Knuckle Down....Buckle Down...Do It...Do It...Do It.

Isaiah 40:31
But those who trust IN the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Step #2 of the Twelve Missteps of life recovery:
"I can handle it (my addiction) by just trying harder or having more willpower."
Here again, in step #2, we see the insane thinking that tells us we don't need any outside help....all we have to do is try harder.
So we act in this manner....We try harder.
We fail.
"Maybe I need to just have more will power than I have had." 
So we "will" ourselves to not use or drink.
But we do any way.
Talk about feeling defeated, you are riding the lead horse in the parade of those who haven't any self worth. There is the perception that we are useless and hopeless and never will change. Yet we keep pluggin' away trying to figure out the best way to beat, or at least coexist, with our addiction.

Things won't change....
I mean really change...
Until you have become sick and tired of being sick and tired. Until you are ready to change. I've seen two types of people in addiction. Those who HAVE to change, and those who WANT to change. Both come at the problem knowing that something has to change in their lives. They cannot survive or thrive and keep using at the same time. But the people who have to change, no matter what the reason (Be it court or legal issues, or health issues) usually do not sustain recovery. Why? Because they are being forced to approach their problem. Kind of the old adage of leading a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. On the other hand, those who want to change have a higher possibility of making it. They are willing to follow the disciplines of recovery. They are willing to do what ever is asked of them. They realize that they are the problem, not the solution. Such a mindset will look for a POWER greater than themselves who could restore them to right thinking.

In the verse from Isaiah the very first qualification for real life is found in the words..."Those who trust in the Lord". In other words, this is the step that separated those who want to change from those who don't. Trust! The idea that God may in fact be who He claims He is, and will do what He has promised to do. We may not understand it. We may have a hard time rationalizing it out in our minds, but we know that what is offered is way better than what we are currently experiencing in our life. So, I trust!

Father Joseph Martin, well known advocate for recovery, and a recovering alcoholic himself, use to equate addiction in this manner.

Being an alcoholic is like getting up every morning, and climbing

in the ring with the heavyweight champion of the world.
Every day you get your brains beat out,and every night

you go home trying to figure out how you can keep

from getting your brains beat out.

You do this day after day after day.
And each day ends the same.
You are beaten to a pulp.

But one day, the light comes on and you see it.
"I don't have to get into the ring!"

Today, you don't have to climb into the addiction ring. There is hope, and a solution to your problem 

Hope has a name...
And that name is Jesus.

God on you...

michael b.