Experts at the Mayo Clinic have identified a key ingredient to successful recovery from any addiction. Friends. They write, “Friendships can have a major impact on your health and well-being, but it’s not always easy to develop or maintain friendships.” The famed clinic shares several benefits of strong friendships: The Bible is pro-friends. Paul wrote,…
Jadav Payeng was tired of watching the local wildlife suffer for lack of shade, so he did something about it. Payeng planted a single bamboo tree. Then he planted a second tree. And then a third. Payeng would eventually plant enough trees to become a thickly wooded forest covering 1,360 acres. Payeng’s job was not…
I have endured a few scares in my lifetime. When I was eight, I ran through a glass door, resulting in deep cuts all over my body. At 27, the doctor said I probably had a serious cancer in my back. (I didn’t.) At 55, I rode Tower of Terror at Disney World. At 62,…
Recovery is all about looking forward. You can’t move forward while looking back. God’s Word says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18). I love that: “Remember not the former things.” That is…
“Do it again on the next verse, and people will think you meant it.” – Chet Adkins What’s true in music is true in life. When a singer repeats the same line over and over, it becomes memorable. We get the point – he is sending a clear message. Repetition communicates sincerity and importance. It’s…
One of the best ways to secure your recovery is to help others to secure theirs. May we be like the psalmist who promised God, “Then will I teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you” (Psalm 51:13). When we encourage others in their recovery, and they respond, God awaits, full of mercy…
Paul wasn’t talking about recovery, but he could have been when he said, “It does not depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Romans 9:16). Augustine said, “Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to his love, and the future to his providence.” You have trusted your own instincts,…
Don’t regret the hard times. Everything God has allowed, he will use. He will never let your most painful moments go to waste. And those times will not last forever. Jack Hyles offered good insight when he said, “Laughter means nothing unless there have been tears.” I’m guessing that along your journey of addiction or…
People have been looking for ways to blow money since the Lydian Lion coin was created 2,700 years ago. In slightly more modern times, tourists couldn’t resist the urge to ride the world’s first roller coaster, even if it cost them something. Actually, it wasn’t supposed to be a roller coaster. When tourists witnessed rail…
On this day in history, June 14, 1789, a preacher named Elijah Craig introduced bourbon to America. The high reverend was the first to distill whiskey from maize. He named his concoction “bourbon” because he lived in Bourbon Country, Kentucky. If you google “Elijah Craig sermons” you will come up dry. But if you google…