When you need a crutch, choose a solid one!
“Thirty some” years ago, my husband and I were in our first “natural child birth” class when we met a couple who were learning how to “hooo and haaa” just like we were. We became friends and seemed to have a lot in common ~ we were due on the same date, we liked to PARTY… After our kids popped out, we would hang out and drink and talk and laugh, and drink and talk and laugh…
I remember those times now as “fake fun”. I was hiding that I suffered from severe postpartum depression. As it became harder to hide and I continued to get worse, I wanted to kill myself to escape the “hellish nightmare” I was living.
I sought help from friends, family, counselors and doctors, but to no avail for me because I was missing an important element. (Note: doctors, counselors and prescribed medicine can and do help! I urge you to always seek that help! I just believe we need the added element that I'm about to explain as well.) Finally, in my desperation, I listened to the advice my husband had been giving me from the beginning, which I had continued to ignore because it was strange and foreign to me. He told me to actually talk to God, ask Him for forgiveness for my past sins, ask Him to make Himself real to me, and ask Him to give me the help I needed. It took time, a lot of prayer, a lot of learning about who God was and what He did for me, but it worked! I found life and hope.
One day, I was brave enough to share this news with our friends. I was really excited, but the reaction wasn’t what I was expecting. The guy said, “People with problems need crutches.” I was crushed at first and started to think perhaps I was really weak, but then I stopped and looked at the big picture. I knew that I was getting better from this “crutch” and was determined not to let it go! This crutch, God, was the missing ingredient that changed my life.
Our friendship basically ended because we began to grow apart. While they found “life” in the continued “party” lifestyle, I was finding the real meaning of “life”. The husband especially wanted nothing to do with my “crutch”. However; little did he know, he had a crutch too. His crutch was brittle. His crutch was alcohol.
I can’t help but be forever grateful to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for changing my life some thirty years ago. I don’t understand why my friend decided not to lean on a solid crutch and I did, but the crutch he leaned on led to his death. I can only hope that in his last days he found the solid crutch.
Final “Wrinkled Thought”: Crutch (noun) ~ something providing help or support: Yes, God is my crutch!
