Savage2Saint Sobriety August 11, 2023

And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day. - Joshua 4:9 (KJV).

In the Bible, the Israelites would often build altars where God had done something miraculous to save them from various enemies, starvation, or themselves. These "Altars of Remembrance" were made so the Israelites and their future generations would never forget what God had done for them. They wanted their children's children to know that life would not be as they knew it if God had not done what He did. It was how they marked a time when God pulled them through a situation where it seemed like there was no way out. Not just ordinary memories but momentous occasions that needed to be remembered.

There are numerous times the Israelites did this: 1. When Moses brought down God's Law from Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 20:24); 2. When God dried up the Jordan so the Israelites could cross. (Joshua 4:1-9); & 3. When God saved Jacob from his brother Esau. (Genesis 33:20). These were all times when God showed up for His people. For those of you who would prefer a more modern example, Good Friday & Easter Sunday...I can't think of a better example of this than our annual remembrance of Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins, then defeating death! How about Thanksgiving Day? A day set aside for remembering all of God's goodness over the last year. It doesn't have to be a pile of rocks to make an altar of remembrance. Our memories can serve as the rocks: a sobriety birthday; an anniversary; a holiday; or even a photo you keep in a place where you see it often.

I believe we as addicts need to create altars of remembrance to avoid being pulled back into a life of addiction. Remembering the place where God found us broken and lost. When God stepped in and gave us a new song in our heart and placed our feet back on solid ground. The joy we felt when we realized we weren't alone and that we don't have to live a life of pain and suffering anymore. Doing this will help us remember where we came from, so we don't make the same mistakes. Remembering these times can pull us through a rough season. If God did it for you once, He will no doubt do it again.

I often think about the "miracle" God did in my life and how crazy it is to think where I would be now if God had not stepped in at that exact moment. It's so important for me to remember that day because the memory of it has a way of refocusing my attention on God's mercy and grace, much like the altars of remembrance did for the Israelites. This is one of the reasons I mention my overdose in these devotionals as much as I do. I need future versions of myself to remember how great the God we serve IS. I need future versions of myself to remember that God WILL make a way when there doesn't seem to be a way.

Over time our mind begins to play tricks on us. We remember the pain a little less and less, while we remember the fun we had more and more. We forget that the pain outweighed the fun 10 to 1, but the devil (through our minds) will convince us it was the other way around, maybe the pain wasn't so bad. We ALL have another relapse in us, but not all of us have another recovery. Read that again. Life isn't always fair and what happens with one person, doesn't always happen the same for another.

Shevon and I have lost a lot of friends and people we care about who relapsed and went back to drugs and alcohol. We wonder how these friends could go back to that life when they know what the outcome is going to be...the graveyard or prison. That's where Shevon and I will end up if we stop remembering the time God pulled us out of the miry clay and set us on solid ground. I remember the day He pulled me out...March 31, 2022. I keep a calendar in my Bible with that day circled on it, so I see it everyday when I open my Bible to do my daily reading. That's my altar of remembrance. What's yours?