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Last week, this question was sent to me via our text Q and A.  How do you get rid of addictions? First, understand we all have addictions. The difference is that some of us can hide ours or we are addicted to things that our culture says are good things. Many people around you are addicted to coffee. “I can go without coffee!” Maybe so, but in the process, you will have a headache for a couple days and/or feel sluggish in the mornings until your system is “detoxed.” If you have a physiological reaction to ceasing the ingestion of a chemical, you were addicted. Personally, I am a workaholic. I can work all day, every day. I will neglect God, my wife, and my kids in order to work if I allow myself because I gain a huge amount of self-approval and I get all kinds of affirmation from those around me when I work and work and work. This is one of those culturally celebrated addictions. We never hear someone boasting about all the extra time he or she has but it is a badge of honor to be busy. The “high” I get from “getting things done” and hearing “well done” is a drug to me. I need to practice self-discipline and say “no” to unhealthy work habits. Second, you never “get rid of” an addiction. You will go into recovery and be sober but you will always have the potential to be addicted to the same level you are now and more. That is not a bad thing – it just is. I would rather have you celebrate being a recovering addict as a sober person than hide from that reality only to find yourself using again. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to his friends in Rome writes, “It is not the good I want to do that I do but it is the wrong I don’t want to do that I do. Who will save me? Jesus?” Paul admits who he is and is thrilled that Jesus is there to rescue and redeem. Find an AA or NA group – or a group that is about your specific addiction. RP can help you with that. We have over two dozen AA, NA, and Porn Addiction recovery groups that meet on or near our Moran Park Campus weekly. There is a group for you at whatever time you need. Please let us help you find one. Admit you are an addict and find a mentor to walk with you. You need to be able to call a friend anytime day or night when you are tempted to use your particular “drug.”  A mentor (or sponsor) is one who has been there and knows how he or she journeyed and can advise. This is a humbling action – admitting to someone that you need help and that you can’t do it alone. It is also the bravest thing you will do – you will let someone else in where the hurt is so they can help heal and bring hope. Give up trying to “make it work” yourself and release all you are and have to Jesus. There is much work to do to build a “sober life.” As you ask for forgiveness, change your peer group, forgive others and yourself, begin to mentor someone else, and see life through sober eyes, you will need to feel forgiven and live knowing you are a child of the King. Outer healing only takes place following inner healing. That comes when you own and enjoy the forgiveness and joy that comes as you grow in Jesus – think, love, serve, and live more and more like Jesus every day. In my opinion – work the 12 steps knowing that your “higher power” is our loving and gracious Heavenly Father and that our community is the Church of Jesus, living and moving and serving as guided by the Holy Spirit. Know there are many, many people here at RP who are recovering addicts.  Some lost everything before they began to recover. Some avoided that scene but journeyed through hurt and pain to get to health. I would love to introduce you to some of them. They can walk with you and guide you and cause you to find your way to sobriety.