Abstinence Increases as We Share Our Experience, Strength and Hope with Others

abstinence, Addiction, Keep Coming Back, Recovery, writing

My abstinence has changed a lot over the years. What and how and when I eat now is nothing compared to what and how and when I ate 25 years ago. If I had met my current self then, I would have been so impressed with me. The kind of abstinence I have now would have...

Abstinence From the Inside Out

abstinence, Change of Heart, Recovery

When you’re doing abstinence from the inside out, you are hardly even aware of doing it. Why? Because you’re not actually doing anything! Instead, it’s more like you find yourself doing it! Automatically. Easily. There is no white-knuckling, hanging on by your...

Slips

abstinence, Change of Heart, Recovery

Slips. Backsliding. Falling off the wagon. Whatever you call them, it happens to all of us. So what do we do when we find we’ve ebbed away from full recovery? We prayerfully acknowledge that we’ve slipped. It’s hard to do, but do it we must. And prayerfully is the...

Abstinence: It Takes Time

abstinence

We think that the mighty change of heart is going to mean an immediate mighty change of habit. The truth is that there is a distance to go between the heart, which is the seat of our desires and willingness, and the brain, which is the seat of our habits.  We often...

God Changes Us From the Inside-Out

abstinence, Change of Heart, Recovery

The inclinations of my heart are changing—from the inside out. Leaving behind my addiction is not an exercise of willpower or even a deliberate choice. It’s deeper than that. It’s simply a feeling of not being interested or inclined to do the thing that for years and...

It Isn’t About Abstinence

abstinence, Tools

When someone first comes to a recovery program, they put a lot of emphasis on abstinence—refraining from whatever it is that caused them to seek recovery in the first place. But at some point in a recovery process that is based on faith in Jesus Christ and His...