Addiction Cycle

Over last month and half we have been talking about recovery from an addiction or brokenness. There are some of you that complete agree that they have an addiction! There some of you that do not think you have addiction. And some of you are in between.

So how would you define the word addiction?... Addiction is an unmanageable pressure to repeat a behavior regardless of its negative consequences.

What can you be addicted to?..Drugs, Alcohol, Sex, Money, Control, Food, Gambling, TV, Porn, Coffee, Cigarettes, Work, Sleep, Exercise, Computer/Internet, Materialism, Video Games, Co-dependent, Anger, Anxiety, Appearance, etc…

Did you find yourself in that list?...I know that I did! I am addicted to CONTROL, ANXIETY and WORK! These three addictions at times have crippled me! Hurt the people in my life! And took the place of God in my life!

Today we are going to look at Physical and Emotional Triggers that starts us down the path of our addiction cycle. An addiction cycle is sequence of events that happen over and over again.

Let’s look at the Addiction Cycle:
1)Emotional Trigger- Is a thought or situation that leads you to crave your addiction.
2)Craving – is strong desire for addiction
3)Ritual – this is what and how you obtain your addiction
4)Using - Doing your addiction
5)Guilt – Feelings that make you regret or be remorseful about using again

But we can identify those triggers and break the cycle of addiction. Remember tiggers can be very different from person to person, but generally fall into two categories:
1. Physical Triggers (people, places, things)
2. Emotional Triggers (feelings, thoughts, circumstances)

Using the categories of physical and emotional triggers, we can gain valuable insight into our addiction after giving in to sin. Looking at it differently, you could say that it is discovering what the enemy used to gain access to our lives to start the addiction cycle. Furthermore, over time we will see patterns emerging. This information about our addiction is absolutely necessary if we are to find real, lasting freedom from our addiction sin.

Holistic Recovery

Mark 12: 29-31, “29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

The five areas that Jesus said we need to focus on when loving God, what are they? Physical (Strength), Heart (Emotional), Soul (Spiritual), Mind (Mind) and Love Others (Service)

1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “16Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
What are we?...What does it mean to be God’s temple?...If I told you that a very important person was come to your apartment or room tonight, what would you do?...I know that I would clean my house and make sure that everything was very in it right place. We learn in this passage the very Spirit of God dwells within us! So from our earlier passage in Mark and with this passage 1 Corinthians we learn that God is interested in our physical bodies. So today we are going to look at the physical (Temple of God) and emotional(heart).
Let’s first begin with looking at our physical bodies. How many of you exercise?...How many times a week?...How many of you hate to exercise?...How many of you love exercise. Did you know that individuals that workout have a higher success rate in recovery 70%! Did you also know that working out lowers stress and anxiety levels. And increase your self-esteem! I love when science proves what God tells us in the BIBLE! So this morning, we are going to work out together. I am going to give you just a few exercises that you can do in your apartment or even outside in the beautiful garden that Bpop designed.

Okay, everybody up and we are going to do a short work-out!

STRETCHING: WARM-UP (2.5 MINUTES)
Leg Kicks (1 minute), Knee Circles (1 minute), Arms Swings (30 seconds)

CARDIO EXERCISE (15 MINUTES)
High Knees (1 minute), Squats (2 Minutes), Lunge (2 Minutes), Push-ups (1 Minute), Planks (1 Minute), REST (2 Minutes), Jump Rope (2 Minutes), Sumo Squats (2 Minutes), Sit-ups (2 Minutes), Reverse Crunch (2 Minutes)

STRETCHING: COOL DOWN (2.5 MINUTES)
Pretzel Stretch (1.5 minute), Arm Stretch (1 minute),
You need to work-out a minimum of 3 times a week! Find a friend to workout with because that will help you to remember to work-out!! Remember to drink lots of water!!! It is important to keep your body hydrated!! Andy and I would be more than happy to workout with you guys!

Celebrate Recovery

It’s been a really busy time since our last post. The holidays flew by and so did Grant’s visit that we enjoyed. During this time, we have had 1 wedding each month and had several teaching opportunities. The thing I want to focus on this post is the recovery program that we have started at The Well.

We have been busy preparing for this Celebrate Recovery program for 2 month, and finally we got it kicked off. We took a 1 year program and turned it into a 6 months meeting 2 mornings a week. We are finishing week 3, and it has been a great time so far. Of course, when you’re dealing with brokenness, it can get difficult and a little bit ugly. So far it has been going better than expected. We have 30 people divided into 5 groups (4 women’s groups and 1 men’s group) going through the program. It is a good chance for the participants (and staff for that matter) to work through the hurts, habits, and hang-ups that plague their lives. So please continue to pray for us and the work here in Thailand. Pray also that lives will be changed as the healing of God comes to this place and in all things may the glory of God be spread.

May God receive all the glory!