For those of you who know anything about addictions, this testimony is very encouraging. Being three years joyful and sober after twenty years of crack addiction is HUGE.
“My appreciation story is this. I have been addicted to the drug crack probably for 20 plus years. It has destroyed every relationship that I ever had….When I use any type of drug I cannot stop, and this includes alcohol. I’ve spent times on Skid row in los angeles and las vegas, and have been through many many programs, including the union rescue mission…, the los angeles mission, salvation army, teen challenge, first step, AA, Na, CA. and any other A program you can think of. My dad left when I was one and my mom tried to commit suicide shortly after this. She owned a bar and worked 18 hour days, so to say the first couple of years of my life were not a healthy developmental period would be an understatement. I started restarting, and at first it was to save my marriage. I actually found you [note that the writer is referring to Ed Khouri] quite entertaining, and was just going through the motions.
The Immanuel process was when it started to change. God took me back to when my mom tried to commit suicide and showed me He was there, that He kept her alive, and that He allowed me to spend time with her. And to bookend it, He was the one who allowed me to be her living will person and to let her wishes be carried out. That showed me that I was loved and that I was not just an addict. Through the appreciation stories, the quieting myself, and the relationships I’ve built, Joy has come into my life and my brain has been healed. I was suicidal and on antidepressant medications, but through what God has given you [again, the writer is writing to Ed Khouri, and he’s referring to the combination of the Restarting program and Immanuel emotional healing], I want to live and am not on any medications. I have been joyfully sober for over 3 years now, which is by far the longest I have been #1 Joyful, and #2 sober.”
Excerpted from an e-mail this person sent to Ed Khouri.