Today marks a milestone for me personally. As one who spent a large part of my life using and abusing alchohol and drugs the very thought, at one time, of ever quitting was simply non-excistent.
I knew I had an addiction and I did not care. Even though it caused those close to me a lot of hurt, sorrow, and pain I selfishly put my addictive needs ahead of them. This, of course, is a natural reflective attitude of the "ME" generation as well as the sinful nature of the flesh that seeks to continually supplement it's lustful desire's at any cost regardless of the fact that it is at the expense of other's.
Deep down, even when I had my moments of wanting to quit, it seemed no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't. Going an entire week without a drink for me was not only considered a miracle but also painful. Alcohol for me was like blood to a vampire. I craved it when it was not in my system.
Eventually, as I realised just how enslaved I was to it, I would drink more to Numb myself from that very painful reality. What a dismal way to live life. Who could rescue me from this dark abyss? I know I couldn't do it. Even AA couldn't do it for me.
But there was one who sought me out, came into my life at my lowest, and rescued me from what could have been a shortened life with nothing to show for it but loss.
Today, I thank my King, my brother, my friend, my Saviour, and my Redeemer. Thank you Jesus for loving me when I was unlovable. Thank you for rescuing me when I did not deserve it. Thank you for seeing value in me. Thank you for your patience, grace, kindness, and guidance. Thank you for giving me a life that has meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. Thank you for 10 years of sobriety. I could never have done it without you.
Until next time...
22 comments:
You give yourself too little credit for knocking on the head the destructive habits.
Welcome back by the way, i was starting to think you had given up blogging.
Congratulations on ten years of sobriety and thank Jesus for pulling you out of the trenches.
Lucy,
I must give myself very little credit. If I could say I had done it myself then I would be a liar. The only part I had in this was submitting it to God. He literally removed the addiction from me.
I have not given up blogging I think I just needed a really long break. It can be time consuming and I am a person who really likes to respond to those who take the time to comment. THAT takes time and for awhile it was getting to be obsessive. That was not fair to my family or ministry.
I am back, it just may be a little more sparingly.
I did miss you though ;) Weird how we actually think of our bloggin' buddies when we are out of touch and we don't even know what most of them look like???
Beowulf,
Thank you brother. It is good to hear from you. Praise God for His victory in my life.
Hey that's awesome. It has been almost 12 years for me, although I had one large stumble along the way -- I took my eye off the prize and forgot where I was going for a little while. But like you I can praise God for His victory and for giving me something (or someone) to reach for. And really, who needs alcohol when they can bask in the greatness of Jesus Christ.
-- Lorena
TIO
Big congratulations on ten years of sobriety!
Of course, I agree with Lucy that you don't give yourself enough credit for it. You were the one who fought the urges, whether they were small or huge ones. You were the one who took it one day at a time, maybe one minute at a time.
If god had done it, he could have wiped it all away with one stroke, and you'd not have had a desire for it.
Your body had an addiction that you were probably born with a preset leaning for. You succumbed to it, then realized it, then fought it and are currently keeping it in defeat.
Good for YOU!!!!
Karen,
Thanks for the congrats.
"If god had done it, he could have wiped it all away with one stroke, and you'd not have had a desire for it."
Whether you believe me or not I have never lied to you and I am not about to begin BUT that is exactly how it happened!
There are better masters than Jack Daniels and it's great to see others seeking to break free of the oppressive in the universe.
But I wander if you'd have any comments on the camp that thinks that you can, by let's say banning smoking in bars, make men virtuous by force?
Nog,
I am not quite sure what you mean so I will go by my understanding of what I think you are saying. Please correct me if I misunderstood.
If by banning smokers from bars you mean, can they (the Camp) cause them too quit I would say absolutley not.
They already ban smoking in bars up here and people just go outside. It has not forced people to quit. In fact, under threat of fine and possible prosecution a local bar owner up here defied the new law and let his patrons smoke inside regardless.
He claimed, and I believe rightfully so, that it was first, a violation of his rights too run his business as he see's fit. If people do not like the smoke they do not have too frequent the bar.
Second, it was also a form of racial discrimnation since it was a Provincial law but local Native reserves, which are under Federal jurisdiction, were allowed to have smoking in their bars which were very close by. This caused many a bar owner to lose a lot of business.
