re: Have Drugs Ever Negatively Affected Your Life?

Short answer ..Both..It started out as recreational and a way to gain acceptance with the weed. When I moved on to cocaine, I couldn't get enough of the euphoria. I was still able to function successfully and never felt more "like the man". I found temporary completeness in the drugs, gambling, sex etc. Once I hit the crack pipe it was all she wrote. I could no longer function in public. Paranoia overwhelmed me but the chase of the next hit consumed me. Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to have been raised "in the church" and to have the "head knowledge" of what was available through Christ. Unemployed, living in squalor and completely alone, I had been using the crack to self medicate and escape the reality and guilt of the cumulative negative affect my actions had on my family and people who loved me. Long story short, I answered the altar call at a church service I happened to be in. As I was being prayed over, I felt the Holy Spirit consume me and the head knowledge moved to my heart. I mourned over my past sins (Matthew 5:4) for the next 12 hours and felt the darkness inside me exit my body and be replaced by the Light. I prayed Psalm 51. I stood on the Word "He will cure you of your disease..He will separate you from your sin and remember them know more". I became fully saturated in the Living Water. This is the good news of the gospel..."too good to be true, too good to pass up". Now I do my best and am truly inspired to walk fully in His grace, fully understanding how fortunate I am. I am the million dollar debtor who has been forgiven (Luke 7:36-50)..And finally Joel 2:25 "the Lord will restore what the locust have eaten away"