For several years I was involved in a ministry called Celebrate Recovery where I worked on a lot of codependency issues I had collected over the years. Celebrate Recovery is an amazing ministry for anyone working through anything…so all of us. This was the first time in my life that I had ever been around people in active recovery from drug addiction. I have to admit it was pretty annoying for a codependent who was struggling not to try to control everything to be around people who were totally unconcerned about their own environment. There would be someone who was brave enough to share their testimony in front of an audience for the first time, typically choking through words to get out their story in front of people on a mic. Those still active in their addiction would get up 5 times to use the bathroom in a 20 minute period, talk too loud, or constantly twitch and move. It drove me a little nuts in the beginning. I would keep my frustration to myself, but it was a real challenge not to be distracted. I don’t know why I couldn’t just focus on the testimony, but I guess the need to control those in my environment was still a struggle I was working on myself.

Time passed. I got better. I learned to love people where they were. Other people had loved me where I was…. in my dysfunction. I saw people overcome their addictions. I began to see all of us, regardless of what we were struggling with be better on so many levels. I saw God work in our lives. All of us will always be a work in progress. I began to see people how God saw them. How God had ALWAYS seen them, as HIS CHILDREN. It didn’t matter that they had strayed from what He had hoped for them, only that they were back with their eyes on Jesus. It didn’t have to look perfect, but He was pleased with them. He was so in love with them. I learned to be so in love with them, twitching, talking too loud and being everything that would have driven me crazy a few years before. I knew what God had done in my life and I knew what He was doing in theirs.

This has changed everything about how I look at people. The people that don’t fit quite right, that don’t have it all together. It doesn’t matter one bit. They are God’s children and He loves all of us. He wants amazing things for ALL of us. He is working on ALL of us. Some of us have greater potential because of how far we have fallen. Those are the ones who benefit the most from getting a hand up by those of us that do our best to love others like Jesus would.

So the next time you are around someone struggling with something you can’t understand, show them the love of Jesus. Look at them how a mother of a troubled child would. A good mother never gives up hope that her child will find their way back to making healthy choices. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean that you enable their unhealthy behavior, but loving is not enabling. Remember how God sees them. Remember that is how God sees you and me. He knows what all of us are capable of doing for His Kingdom and He has amazing plans for all of us.

Remember also that God loves you no matter what you have done or how far you have strayed. God has been loving you even when you were running from Him. He still loves you. He has always believed the very best about you and knows what you are capable of. What HE designed you for. You are beautifully and wonderfully made by the Creator of the entire universe. Never forget that. You are loved.

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”