In other words, two bars beside each other were given two different set of rules. One could by law allow smoking because of Native staus. The other could not because of socialist agenda's. The Provincial court's said the law will either apply to all or none. It is just about to get ugly on that one.
I hope I ujnderstood your question accurately or I just went on for nothing :)
TIO,
You were only unlovable to yourself (and maybe some other folks around you). God and Jesus never stop loving us...
Grump
Nog,
Of course it won't work.
That's why prohibition didn't work. Why Joseph Kennedy was able to make so much money bootlegging. Why we can't keep illegal narcodics out of the USA. Why a gun ban will not keep bad people with bad intentions from being armed. Why we can't keep illegal aliens out of the USA. Why prison doesn't deter many people. Etc.
Grump
TIO
If god wiped you clean of all desire for booze, then ten years of sobriety is really no great feat, is it?
If there's been no struggle, no need to resist temptation, it's like you never had the problem to begin with.
So which is it?
Karen,
"If god wiped you clean of all desire for booze, then ten years of sobriety is really no great feat, is it? "
This why I have been saying all along that I must accept very minimal credit, if any at all.
God came to me and offered to remove the addictions from my body. My only part was in taking Him up on His offer. He came thru on His end.
I tried more times then I can count to quit on my own and with help. Nothing worked. God came along when I had resigned my self to the fact that this was simply my lot in life.
"If there's been no struggle, no need to resist temptation, it's like you never had the problem to begin with."
(Rolling eye's to the back of my head) Well, maybe your right. Maybe I have just been fooling myself along. My wife was probably overeacting all those years she attended Al-Anon for those having to live with people suffering from addictions.
And my drinking daily to catch a "Buzz" wasn't so bad. Afterall, I was never excessive till the weeekend. Even then, how could my wife and family possibly know if I was drinking at all. I was gone for 3 or 4 days at a time!
A rather redundant statement Karen.
TIO
If there's been no struggle, no need to resist temptation, it's like you never had the problem to begin with."
I meant after you gave it over to god, it was like you didn't have an addiction. So it wasn't really a problem to overcome then.
Hope that's more clear.
Unless you mean your wife went to Al Anon and you went missing for days at a time after god helped you.
Karen,
Oops! :(
To my own embrassment I must admit my own misunderstanding of your statement. I did in fact think you were referring to "before"
Grumpy,
"You were only unlovable to yourself (and maybe some other folks around you). God and Jesus never stop loving us..."
Good point.
Karen,
According to the Bible, God never tempts us to do wrong, and God equips us to deal with every situation that we face.
This does not mean that God does what we want. God does not make life what we want it to be.
The things that happen to us in this life are secondary. How we respond in this life is primary. Christanity is not about having a perfect or problem free life. It is about recognizing that we are part of something bigger, God's creation, and remembering to turn to God instead of away from God.
Grump
If this is a personal thing TIO, i totally understand if you do not want to elaborate but i am intriuged by your use of the words 'God came to me '. Figure of speech, a feeling or a more literal explanation?
I have no problem at all sharing my story.
Yes, God Literally came to me. It was the most unbelievable (as most atheists will attest too) expeirence of my life. It changed the entire course of my life completely 180 degree's in a moment.
Grumpy
According to the Bible, God never tempts us to do wrong, and God equips us to deal with every situation that we face.
BUZZ Wrong answer! Bible starts out with god tempting A & E in the Garden. And don't give me any of that "it wasn't god" bull, the serpent was made by god for a purpose and it fulfilled it.
This does not mean that God does what we want. God does not make life what we want it to be.
Of course not, He just says "Ask and you shall receive" for shits and giggles. Then moves the pieces around on the chessboard in the way he had imagined from the beginning of well. the beginning.
The things that happen to us in this life are secondary.
Not fro me Grump. This is the only life I get. It's all primary. I never said I was looking for a perfect or problem free life. I'm saying you get the same life whether or not you believe in god.
Sounds a very interesting story TIO.
Karen, can you get any more ignorant? I really wish you’d decline from speaking on subjects you know little or nothing about, such as the Bible and Christianity.
TIO, well done on your sobriety. Of course there is bound to be those who are suffering from divorces and other unfortunate circumstances in their life who are so confined by their anti-theist beliefs that they are incapable of receiving the proven benefits of theistic belief. To put it bluntly, such anti-theists are simply jealous and curious at the wonders occurring in the lives of others due to an entity which they proclaim is non existent. Yes, jealous they are...
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