I’m reading the LDS Family Services Addiction Recovery Program: A Guid to Addiction Recovery and Healing guidebook today and wanted to share my "action step" answers.
Step 1 is all about Honesty . Some of the highlights I got from today’s reading were the following:
Admit that you, of yourslf, are powerless to overcome your addictions and that your life has become unmanageable.
Many of us began our addictions out of curiosity…Many began this path when barely older than children…’Addiction surrenders later freedom to choose. Through chemical means, one can literally become disconnected fom his or her own will’ (Conference Report, Oct. 1988, 7; Ensign , Nov. 1988, 7)
Rarely do people caught in addictive behaviors admit to being addicted…With each act of dishonesty, we [bind] ourselves with ‘flaxen cords’ than soon become as strong chains (2 Nephi 26:22).
…begin by acknoledging your unwilingness and considering the costs of your addiction. You can list what is importan to you. look at your family and social relationships, your relationship to God, your spiritual strngth, your ability to help and bless others, your health. Then look for contradictions between what you believe in and hope for and your behavior. Consider how your actions undermine what you value. You can pray that the Lord will help you see yourself and your life as He sees it – with all your divine potential – and what you risk by continuing in your addiction.
A recognition of what you lose by indulging in your addiction can help you find the desire to stop.
These were just a few of the things that really stuck out today. Now here are some of the Action Step questions and my answers:
Encompassed by temptations
(See 2 Nephi 4:18-21) Do you feel encompased or trapped? When do you feel this way most often?
Yes, I have felt encompassed and trapped from time to time. I usually feel this way late at nkght when I’m on the computer and I’m tired, stress, overwhelmed, mad or all of the above. I also feel this way after I have sinned – I feel Satan has bound me and has taken the uppper hand on my agency; I feel I’ve sunk in the a pit of despair and that I will have a hard time getting out – especially since I’ve been there before and know how hard it is to get out.
What situations or feelings weakened you so you gave in to your addiction?
- Stress
- idleness
- fear of the unknown
- being tired
- being in an isolated place with no one around
- loneliness
- anger and frustration
- feeling like I’m already not worthy, why not continue to sin
When Nephi felt overwhelmed, in whom did he place hs trust? What can you do to place more trust in the Lord?
He put his trust in God. I can put more trust in the Lord by studying and applying His words on a consistent basis. I can talk to Him more often and more deeply. I can ask for His help whenever I need it, not just in the morning and at night. I can ask for forgiveness more often. I can serve others and "lose myself in the service of others". I can simply have a desire to trust in Him more.
"I know that man is nothing" (see Moses 1:10)
How did Moses describe himself as compared to God?
That he was nothing, weak. He’d never realized this before. I think this is interesting – it’s stating that I can’t do this on my own – I can’t overcome my addiction to pornography, masturbation and lust without God’s help. I am WEAK. Without God and the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I won’t be able to get over these addictions.
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