I took back out my phone and called Yerachmiel back...
"Hello Rebbe", answered Yerachmiel. I could sense in his voice that he had waited for this phone call with baited breath.
"I'm sorry I couldn't talk earlier", I apologized, "but now I am totally with you".
"The Rosh Yeshiva won't believe me", said Yerachmiel, "Rebbe must have special powers, because something incredible happened: as soon as we ended our conversation I started to feel a lot better about myself and the lust became much weaker. I don't have any rational explanation for this. It truly seems that just making the phone call did the trick. Now I feel a lot stronger, and I think that this time I'll be able to overcome it and not fall. For the first time in my life I was able to really fight back and prove to myself that I could do it."
"Do you see what happened here?", I asked. "The Yetzer Hara wanted to cause you to fall, and that would have caused you to close up and cut yourself off from reality. But you chose to do exactly the opposite. You called me, and the simple fact that you called, renewed your connection with life. And that is what took all the air out of the bubble of lust. Kol Hakavod to you, my dear Yerachmiel!
All Hashem really wants from us is to try. When we are facing a test that looks stronger than us and we feel we won't be able to overcome it, all we need to do is simply lift our eyes to shamayim (heaven) and ask "Father! Help me!" and immediately we will find new powers within ourselves that we didn't know existed before. Like Chaza"lsay: "Open for me a door the size of a needle head, and I will open for you doors that wagons and oxen can pass through" (Shir hashirim Rabba 5:3). Let's meet this afternoon in Yeshiva and drink Lechayim in honor of today's victory".
Yerachmiel obviously didn't know that I had my own personal victory in mind as well. "I'd love to", he answered, and as I hung up I thought of the words of Chaza"l: "Even if a sharp sword is on the edge of your neck, don't hold yourself back from divine mercy" (Brachos 10a). How hidden are the ways of Hashem! How Hashem wondrously worked things out so that two people standing powerless against an attack of lust, ended up helping each other to overpower the lust and win!
Hashem just asks of us to do what we can, whether it means heartfelt teffilah in a time of a test, or getting an accountability partner who we can talk to when feeling weak. The addiction wants us to disconnect from life, but a partner in this struggle helps us reconnect with life and the world around us - and thereby prevents the falls.
When we do our Hishtadlus, we are wont to discover new powers inside ourselves that we never thought we possessed. Also very often, the very act of Hishtadlus causes the bubble of lust to pop, and it becomes much easier to deal with.