Life Can be stressful sometimes. Let's be honest if it didn't get stressful there would little need for us to start turning to addictions. There would be no reason to grab a beer to let off a little steam. For that matter, to go out for a smoke break between meetings at work. If the stress of raising kids and making the payments wouldn't make for stress with your spouse and thus the excuse to make a trip to strip bar. All of this can also be attributed to a need for comfort food. All that stress is always there. Usually it's manageable sometimes it's not. With addiction it seems manageable, but only it's completely unmanageable. Addiction only makes it worse.
In AA we learn not to turn that stress over to alcohol - but to turn it over to God. It doesn't go away we just react to it differently. It doesn't go away we just learn to ask for help. It doesn't go away we just stop trying to fix it ourselves.
Today's Focus: Recent technology changes have made gambling much more accessible - and access to the addiction much more easy. In fact, according to this local TV station, March is now "Problem Gambling Awareness Month." It's not coincidental that it coincides with the National College (NCAA) Basketball tournament. The NCAA march madness is associated, according to the American Gaming Association, with some of the highest sports wagering of the year. The story ends by telling us a Gambling Addiction impacts 8-10 people in the life of the problem gambler. Showing us further that addicts bring those we love most into the darkness of our addiction.
Today Positive Action: In the journal you started last week create a list of reasons to grow closer to God.
Dear Lord. You have the power to heal. However, you wait for us to be ready to work with You on Your terms. You wait until we are completely at the end of our rope. You wait until we realize we have to ask for help before recovery can begin. Help those addicts that still suffer, that Your word, "Ask and you shall receive," is truth. Especially those gambling addicts who will suffer and lose money in College Basketball bets this year. Help those addicts see that all they need to do is ask for help. Show them that we are praying for them - and that they are special to their family and friends. Show them that they should be growing their relationships with their family and loved ones - instead of with their addiction, and in this case their gambling. Show them there is another way to live. Show them there is a new life with hope and light in Your word. We are grateful to know this because You brought us out of our addictions and into the hope of Your light. Help us share that light. Amen.
Thanks for letting me share.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Lent Day 13
Happy St. Patrick's Day. A holiday primarily devoted to drinking will surely test this alcoholic on a day of cleansing.
2 Timothy 2:20-21 says, "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."
I find this appropriate because during this Lenten season we are cleansing ourselves of the garbage in order to prepare ourselves for God's special purposes. This should not only be in our diet and physical health but in the attitude we take and our spiritual health. Let's try to get the garbage out of our attitude today.
Today's Focus: There are many addictive prescription drugs available. One of the most "interesting" (maybe curious, or unexpected) is the anti-depressants. Antidepressant drugs don't cause the addictions that you get with tranquillisers, alcohol or nicotine, in the sense that: you don't need to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect and you won't find yourself craving them if you stop taking them. However, a third of people who stop taking anti-depressants experience side-effects of withdrawal, including but not limited to: vivid dreams or nightmares, flu-like symptoms, anxiety, and sensations in the body that feel like electric shocks. These side effects, maybe with the exception of electric shocks, certainly remind me of the withdrawal during the initial sobriety of many of my own addictions.
Today's positive action: Find a daily devotional that makes sense and/or speaks to you. Getting a new perspective on the bible is priceless opportunity to see and learn God's message for us.
Dear Lord. Help us be honest with you. Our relationship with You depends entirely on our honesty. As addicts we become great liars. We cover things up to everyone including ourselves. We know we can't hide anything from You but we constantly try to fool ourselves. In this age of distraction, we become distracted from the truth. We get distracted from what's important - and only serves to cause us stress and divert our energy. Help us concentrate and focus on what's important: our relationship with You, our relationship with our families, and our relationship with ourselves. Help focus on being honest about our addictions. Let this honesty be cleansing, in such a way that, like in 2 Timothy, that it prepares us to do Your work. Amen.
Thanks for letting me share.
2 Timothy 2:20-21 says, "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."
I find this appropriate because during this Lenten season we are cleansing ourselves of the garbage in order to prepare ourselves for God's special purposes. This should not only be in our diet and physical health but in the attitude we take and our spiritual health. Let's try to get the garbage out of our attitude today.
Today's Focus: There are many addictive prescription drugs available. One of the most "interesting" (maybe curious, or unexpected) is the anti-depressants. Antidepressant drugs don't cause the addictions that you get with tranquillisers, alcohol or nicotine, in the sense that: you don't need to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect and you won't find yourself craving them if you stop taking them. However, a third of people who stop taking anti-depressants experience side-effects of withdrawal, including but not limited to: vivid dreams or nightmares, flu-like symptoms, anxiety, and sensations in the body that feel like electric shocks. These side effects, maybe with the exception of electric shocks, certainly remind me of the withdrawal during the initial sobriety of many of my own addictions.
