Cutting Away the Excess Baggage



It can be painful to cut away those things from our past, but very necessary.
I was going thru airport security last week and I got all the way thru security and began my redressing process. When I went to put my belt back on, I pulled on the buckle to latch it and….snap…I broke my buckle as it detached from the leather part of the belt.
So now, I have no belt, & I’m running thru the airport trying to keep my pants from falling off especially since I had recently focused my recovery on my eating and exercise habits & lost some weight.
Here are some lessons I learned from this situation as it relates to my recovery:

1.       Sometimes, like a belt, I can look like I have a strong support network, but in reality the people around me are just decoys to make me look like I have it “all together”. Looking strong doesn’t mean I am.
2.       It wasn’t until I started dealing with the junk in my life and started losing some of the unwanted baggage, that I realized how miserable I was before. Just because it’s familiar doesn’t make it good.
3.       It is in the middle of my recovery journey that having support is even more important.
4.       Change can feel awkward and develop unfamiliar situations because we have gotten so used to our life as we know it, but stay the course and you will be glad you did.
5.       Sometimes the old stuff will detach from our life. At first it can feel like a very bad thing, leaving me feeling helpless and uncomfortable but, God is molding me into following His purpose for my life.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Rodney Holmstrom

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 Days Of CR Christmas

Image
One of our great leader Monica rewrote the lyrics to this old Christmas song to tie into the 12 steps. We had a lot of fun singing it and love that it keeps the focus on the 12 steps thru Christmas. Great job Monica! On the first day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the notion it’s not about me; On the second day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the third day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fourth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my inventory, will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fifth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me On the sixth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, desire to be humble, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the
Read more

Why do we introduce ourselves?

One of the things that might confuse a newcomer coming into this great ministry is the way we introduce our self and do so every time we meet in a Step Group and/or Open discussion group. The question that often comes up is; “Why in the world would we have to introduce our self every time we come together? I mean, we all know each other don’t we? We all know what the other is struggling with right? So why should I have to state my main issue I am dealing with? These are all logical questions and I think the below content from Tina at Saddleback might help shed some light on this. As you may already know, in our small groups we ask our Leaders to introduce themselves with this statement: “Hi my name is _______; I am a believer who struggles with________.” We ask our leaders to keep it short; to stick to one or two primary areas of recovery. We ask them not to state a host of recovery issues and character defects, etc… especially because we do not run recovery specific groups for cha
Read more

Verbal Reality--Why you can't believe an addict and what you can do as a co-dependent

I recently came across the below article when websurfing for information about verbal reality, a concept a friend introduced me to last year during a time I was trying to figure out is someone was telling me the truth or not. The below article is specifically for Porn addiction, and comes from a very good website, but I've found it true with all addictive behaviors. If you've never heard of Verbal Reality, and you question whether or not your spouse is being honest, this is a good way to help you sort it out, and a great tool for your recovery. ______ Consider This. (from http://www.pornaddicthubby.com/Help-For-The-Addict.html) Addicts of any kind live in a "verbal reality." This means if they say it, it is true and if they say it passionately enough even they believe it is really true. Men who have an addiction to porn live in a verbal reality. A sex addict believes what he is saying while he is saying it. Your most helpful tool in dealing with verbal reality is look
Read more