Two Sides to Every Story

A story of the reckless choices sparked by alcohol abuse…

Just recently in Moscow, a Russian girl drinking with her friends left her 3 month old baby in a park unattended. The miraculous side to this story comes from the saving grace of her dog Vadim that guarded and protected the helpless infant throughout the night. As a young girl, having a child had become a hindrance to her social life and thus drove her to make a reckless choice when blinded by alcohol abuse.

We all know this is not the only story floating through the news of helpless children subjected to the reckless lifestyles of those entrapped by the devastation of alcoholism. What we can take away from this particular story is that, as mammals, our innate ability to take care of ourselves and our spawn is at its best when not jaded by alcohol abuse. The dog poses as a prime example of caring for a helpless being in its natural state of animal survival—and thank God for that!

Are there areas in our lives that we need to give serious attention to? Have we made reckless choices for a night out with friends? Have we risked the lives of others from our alcohol abuse?

To embark in a positive approach in dealing with our problems, we must recognize and accept the problem and then commit to working through the issues that keep us enslaved to alcohol and drug abuse.

“I am a human being, a spiritual being having a human experience. I am an addict, a person with a problem, not a mental deficiency. I am responsible for my recovery, not my addiction. I recognize that I have a lot of issues to work on, but I do know that I’m not alone and that I can get better. I remind myself that I am not perfect. While I still have no idea who I am, I do believe I am a good person and that if I stay clean and keep progressing I will eventually find out. I want to find out who I am rather than die of addiction.”

Alcohol and Drug Addiction

This weekend we lost a dear friend and colleague to the “monster.” Why is it that we don’t recognize and accept that alcohol abuse and drug addiction will never go away—to revisit this disease thinking that we have control over it because we have been sober from alcohol and drugs for 7…10…20 years?

The devil is known to “go around seeking whom he can devour” he is here “to rob, steal and destroy” that is his mandate on this earth. He is most active when we are climbing to the heights of our lives and shows himself through the addictive grasps of alcohol and drug abuse. But still we fall prey to his devises. Why?

We can never afford to play in his playground thinking that we are stronger or wiser now. We can’t feel that we know the deceits and power of alcohol abuse and drug addiction; but feel that we have enough control over that power and feel compelled or able to reenter the destructive world. Rather, we must continue to work our steps in confidence but maintain awareness of what lies out there, remembering the pain and devastation that alcohol and drug addiction brought into our lives.

At the same time we don’t want our past experiences to paralyze us. When you constantly take moral inventory of your life, dealing with the issues that got you there in the first place, it empowers you to look the disease straight in the eyes and use the recovery tools to overcome the temptations to use. Remember that life is very delicate and we must stay on the strong edge of our thinking as an alcoholic and drug addict is in recovery for life, and learns to live with addiction as if it were a chronic disease, similar to diabetes or asthma—it’s always there, but it can be managed.

Our dear friend Greg, although stricken with sadness over his passing, is a testament to the devastating power of alcohol and drug addiction even throughout recovery. We saw him come through the darkest years of his life so strong and determined to conquer this horrible monster of drug addiction. How we hate what happened and we hate alcohol and drug addiction even more for robbing us of such a wonderful young man and thus will continue to provide individualized and client-centered Christian drug abuse treatment (amongst other addiction treatment programs) and outpatient aftercare to ensure we don’t lose another friend to the monster.

The Bucket List

A little over a week ago a trending topic on the web-o-sphere was a story about Alice Pyne, a 15 year old girl with terminal cancer, writing a blog about all the things she hoped to do “before the illness got the better of her.” The blog started as a project amongst close friends, but in little time hit the masses and was publicized by the British Parliament, Katy Perry and many other celebrities urging people to respond to her desire that everybody be a bone marrow donor.

Would you put your “bucket list” out there, and how would people respond to what you hoped for?

Here is a life not stained or entrapped by drug addiction or alcoholism, but one that has been deprived of doing simple things and will be cut far shorter than anyone could hope for. Although Alice’s condition is beyond her control, we can all relate to the battle of wanting something and not being able to get it, or standing taller than our misfortunes and starting anew.

