What happens in Vegas . . . gets shared on Social Media!

 What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, right? Well, that’s the motto, but I just have to share.

A recent vacation out West with our oldest granddaughter culminated with a weekend in Las Vegas. We filled our time with “granddaughter things”, including go-kart rides, rollercoasters, gourmet donuts, and a fun show. My husband, Jeff, and I had no desire to seek out any casinos. We had our granddaughter with us, plus, we are not ones to gamble. In Vegas though—like it or not—the opportunity to gamble comes to you.

Numerous beautiful buildings with flashing lights line the streets of Las Vegas, all filled with an extensive array of shops and restaurants. And, in every one of these buildings, at the center of all the surrounding stores and dining, also exists an assortment of noisy slot machines and active game tables. This cannot be avoided. After all, it is Las Vegas.

As we walked, talked, shopped, and ate throughout these buildings, one morning–something gave me pause.

Early one day I noticed a woman seated at a slot machine with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I didn’t think much of this at first, aside from the idea it was extremely early in the day to be consuming an adult beverage. Much later in the day though, upon returning to that same building, I saw this woman still sitting in front of the same slot machine. Hours had passed and she had spent her entire day flirting with her chances. Was she addicted to that machine? It sure appeared so. While I was quick to utter a tsk, tsk, tsk under my breath, a nudge in my spirit halted my thoughts.

Are you forgetting about your own past addictions? Hmmmm.

A sudden recollection of my past shopping addiction flashed before my mind. During a dark time in my life, in efforts to stuff toxic whispers of unworthiness, disappointment, and failure, I masked my despair by shopping. Donning new, fashionable clothes allowed me to maintain a false perception of who I was and what was occurring in my soul. Shopping sprees became mental getaways for me, which restored a sense of control over something.

(They don’t call it retail therapy for nothing.)

During my fast and furious spending sprees, I jokingly referred to myself as a shopaholic. The label sounds harmless, right? I thought so too until I paired this term with other labels, such as workaholic, chocoholic, foodaholic, alcoholic, . . . gambler-holic. They are all “holics”.

All holics are addicted to something. And all addictions have a motivation behind their dependency.

We fall prey to enticing temptations which lure us away from sound reasoning, often because we are not content with what we have. And maybe, just maybe, we are not content with who we are. With my shopping addiction, the more I bought, the more powerful and confident I felt about myself.

Temporarily.

It’s easy to slap on a legitimate label to justify a reason for tumbling (or skyrocketing) into some type of unhealthy compulsion. It’s much more difficult to examine yourself to reveal the driving force behind your addictive behavior.

When we run away from our problems (our addictions), it only leads to more stress and regret. The power, confidence, and control we gain from a temporary fix is lost all over again when we come down from the “high” of our behavior. We spiral downward into deeper depression or discouragement, which drives us further into our destructive behavior.

Can we run from our difficulties? Sure. We can veer off the rocky, confusing, and painful paths we are navigating and skip off into some deep woods where no one will find us—but only for a while. We can choose to hide from our problems, but our problems are never hidden from God.

Psalm 18:2: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

God desires for us to stop escaping. Stop running. Stop hiding. Instead, He longs for us to surrender and allow Him to be our refuge. To show us how we can rely on His dependable power to deliver us and redeem us from addictive patterns of behavior keeping us in bondage from His abundant, lasting freedom.

• Take responsibility for your behavior.
• Acknowledge all the feelings that brought you to that behavior.
• Cry out to God for His deliverance and freedom.

Is there something in your life holding a compulsive, detrimental grip on you?

Jesus stands at the ready to take it from you. Open your hand to Him.

(Excerpts from this book taken from Dawn Van Beck’s book, Deliver Me: Ditching Your Shame. Embracing God’s Freedom.) Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F29WGGYJ