I hate to tell you this, but there is something you need, whether you are the addict or the spouse. You can’t really move forward without it. Patience. The Bible promises hope, “if we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:25). Dr. Judith Orloff wrote, “With patience, you’re able to step back and regroup instead…
Receive God’s Word without my comment. Jeremiah 18:1-6 “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping…
A rusty gate, a broken-down car, an old house. To most of us, they look past their prime, beyond hope, and pretty much worthless. But to the person in the restoration business, these are not problems; they are opportunities. The same is true of each of us. The depth of your fall does not limit…
Paul Williams said, “You know you’re an alcoholic when you misplace things for like a decade.” Sadly, it often takes years – or decades – for us to seek the help we really need. I have been to over 700 recovery meetings, and I have yet to meet the man who said, “The day I…
A friend recently sent me this quote: “Expectations are premeditated resentments.” That is powerful. Said another way, we can’t tie our self-perception to the perception of others. Here’s the thing – not everyone will understand your journey, and that’s fine, because it isn’t their journey to understand. I stopped explaining myself when I realized people…
Every person who has ever lived (except Jesus) has suffered from the same flaw – cognitive bias. Cognitive bias is defined as “the systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion.” Because we all have cognitive bias, James said,…
How can you recognize an addiction? More directly, how can you recognize your addiction? Jesus offered a really simple standard: “You shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:6). So let me suggest three fruits of sex addiction. If these characterize your life, well, there’s your answer. Sex dominates your thought life. Your sexual activities…
One of the keys to lasting recovery is to never quit learning. Aristotle said, “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” And Henry Ford said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether he is 20 or 80.” A really smart guy named Solomon spoke from experience when he said, “Let the…
A wealthy man called three repairmen to his house to bid on rebuilding a fallen fence. The first man measured the fence, calculated the hours it would take to do the job, then told the homeowner his price – $800. The second repairman measured the fence, did the calculations, and offered his bid – $700.…
Mark Twain said, “October is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.” The Bible says, “We have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining…