WOW is all I can say. Yesterday Dec 26th, 2015 made 8 years being sober after 19 years of addictions. I still sit here in awe at what God did for me 8 years ago. The first 30 days was rough but after that God took the desire away. I don’t know why I don’t struggle each day like most addicts, but I am very thankful that I don’t. I believe this is a part of why God wants my message out there because my message is that of healing of the mind and spirit from God! It is a story of redemption!
I started writing my first book yesterday too about my 19-year addiction story. I wrote 2000 words yesterday and 2000 words today for a total of 4000 words. The goal is to get to 50,000 words as somewhere around that number is your average 200-page book. I am very excited about this.
Next year we plan on speaking at churches and groups on this issue to so the book ties completely into all of that. The goal is to get the message out that God can turn your mess around and have you share an inspiring mess. He can turn your test into a great testimony. He can turn your past into something magnificent. You have to allow him to work in and through you, though. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the very thing from their past they are hiding is the very thing that God wants to use to change lives.
I have learned a lot these 8 years being sober. I plan on talking about some of them in the book because I learned some valuable lessons through my addictions. People ask me if I could go back and not take my first drink would I? I have to say I would not because my addictions made me the man I am today. Without them, I would not have my story. Without them, my life would have turned out different which means I probably would not have my wife and for sure not our son. I love them both so everything worked out the way it needed to in order to get me right where I am today.
I can’t promise you that God will take your addictions away the way he took mine away, but I hope and pray that you experience what I have because living without my addictions has been so amazing. God helps people the way he sees fit. because my story is different than most addict stories, I know without a doubt that he wants me to speak and write about this because anything is possible through God! He is the healer of all and he can heal the mind and spirit if he chooses that way. Yes, he also may help you through things like AA and Celebrate Recovery! I am not knocking those organizations because they have saved thousands if not millions of lives.
What I am saying is not to always think in the box. God will take you out of your box in order to show people that this happened only because of him. No one could convince me that God didn’t take my desire away because I remember those 19 years like it were yesterday. I remember the heartache and the struggles on a daily basis. I remember how much those addictions held me back fro life. I remember the first marriage that I destroyed and almost destroyed my 2nd but thank God everything changed before that happened.
If you are struggling, ask God to help give you the strength to beat it. Ask him to guide you on how he wants you to beat it. Ask him to give you the wisdom to know which route to go. Ask him to take the desire for your addiction away. Ask him to bring people in your life that care that can pour into you and become not only great mentors to you but also friends. AMEN!
Be sure to go read a part of my story Click Here
If you want to help us spread my addiction story then Click Here
Living a God-Inspired Life,
Chris Benton