Bender Bylines "In The Grip"

The grip of the dragon is phrase I have come up with over the years dealing with the many issues in my life that had me bound or somehow controlled me. We cannot see the binds or chains that have us trapped. Yet we feel them every day. There is something in our life that simply has a hold on us. We are not our own person. We don’t fully understand who we are. We just know we don’t want to be this guy. We are tired of being this guy!

This Grip for many does not seem like a grip at all. We think we are free. Free to do what we want, and many do just that. For some it may feel more like a driving force, a compelling urge, or even a complete abandonment to something they do not quite understand. Yet this too is a guise that has them bound.

We are not free. We were never free. We are bound by ropes and chains. Nelson Mandela said it best about true freedom.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

To truly be free one has to be free from the burden of binding up others in their path to freedom. I have experienced this in many ways. I have felt trapped in relationships, bound to promises, chained to habits, and controlled by fear, yet in my whole life I have never felt more helplessly imprisoned as I have while addicted to a drug. It has been during this time in my life that I realized the truth about myself, my family, my friends, and my God. Knowing the truth has helped me deal honestly with life around me. It’s this struggle I have that has triggered a desire to express my experience to others. My hope is that my struggle can help others. I know it has helped me. Perhaps, it can help you too.

There are accepted traditions among people who struggle with addictions or personal issues that has control over some part of life. The general thought goes like this: Helping yourself will help others, helping others will help yourself. So if we reach out to help others we are helping ourselves. It is hard to think of ourselves as a helper when only yesterday we needed help. Society as a whole does not operate like this. If we fail in any way we need to prove to the rest of society that we are indeed cured before we can move on to the next phase of helping others. Yet in reality this thinking is detrimental to our well being. There may not be a cure per-se but we do get better as we continue on a path that heals us from the lies that bind us. Healing is an ongoing process.

As I did research in this area I found the evilness of the human heart, I realized just how much help I needed in myself. My own lack of understanding propelled me to search and struggle for something I new was out there. Maybe a cure maybe a key or possibly some sort of solution that has been missed all these years. Sorry no simple cure or solution. What I did find might surprise you. It has helped me as it will you. For all the things that have a grip on us, for all the lies we believe there is a simple solution. That solution is the truth.

Its not my desire to say that your beliefs are not valid. I wish not to condemn anyone on there beliefs. But if your beliefs cause you to act a certain way than you are what you believe. There are people who will tell you that you can change your reality by what you believe. I am here to tell you that there is only one reality and that is the truth. We can certainly be a better person than what we believe we can be.

What do you believe? Does your belief system hold you back or propel you forward. My challenge to you is not believe as I do, but to only believe the truth and see the world as it was meant to be. For if we know the truth than the truth will set us free.

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Our mind can be like a thick piece of steel. Let the fire of God's word help you bend it towards Him, Bend it around Him.

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