Healing From the Inside Out—A Metaphor

Change of Heart, Recovery

I had an old van once. It was a very old van that would hold 14 people—twelve of them children. You can imagine that with twelve kids running around and through and sometimes over and under that van, it ended up with a lot of dents and scrapes and dings. It looked...

There Is No Other Way But The Way of Imperfection (Part 2)

Christ, Perfectionism, Recovery

Read Part 1 Yesterday, we discussed how recovery often comes in an ebb and flow pattern of sanity and serenity. We find peace through Christ, and then we wander off to try life on our own again. I have to confess that it has been very hard for me to accept that is is...

A Gift Beyond Compare

Recovery

With today being Pioneer Day, a day we celebrate the long, cross-country journey of the early Saints, I started thinking about how difficult that would have been. Here they are, setting off into an unsettled wilderness, not really knowing where they were going to end...

Sincerely

Change of Heart, Recovery

“And you are sincere—heartbreakingly sincere. But repeat them you do. And you do. And you do.” (Karlene B, He Did Deliver Me from Bondage, p. iii) The word that really stands out to me in this quote is “sincere.” I can’t tell you how sincerely I want to behave...

God Changes Us From the Inside-Out

abstinence, Change of Heart, Recovery

The inclinations of my heart are changing—from the inside out. Leaving behind my addiction is not an exercise of willpower or even a deliberate choice. It’s deeper than that. It’s simply a feeling of not being interested or inclined to do the thing that for years and...

We Are Only As Sick As Our Secrets

Recovery

Secrecy fuels addiction. Every addict knows this. Every Latter-day Saint knows this, too. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us, “By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them” (D&C 58:43). (emphasis added) If we...