Silas
Beloved of All
Your love for your daughter comes through clearly in this request, and it is right to bring her before the Lord with this burden. To watch someone you love struggle with depression and anxiety, and then seek relief in something that can harm her, is painful. God sees both your concern and her struggle.
It is understandable that she says this helps her feel calm and happy, but what feels like relief in the moment is not the same as true healing. Scripture teaches that we are not to live by what merely sustains or soothes the body for a moment, but by every word that comes from God. Jesus Himself would not use even legitimate power for His own personal benefit or comfort when tempted to do so, and that principle matters here. Turning to a substance for peace may seem to offer comfort, but it changes the natural use of the body and brings consequences that are not always seen at first. What is legal in our culture is not the same as what is beneficial or what God intends for wholeness. The freedom we have in this country was never meant as a license to use drugs or other means to escape pain, but to seek what is true and good.
The Bible describes a condition where the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint, and it asks why we would continue in a way that only brings more wounding. God knows the weight of anxiety and low spirits, and He also sees when a person feels isolated, like a small shelter left alone in a field or a city under siege. Depression often makes a person feel that alone, cut off from others even when surrounded by them. The Lord does not overlook that loneliness.
God does call us to use wisdom and to take sensible steps for health, including seeking wise and godly counsel and appropriate care, but He also calls us to look to Him and trust Him for our deliverance rather than reaching for our own resources to fix what only He can heal. When we wait on Him in prayer and seek Him, He offers something deeper than temporary calm. He promises His Holy Spirit to bring wisdom, understanding, counsel and strength, and to anoint a life to shine His light into darkness. That is the true source of peace and joy that does not fade when the effect of a substance wears off.
We will pray with you for her.
Father, in the name of Jesus we lift this daughter to You. You know her heart, her anxiety and her depression, and You know the reasons she has turned to this drug for calm and happiness. We ask that You reveal Yourself to her as the only source of true peace, the God who is holy and who alone can make whole. Heal her mind and heart, lift the weight of depression and anxiety, and set her free from any dependence on this substance. Give her a desire for what is pure and healthy and for Your presence above all else. Give her mother wisdom, patience and loving words that speak truth without driving her away, and surround this family with wise help and support. Draw this daughter to salvation and wholeness through Jesus Christ alone, and use her life as an instrument of Your grace. Amen.
Continue to love her, pray faithfully, and speak the truth in love. Encourage her toward healthy steps and toward seeking the Lord, and trust that God hears your prayers and is able to do what no substance can do.
It is understandable that she says this helps her feel calm and happy, but what feels like relief in the moment is not the same as true healing. Scripture teaches that we are not to live by what merely sustains or soothes the body for a moment, but by every word that comes from God. Jesus Himself would not use even legitimate power for His own personal benefit or comfort when tempted to do so, and that principle matters here. Turning to a substance for peace may seem to offer comfort, but it changes the natural use of the body and brings consequences that are not always seen at first. What is legal in our culture is not the same as what is beneficial or what God intends for wholeness. The freedom we have in this country was never meant as a license to use drugs or other means to escape pain, but to seek what is true and good.
The Bible describes a condition where the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint, and it asks why we would continue in a way that only brings more wounding. God knows the weight of anxiety and low spirits, and He also sees when a person feels isolated, like a small shelter left alone in a field or a city under siege. Depression often makes a person feel that alone, cut off from others even when surrounded by them. The Lord does not overlook that loneliness.
God does call us to use wisdom and to take sensible steps for health, including seeking wise and godly counsel and appropriate care, but He also calls us to look to Him and trust Him for our deliverance rather than reaching for our own resources to fix what only He can heal. When we wait on Him in prayer and seek Him, He offers something deeper than temporary calm. He promises His Holy Spirit to bring wisdom, understanding, counsel and strength, and to anoint a life to shine His light into darkness. That is the true source of peace and joy that does not fade when the effect of a substance wears off.
We will pray with you for her.
Father, in the name of Jesus we lift this daughter to You. You know her heart, her anxiety and her depression, and You know the reasons she has turned to this drug for calm and happiness. We ask that You reveal Yourself to her as the only source of true peace, the God who is holy and who alone can make whole. Heal her mind and heart, lift the weight of depression and anxiety, and set her free from any dependence on this substance. Give her a desire for what is pure and healthy and for Your presence above all else. Give her mother wisdom, patience and loving words that speak truth without driving her away, and surround this family with wise help and support. Draw this daughter to salvation and wholeness through Jesus Christ alone, and use her life as an instrument of Your grace. Amen.
Continue to love her, pray faithfully, and speak the truth in love. Encourage her toward healthy steps and toward seeking the Lord, and trust that God hears your prayers and is able to do what no substance can do.
