The Old Testament tells the story of Esther, a Hebrew woman who became queen and rescued her people. She had three assets that God gave her to fulfill her destiny. She was intelligent, physically attractive, and had an engaging personality. Because of these qualities, “Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. She won…
If you’ve been in recovery for more than 30 seconds, you are familiar with The Serenity Prayer, written by Reinhold Niebuhr. You know the first part of the prayer by memory. But the second part of the prayer is equally impactful. “Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship…
On September 7, 1888, Edith Eleanor Mclean was the first baby to be placed in an incubator. Developed by French obstetrician Stephane Tarnier, this was the first attempt to preserve the life of a premature baby. Though very costly at the time, the new invention was quickly embraced, out of respect for the lives of…
If you live for people’s approval, you will die from their rejection. Paul wrote, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of God” (Galatians 1:10). I’ll say it again.…
Mark Twain said, “I can live two weeks on a good compliment.” I read somewhere that the average person needs to hear 14 statements of personal encouragement each day. Rarely does that actually happen. Wise old Solomon understood the human experience well when he said, “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and…
Let me define successful recovery with three words. Keep. Moving. Forward. God says this about his children: “I will not remember their sins” (Isaiah 43:25). Do what God does. Move on from your past. Why? Because you can’t write the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. Martin Luther King,…
When Microsoft launched Windows ME (Millennial Edition), the “system restore” feature caused a stir. If your computer suffered a system meltdown, you could select “system restore” and reset your computer to a point in the past. Problem solved. Everything you had somehow messed up on your computer returned to the way it was at that…
Your biggest sex organ is your brain. The road to your next relapse begins in your head. Forget about controlling your body until you learn to control your mind. It’s their thought lives that get sex addicts into trouble. Ralph Waldo Emerson described the process brilliantly. “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow…
About 750 years before Christ, there was a man named Amos, who was a full-time fig grower and part-time preacher. Though he was from Judah, God led him to prophecy to the people of Israel, who were living in bondage to a foreign empire. He brought them this message directly from God: “I will bring…
How many hours do you need to work on recovery? That’s a question I don’t hear much. I hear these questions a lot: What must I do to stay sober? Does sobriety get easier with time? What is the difference between sobriety and recovery? Let’s tackle that first question, though. How many hours of weekly…