While we live lives that are dominated by drug addiction, our thought patterns get totally distorted and self-absorbed. Every thought, every action is centered around and geared into catering for our drug addiction. Our bucket list is horrid at this stage. What would it look like? Maybe: “Yeah, but I want to,” “Yeah, but I love her,” “Yeah but, it’s exciting,” “Yeah, but I need it,” “Yeah, but it won’t hurt anyone,” “Yeah but, this is my life”—a life full of excuses and wanting the wrong things.

If our addiction goes on for years, we can become outcasts from society. We are cut off from relationships and are unable to find acceptance from people. Isolation and loneliness are terribly painful, and they are not what God intended for us. It is essential for us to restore our relationships and connections with people if we are to emerge from our addictions and make a successful recovery. Once we can face and accept that we have been insane in these ways, we are closer to recognizing how desperately we need God’s touch to restore us. By committing to this we can begin to be free from the isolation and tortured thoughts and feels that accompany addiction.

Alice Pyne shared her deepest hopes by putting them on paper…It starts there. Take a moral inventory of your life followed by a list of all the things that we would like to do and because we were hindered in doing anything—make the choice to put our lives back together through treatment and be able to complete the second list—the bucket list.

“With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

The Key to Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery

Our society seems to be saturated with dishonesty that we slipstreamed into accepting as the norm. Don’t get me wrong, not to say we are all dishonest people, but we overwhelmingly associate dishonesty with the political world, the entertainment world, the sporting world, educational world and seriously, who trusts a car salesman. Unfortunately, honesty is an unpopular value these days.

Dishonesty is the area in our lives that overpowers an acceptance of our alcohol and drug addiction and, at the same time, it can be as addictive as a drug—catch 22? Dishonesty not only makes solutions hard to find, but it often leaves a person ignorant and unwilling to deal the problems themselves; it also destroys trust towards us and to others.

Lying can become a way of life. We find it easy to lie to our self as a way to pretend we don’t have a problem with alcoholism or drug addiction, or not accept the reality of our destructive path. We learn to cover up our addictions, our flaws or our defects of character, by becoming excellent liars. If we choose to face reality, we will see the unhappiness caused by our lies, and how they have hurt us and our loved ones. Only when we stop being dishonest about where we really are, can God begin to bring blessing and change into our life.

Think about this verse: “Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. (Psalm 34: 12 – 13)

Someone once told me, “a lie may take care of the present, but it has no future,” and much like the Bible verse implies, to live a happy, healthy and prosperous life we must avoid the present “quick-fix” slips of the tongue, especially when what we are lying about has such a grave impact on us and everyone that surrounds us—alcohol and drug addiction.

There are great benefits to honesty. What other virtue is accompanied by such promises? First, being honest with you is vital to recovery. Part of any successful Christian drug abuse program (or any drug rehab program) involves guarding our lips and our thoughts from lies that will hurt us and others. Secondly, honesty tends to make our behavior more thoughtful, you know as the old saying goes “think before you act,” and when we are honest with ourselves it truly beckons taking the time to think about our actions. Honesty is a way of life that we have to cultivate all the time. Leaning upon God to strengthen us and make us aware of our dishonesty will empower us to move towards successful alcohol and drug addiction recovery.

Addiction Recovery Through Song

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” - Proverbs 29: 18

It is imperative to set goals to achieve, milestones to work towards or to have a clear vision of where we want our future to lead. Unfortunately, our vision is the first thing robbed from us when imprisoned by alcohol abuse and drug addiction, and without proper treatment, we are sure to perish.

Alcohol and drug addiction treatment takes the time to recognize our lost dreams and works towards restructuring our destructive path into a more positive and hopeful direction.

This idea reminds me of a song by Michael Bolton called When I’m Back on My Feet Again. The song starts by declaring utter devastation in “the chains that bind me” and making the realization that he needs to make a change before his future is lost. He accepts his faults, and in accepting its difficulty is ready to break the chains, dry his tears, see the sun and get back on his feet again.

Bolton continues to sing about his hope for a rekindled faith in the future by patching the relationships he once had. “I will prowl down the streets again and they’ll look at me again and see that I am strong.” This is a valuable lesson for someone battling alcohol and drug addiction to carry with them—to rebuild a life lost to addiction one must learn to trust themselves to walk the streets without alcohol and drugs and trust in people to see them strong enough to do so. Without the guilt tearing at your heart, you can face people and hold your head up high. Yes, everybody has failed in one way or another. The difference is you recognize that failure and are ready to fight the odds…ready to get back on your feet again. And although it takes great strength to walk in the path of recovery, it is possible!

