Again, I haven't felt I have much to say of late, which makes me feel ungrateful for the recovery process. I am grateful for the recovery process, but I am often a man of few words.
Today, I'm grateful for the strength the Lord has granted me in response to my doubled efforts to overcome my sins.
A lot of the time, addicts feel the Lord will suddenly reach out and fix us because we're hurting a lot or have been suffering for a long time. I've learned the hard way this is not true. The Lord yearns for us to be fixed by Him, but he doesn't fix us until we have exerted our faculties of intelligence, love, humility, and new knowledge until we can manage ourselves. Once we can manage ourselves and stay clean, the Lord's power can wipe away our tears and make us new creatures. We cease to desire evil.
This takes a lot of work. First of all, we have to even know what addicts can do to stop acting out. Our society doesn't help people with that. Generally, we're in the dark and don't know what can be done. We are, sadly, left to believe it's up to our puny wills to conquer our huge problems. Not going to happen.
After thirteen+ years of struggling with addiction, the Lord has lead me to the point where I can't take my addiction anymore. I have no excuses anymore. Once I got to that point, the Lord blessed me with the knowledge I need to manage my addiction and become sober. I believe He waited to bless me with this knowledge so that I wouldn't be condemned further for having that knowledge and not being ready to act on it. We are judged more severely for rebelling against the greater light. I am grateful that God waited until I was ready to accept help from Him.
I urge you to read "Perfect Liberty I Manual" at this location:
http://addictionrecoverylds.blogspot.com/
It was written by a psychologist who works for the LDS church's Family Services. He understands how people can overcome addictions. His insights and exercises are saving my bacon.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Emergency Live-Saving Kit
Gotta keep up with this blog thing! I don't usually have much to say, so blogging isn't my forte. However, I'm back!
The good news is that I haven't had another relapse since the day before I wrote my first article on this blog! I feel so great!
I attribute this success to a few things.
Firstly, God is good and His power is in the lives of all those who are seeking Him.
Secondly, my love for my wife is too important for me to ignore, and I have become more and more desperate to destroy my addiction before I lose her.
Thirdly, I have been given some great tools. One is in a book you can read here. In that book is a page about the "Emergency Life-Saving Kit". This kit involves a page the addict writes about several things. First, he writes positive reasons for not acting out with his addiction. Second, he writes the negative consequences for acting out. Third, he writes down things that are inspiring to those trying to conquer sin. These things could be quotes from scripture, general authorities, or other people. The inspiration could even be other great things like pictures of loved ones who are hurt by the addiction. Last, the addict writes a plan for what to do when emotional triggers and temptation arrive. For me, I wrote down a phrase of scripture to repeat in my head until my thoughts and moods change, I wrote that I'll talk to my wife about my emotions BEFORE I act out, and that I'd go for a run outside if my temptations are unmanageable.
This Emergency Life-Saving Kit really has been a life-saver. It has saved my bacon. It works! Once the page is written out, the addict is to print it out and put it in his wallet, as well as keep it on his desktop. He is to read it and review it daily, as well as when he is feeling tempted. I can't say how powerful this has been. I wish ever addict knew of this technique! Go read that book! Use it!
The good news is that I haven't had another relapse since the day before I wrote my first article on this blog! I feel so great!
I attribute this success to a few things.
Firstly, God is good and His power is in the lives of all those who are seeking Him.
Secondly, my love for my wife is too important for me to ignore, and I have become more and more desperate to destroy my addiction before I lose her.
Thirdly, I have been given some great tools. One is in a book you can read here. In that book is a page about the "Emergency Life-Saving Kit". This kit involves a page the addict writes about several things. First, he writes positive reasons for not acting out with his addiction. Second, he writes the negative consequences for acting out. Third, he writes down things that are inspiring to those trying to conquer sin. These things could be quotes from scripture, general authorities, or other people. The inspiration could even be other great things like pictures of loved ones who are hurt by the addiction. Last, the addict writes a plan for what to do when emotional triggers and temptation arrive. For me, I wrote down a phrase of scripture to repeat in my head until my thoughts and moods change, I wrote that I'll talk to my wife about my emotions BEFORE I act out, and that I'd go for a run outside if my temptations are unmanageable.
This Emergency Life-Saving Kit really has been a life-saver. It has saved my bacon. It works! Once the page is written out, the addict is to print it out and put it in his wallet, as well as keep it on his desktop. He is to read it and review it daily, as well as when he is feeling tempted. I can't say how powerful this has been. I wish ever addict knew of this technique! Go read that book! Use it!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)