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.’

Giving Yourself to a Higher Power

Have you made a decision to not use drugs or alcohol? Did you then find yourself using anyway, and not understand why you couldn’t listen to yourself in the first place?

“I now see that I, of myself am powerless—unable to control (manage) my life by myself!”

That takes tremendous courage to admit and recognize that we are powerless. How did we come to that revelation? Human nature does not willingly want to hand over control to anybody, so how did I come to that decision? How long did it take and what did it take to get me there?

Are those questions ever answered – Yes!

You see it takes so much from us to admit this but from God’s perspective, He has never given up on us… Never! No matter how awful and desperate our lives have become, He will pick us up and rebuild, remold and refashion our lives.

Looking at the video extracts from the Japan disaster one could almost ask “is it possible that anything can be rebuilt there, will it ever look the same?” From many disasters we see something more beautiful come from them. Drug addiction brings devastation to lives, much like natural disasters, because it destroys everything beautiful about our lives. Yet, hope for a more beautiful outcome resides in the Word of God, and starts with recognizing the damage we are causing.

Once we recognize how helpless we are to fight our alcohol and drug addiction, we must look outside ourselves. We must look to God for the power we need. He is available to help us as we seek to rebuild our life destroyed by the drug abuse. Once admitting our powerlessness, we can follow God’s program for godly living.

This is where committing ourselves to a Christian drug abuse program will be a tremendous guide to successful alcohol and drug addiction recovery. A structured drug rehab program, like The Recovery Place’s, can restore our self-acceptance, self-worth and help us learn to forgive ourselves and others. Once we have made that decision to turn our life over to God, we must consciously choose to follow his way for a guide through successful addiction recovery. We need to continually reassess our progress, taking a regular moral inventory of our life. The tools we need to assist us on the road to recovery are more clearly defined and guided by professional therapists, who themselves know God and truly believe His ability and willingness to help us. Their own lives are testimonies to that reality.

Obedience to God’s program is one of the requirements for spiritual growth, but how can we lead a clean, innocent life like he wants us to? We have already admitted that we are powerless over our addiction; now, through the structure of a Christian drug abuse program we can continue the journey through God’s Word. God not only asks us to live a godly life, he also provides us with the power (and tools) to do it.

Philippians 2: 13

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and power to do what pleases him.”