And you know what you’ll get when you reach your new destination of recovery? You’re “going to hear the children laughing” – and what a wonderful sound. Life is good and because you know the cost of losing everything, the laughter of children resounds with joy and health.

Recovery “might take time, but I’ll see it,” as Bolton proclaims in his lyrics… and he’s right! Recovery is a process, but with work through treatment, and the guidance from God, it can be achieved.

Keep God in your heart and your vision in front of you and you’ll get back on your feet again.

The Solution is in The Surrender

Do I have to be a Christian to partake in the Christian drug abuse program?

To answer this question we first have to answer what it is to be Christian? Is it a person who adheres to Christianity? Or is it accepting that God is real – believing that a relationship with God is important. Christianity is the largest religion in the world encompassing 85% of the US population, but it is also one of the most diverse.

By committing to a Christian drug abuse program, you have to accept that the framework of that program will be centered on the principles of the Bible and Christian living; however, the solution is in the surrender, it is in the willingness and the actions taken, it is not in the program itself.

When we are down and out, normally we all look inward and realize that we need somebody stronger than ourselves to “pull us out of our misery” or pain. We try to reach outside of ourselves—to a power greater than ourselves. You don’t have to be perfect to be a Christian either, because that would preclude everybody from that. We just need to constantly admit that we need God and that we have things in our lives that need to be addressed and dealt with. God hears and answers the cries of those who turn to him in distress.

Some would say “Freedom is not free,” meaning anything worth having is going to cost. In recovery it involves total commitment to working your program and then challenging yourself to grow. With struggle comes confusion. A good Christian drug abuse program cut’s the complexities down to size using the Bible as a manual to life just like a manual you would get when you purchase an appliance for your home. Most of us don’t really read the instructions when we get the appliance, but when we run into a problem, out comes the manual. What went wrong and what can I do to correct this? This applies to our whole life. None of us has “arrived” in perfection. We constantly need change because circumstances of life change. It is good to have a meaningful manual for our lives.

The Bible gives us the hope, direction, encouragement and truths of what God really thinks of us—His creation. He loves us so much that he is not willing to leave us as we are, in that state we have driven our lives to, with a sense of hopelessness driven by our addictions.

We are not alone, and believing that gives us the strength to progress in strength and hope.

You are welcome to be part of that journey of recovery, working towards the freedom you deserve no matter your beliefs coming into treatment. The journey is just beginning and is full of many ups and downs… Looking to God is a strong foundation in guiding you to successful addiction recovery.

Success is Almost in My Grasp

Thomas Edison was once interviewed and asked if he felt like a failure after 9,000 attempts in creating the light bulb. He promptly responded, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp."

Edison seems to have a good point. Why would I ever give up, when success is almost within grasp? The same goes for alcohol and drug addiction recovery. Many of us have flirted with relapse and others have fallen again into the trap of addiction…But why is this?

The question we need to ask ourselves is, “have I overlooked something in my life that I don’t want to deal with—or have I chosen to ignore something that could be relevant to my recovery?” In most cases we are unaware that certain things that have crossed our path have any bearing on how we have processed or handled our lives. The mystery in situations and experiences is where a developed and structured Christian drug abuse program can be beneficial.

The structure of a Christian Drug Abuse program through the Bible, 12 Steps and other spiritual guidance provides an inventory that shows–(a) What I’ve got (b)What I haven’t got and (c)What has to go. With the help of a professional Christian therapist, who knows how to help navigate through these issues, you are able to set realistic goals to overcome them.

To rebuild on anything the foundations always need to be inspected. Is it going to be hard? – Yes! But the rewards are so positive, good and certainly healthy. So, can you do it?—Absolutely.

“Mak[e] a fearless, ethical, moral and scriptural inventory of my entire life in order to uncover all sins, mistakes and character defects and to make a written list of every item uncovered.” It is huge but so courageous. Invite God to “Search me, O God and know my heart, test me, and know my anxious thoughts – Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of righteousness.” Psalm 139: 23-24

Successful addiction recovery “is almost in my grasp,” even if it takes that ten thousandth attempt to achieve ‘light.’