Today's positive action: Find a daily devotional that makes sense and/or speaks to you. Getting a new perspective on the bible is priceless opportunity to see and learn God's message for us.
Dear Lord. Help us be honest with you. Our relationship with You depends entirely on our honesty. As addicts we become great liars. We cover things up to everyone including ourselves. We know we can't hide anything from You but we constantly try to fool ourselves. In this age of distraction, we become distracted from the truth. We get distracted from what's important - and only serves to cause us stress and divert our energy. Help us concentrate and focus on what's important: our relationship with You, our relationship with our families, and our relationship with ourselves. Help focus on being honest about our addictions. Let this honesty be cleansing, in such a way that, like in 2 Timothy, that it prepares us to do Your work. Amen.
Thanks for letting me share.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Lent Day 12
I can't believe I've missed, not one, but two days of my lent blog entries. Nevertheless my abstinence is still strong and feel a strong focus on God. Yesterday when I weighed myself lost 4.5 lbs, towards my target weight. Not that I'm doing this to lose weight, but it shows that God continues to work miracles in my life as part of this process. He continues to show that I can trust in Him and that my faith in Him is well placed.
Today's Positive Action: If you meet the qualifications, donate blood. The concept that when somebody has been seriously injured, like in a drunk driving accident, they can take blood from my arm to help save that person, is truly one of God's miracles. Be part of the miracle. There is almost always a shortage blood supplies so please give generously.
Today's Focus: Smoking sucks. We all know it kills and so it's no surprise that it creates anxiety for the people close smokers. I was talking to one woman who's husband has been "sober" from smoking for a month and a half. Since then, not only is he feeling better and healthier, but their relationship is much better, too. She attributes at least part of it to the way she used to respond to him coming home smelling of smoke and tobacco. She would always tell him what he knew - how bad it was and that he needed to quit. This was always an emotional discussion that rarely went well. It would serve to create more tension in other areas of their lives as well. So, that has all stopped and they are experiencing the benefit of it. This scenario is likely true for most addictions - so it's merely one example of how addictions, and the consequent recovery and sobriety, impact our relationships.
Thankfully it's Sunday, again, so it's time for The 11th Step Prayer, also known as the prayer of St. Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, that I may bring love.
Where there is wrong, that I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
Where there is discord, that I may bring harmony.
Where there is error, that I may bring truth.
Where there is doubt, that I may bring faith.
Where there is darkness, that I may bring light.
Where there is sadness, that I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
To understand than to be understood;
To love than to be loved;
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.
AMEN.
Thanks for letting me share.
Today's Positive Action: If you meet the qualifications, donate blood. The concept that when somebody has been seriously injured, like in a drunk driving accident, they can take blood from my arm to help save that person, is truly one of God's miracles. Be part of the miracle. There is almost always a shortage blood supplies so please give generously.
Today's Focus: Smoking sucks. We all know it kills and so it's no surprise that it creates anxiety for the people close smokers. I was talking to one woman who's husband has been "sober" from smoking for a month and a half. Since then, not only is he feeling better and healthier, but their relationship is much better, too. She attributes at least part of it to the way she used to respond to him coming home smelling of smoke and tobacco. She would always tell him what he knew - how bad it was and that he needed to quit. This was always an emotional discussion that rarely went well. It would serve to create more tension in other areas of their lives as well. So, that has all stopped and they are experiencing the benefit of it. This scenario is likely true for most addictions - so it's merely one example of how addictions, and the consequent recovery and sobriety, impact our relationships.
Thankfully it's Sunday, again, so it's time for The 11th Step Prayer, also known as the prayer of St. Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, that I may bring love.
Where there is wrong, that I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
Where there is discord, that I may bring harmony.
Where there is error, that I may bring truth.
Where there is doubt, that I may bring faith.
Where there is darkness, that I may bring light.
Where there is sadness, that I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
To understand than to be understood;
To love than to be loved;
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.
AMEN.
Thanks for letting me share.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Lent Day 9
Today's focus: One early symptom of alcoholism is driving under the influence of alcohol. With alcoholics, and addicts in general, the use of the drug becomes primary. Safety, health and relationships become very low importance. Then it just so happened that the first listing I saw on news.google.com today, was about a drunk driver at SXSW music festival who killed 2 people and sent 23 others to hospital trying to outrun police who saw him driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) estimates that approximately every hour someone is killed in a drunk driving accident. That's 1 in 3 traffic deaths is attributed to drunk driving (9878 in 2011). More than that, repeat offenders make up 1/3 of all drunk driving problems, which includes: arrests, crashes, deaths, and injuries. Alcoholism is insidious because taking the drunk drivers to jail, taking away their licenses, and increasing insurance doesn't stop or change dangerous behavior. Demonstrating that the addiction over-rides any common sense, logic, or conscience.
