Yes, indeed, the journey does continue.  As yesterday progressed and I reconnected to life at home I was awakened to the truth of daily struggles.  Three men I’m connected to with our ministries are struggling and in crisis.  Only one of them reached out directly to me.  The other two are silent and their wives are reaching out.  There is something about the pride of man that is truly disgusting.  Our pride, thinking if we divulge the ugliness of our temptations, keeps us in bondage to them.  Telling the Truth of our struggle is a barrier breaker.  God’s power/strength is bottled in truth.  Once we take the step of telling, there is a release within us that provides stamina and perseverance.  However, if we keep the struggle within for whatever reason, we will step back into the very thing that brought us to recovery.  How much God, Christ and The Holy Spirit want to help, but they patiently wait for us and our readiness to take steps.

Isaiah 40:10 was on my heart this morning as I was thinking about my own daily struggle and how it is so much like everyone else–bottled in pride.  It reads, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”  (New Living Translation)  The thing I hate most about my own struggle is the connection to homosexuality.  My pride always wants this hidden.  However, if I don’t continue to talk about it, it begins to grip me within just like others I know.  The struggles are different, but what it does to us is exactly the same.  That strength God will give us promised in scripture comes in part when we tell the truth that is bottled within us.  The help comes from this too.  Others know how to help and hold us accountable when we are honest.  We do need each other but we most need God at the start of this and then we can complete what He has given each of us to do.