Shelly Smith
news@greenepublishing.com
Michael and Lynn Hanners of Pinetta have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Their family has experienced the pain and long journey of addiction and recovery, and they both share how God used those hard times to make their faith and marriage stronger than ever.
Lynn shares, “We tend to think that addiction only affects a certain demographic of people but that’s not true. Addiction affects so many people!
About fifteen years ago, Michael was prescribed pain medication for an injury. He quickly became addicted, and it led our family down a very dark path for many years to come.
I knew my husband had a problem, but I had no idea how to help him. I felt helpless and hopeless. I would lay awake at night just to make sure he was still breathing because he’d taken so much. I was afraid he would stop breathing and die in his sleep.
For years, I had prayed for God to help Michael and it seemed that the more I prayed, the farther Michael drifted from God. Finally, I gave up, I stopped praying. I stopped going to church. I stopped hoping for anything better. My life was about survival.
A little over two years ago, Michael became very paranoid. His sister found Adult and Teen Challenge in Tallahassee and Michael spent our 25th year of marriage there. It’s a year long faith based program and honestly, I believe it saved Michael’s life. For obvious reasons their rules are very strict so our contact was very limited and it was excruciating! God took care of our family in countless ways during that time though and the growth and healing that took place for Michael and I both was amazing! God used Teen Challenge to heal my husband’s addiction, to restore both of us to Him, and to heal our marriage.
Today, there aren’t enough words to describe how proud I am of my husband! God has done amazing work in his life and it is truly a privilege to watch him live his life surrendered to Christ. We can depend on him and I could not say that in years past. He has finally realized that his true strength comes from relying on the power of the Lord Jesus to guide his life. Our life is not perfect but we work to rely on Jesus to help us grow and learn to be more like Him.
2 Timothy 2:13 says that even if we are faithless, He remains faithful. The darkness that overwhelmed our lives for so long clouded our vision. It became hard to see the Lord but He was always there, working in our lives. He is so good, so faithful. He is our redeemer! He is turning ashes into beauty.
God has given Michael and I the privilege to reach out to others in addiction, people with broken marriages, and let them know that there truly is hope! God restores what is broken and we will be forever grateful!”
Michael also writes about his recovery by sharing, “Jesus' family lineage is far from perfect. David had an affair with Bathsheba and had Uriah killed. Judah got his daughter-in-law Tamar pregnant and had Perez. God uses imperfect people to do great things for Him, always has! He's aware of our mistakes, past and present. He's constantly teaching when we are listening, letting him guide our path.”
Lynn also says, “Adversity is a gift because it forces us to rely on God.I don't think Michael and I would have learned to depend so greatly on God had he not allowed us to come to such a place of desperation. We can now look back at the hardest time of our lives, with thankfulness for all the healing and restoration God has done for us!”
Perhaps this holiday season we could all take a look at our suffering or difficult times from this past year and chose to have a thankful perspective to see the growth, compassion, or faith that was a result of our adversity.