“There is an antidote to heal your broken pain, there is a lifeline that hides inside the Maker of your frame, He gave His life, hold your head up high, you will get by”
“Antidote” by B.Reith from the album Now Is Not Forever

I am known for being very stubborn when it comes to taking any sort of medication. Perhaps it’s due to my imagined sensitivity to it. You see, I have a tendency to be Miss “Take one teaspoon of cough syrup and fall into a coma for three hours.” Whatever my mental reasoning, taking medicine is just not one of my favorite things to do. This suddenly had to change, a few months back, when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I was told that after the numbing medication wore off, I would have some pain, at least for one day after the procedure. The dentist gave me a prescription for some pain medicine and told me to take it if I felt any pain during the course of that day. I hesitantly got my prescription for the pain medication filled, already knowing that I’d have no use for it. After all, how bad could the pain be?

Once all was said and done and the teeth were pulled, it took about two hours for the numbing shot to start wearing off. At first, there really wasn’t much pain to complain about. Sure, I felt funny but, then again, does anyone really feel alright after having four teeth extracted from their skull? "I just need some aspirin," I told myself. "This won’t get much worse..."

One hour and two aspirins later, it was getting worse--much worse. It came to the point where eating cottage cheese had the pain factor of walking on broken glass. In other words, it didn’t feel very good.

Finally, I rushed into my bedroom and grabbed the pain pills off my dresser. There was no way that I could handle the pain on my own anymore, I needed help and fast. Before I knew it, the medication started to kick in, and all the pain I’d been dealing with, up to that point, was gone. Just like the dentist said, the pain only lasted for a day or so, and I only found myself taking a few of the pills before I finally had no need for them. This made me glad because naps are nice, but waking up from a three-hour coma and thinking that you are in another state is just mind boggling.

All kidding aside, I learned a lot from that experience. One of the biggest lessons for me, that day, was that I had to deal with my pride. I thought that I was going to be just fine without any help from anyone. I thought that I wouldn’t need the medicine and that I would be able to get my own things and help myself around. It didn’t take long, though, for me to realize that I couldn’t make it on my own. Still, every time I started having any kind of pain, instead of doing what I should have done, I ran to something else. Even though I already knew that the medicine the doctor prescribed was the cure, I kept looking for other ways to rid myself of the pain.

We have all had to face this lesson at least once in our lives.

You see, there comes a point in life when we finally realize that we can’t make it on our own. We were never meant to make it on our own. God instilled it inside of each and every one of us, before we were ever born, to have a relationship with Him. He placed a calling on each one of our lives, a unique purpose and destiny for everyone. Yet, somewhere along the line, we get caught up in the next fad or we want to please people for the wrong reasons. We think that if we can only make other people happy, then we will gain all that we need to survive. Nevertheless, in the end, it always ends up the same; we need more, and we’ll do anything to find it.

We are looking for something (or someone) to take away our pain--to make us feel worthy. We are looking for an antidote.

There is a line in the chorus of "Antidote" from B.Reith that says, “...a remedy, that will take the pain away, so she can go and start her life over again, make the broken pieces mend.”

We are on a search, as human beings, to find the reason why we exist--to find out if there is meaning and reason for our life. I can honestly tell you that I have found that reason.

Paraphrasing from Ephesians 1, it says that through Christ and what He did for us on the cross, we are adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God, predestined before the very foundation of the world’s existence to walk in the blessings that we are now partakers of.

This means that God placed every one of us on this earth for a reason. No one person is ever a chance. God never accidentally placed that guy on the earth because He wasn’t paying attention, He never said, “Oops,” after He breathed life into that girl. Our God is perfect. He never has and never will make a mistake. It was placed inside of us from day one to need a relationship with God to survive, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I think that people know this. They realize that God and His word are truth, but they still go hopping from one thing to the next, whether it be palm readers or psychics, or even drugs and such. They’re trying to find their meaning, when, all along, it’s clearly right there in front of them.

It is GOD who wants to take our pain away, GOD who wants to forgive us and GOD who wants to adopt us as His own. This was His plan right from the very beginning--literally.

Maybe you are in that place right now where you are struggling. Perhaps you have been told that your life has no value, that you are going nowhere fast, that there will never be a cure for the pain you’re feeling, and that there is nothing for you in this life. I’m her to tell you now that there IS an antidote, and His name is Jesus. He already gave His life for you, and He loves you more than you will ever know. God has predestined you for a purpose and His grace stretches farther and wider than any mistake you have ever made. It doesn’t matter what you have done. His arms are open wide, and He is waiting to adopt you as His own.

My prayer for everyone reading this today, whether you have been saved for 30 years or three minutes, is to take this message and never forget it. Jesus is ready to take it all for you and give you the life that you were made to live. It’s up to you to decide to live it. I have and, I’m telling you now, you’ll NEVER regret it.