone and that makes us feel good. While we feel rejected we try to get the “feel good” feelings from outside sources. Happiness is an inside job, the outside helpers never stay long enough and in the end destroy us.

Rejection can happen as early as in utero. It is therefore important to face that moment where we first experienced rejection and heal at that point. When we come to the realization that we are enough within our selves our body will respond by healing the dependency on whatever form we administered.

It is therefore no wonder that the late diva Whitney Houston so eloquently sang “I found the greatest love of all inside of me”. This is easier said than done. Facing our past issues of rejection is like having root canal procedure without anaesthetic using prehistoric tools. It hurts like hell, to put it bluntly.

However the moment of healing comes after forgiveness, acceptance and repentance. Being caught up in rejection is like being imprisoned in a sell with no hope of ever seeing the light of day.

The realization that there is unconditional love and acceptance in the measureless grace and mercy that Jesus has for every person on planet earth is the key to being set free.