Today's positive action: When you see or hear a siren from an ambulance or fire engine, after you make way for the vehicles, pray for the people they on their way to rescue.
Lord, in this day of Lent we are reminded that our addictions are not "victimless" crimes. Obviously when alcoholics drink and drive they take the lives of everyone around them into their hands. Shopping and Gambling addicts spend the future of their children on their dopamine rush. As addicts, we destroy the trust and love of our family and friends. Lord, ontinue to remind us when we find the hole of our addiction we are not alone - we drag everyone in our lives into that hole with us. Help us, all addicts, to find a way out of this hole. Then, once we make our way out of that hole, help us to keep our focus on you so that we can stay out of the hole. It has been said the day our sobriety starts is the day it starts for our children. Help us to break the chain of our addiction. Don't let our legacy be our addiction. Don't let our addiction be the thing we pass on to our children. Instead let us share the light of Your word, Lord. Thank you for Your mercy and Your grace, the offer of a new life, without addiction. Thank you for the offer a new life in Your word. All these things I pray in your sons name - AMEN.
Thanks for letting me share.
Today's positive action: When you see or hear a siren from an ambulance or fire engine, after you make way for the vehicles, pray for the people they on their way to rescue.
Lord, in this day of Lent we are reminded that our addictions are not "victimless" crimes. Obviously when alcoholics drink and drive they take the lives of everyone around them into their hands. Shopping and Gambling addicts spend the future of their children on their dopamine rush. As addicts, we destroy the trust and love of our family and friends. Lord, ontinue to remind us when we find the hole of our addiction we are not alone - we drag everyone in our lives into that hole with us. Help us, all addicts, to find a way out of this hole. Then, once we make our way out of that hole, help us to keep our focus on you so that we can stay out of the hole. It has been said the day our sobriety starts is the day it starts for our children. Help us to break the chain of our addiction. Don't let our legacy be our addiction. Don't let our addiction be the thing we pass on to our children. Instead let us share the light of Your word, Lord. Thank you for Your mercy and Your grace, the offer of a new life, without addiction. Thank you for the offer a new life in Your word. All these things I pray in your sons name - AMEN.
Thanks for letting me share.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Lent Day 8
Today feels like I'm now in the territory of lent when sacrificing all my potential addictive behaviors now becomes work. I'm over the initial excitement of the idea of Lent and I'm at the point where I realize the things I'm sacrificing include things I didn't necessarily realize would be included. Like, the Indian food of paneer. Seems so harmless, but it is in fact, dairy. Or those little hard candies that people keep in a dish on their desk. It seems so natural to pick them up and suck on them. Of course we all know there's sugar in them. I knew what I was getting into when I started this, though. If this journey of Lent was easy everyone would be doing it and it wouldn't be considered a sacrifice.
Today's Focus: Shopping addiction feeds upon the same chemicals as sex addiction and food addiction. Yes, it's that dopamine, again. Whether it's trying to win an eBay auction, getting a pair of shoes on sale, or, for some shoplifting. I have to be honest I'm in a little foreign territory. That's not to say I've never been excited about some key purchases - especially related to my sporting goods. I definitely know what the rush feels like, but it's never been unmanageable. Do you know if you've crossed the line? Do you need a quiz to help to know for sure?
Today's Focus: Shopping addiction feeds upon the same chemicals as sex addiction and food addiction. Yes, it's that dopamine, again. Whether it's trying to win an eBay auction, getting a pair of shoes on sale, or, for some shoplifting. I have to be honest I'm in a little foreign territory. That's not to say I've never been excited about some key purchases - especially related to my sporting goods. I definitely know what the rush feels like, but it's never been unmanageable. Do you know if you've crossed the line? Do you need a quiz to help to know for sure?
Today's Postive Action: Start a journal, if you haven't started one already. Track how the season of Lent is impacting your sleep, your health, your weight, and your outlook on life. Keep bible verses and quotes that resonate with you. Draw, doodle, and just in general express yourself.
Lord, we had misplaced our faith in so many things that brought short-term happiness and become addicted to the many activities that produce dopamine. It started so innocently but then the progressive nature of addiction took over. Once in a while was no longer enough and the behavior became more frequent. That which used to be enough no longer satisfied our cravings and we "needed" more. Slowly the costs became very expensive - we lost the most valuable gifts we are blessed with. Love and joy and peace. Thankfully Lord you gave us tools to shake free of our addictions and rebuild that which we had squandered. You gave us the 12 steps to grow closer to you. And in doing so we restored the relationships we had destroyed. It did not come easy, nor did it come back quickly. Nevertheless, with time, work, sacrifice we were blessed with the life You had intended for us. Through this we learned of Your grace. For this we are forever Grateful. Praise be to God - Hallelu Yah. Amen.
Thanks for letting me share.
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