There is a new addition to the Sober on Purpose Podcast interviews. As we were wrapping up this first segment on codependency, I contacted another podcaster, Tres Adames, Director of Arizona Christian Counseling and host of Ask a Christian Counselor. While many families struggling with addiction seek counseling, it is often hard to know what…
Codependency
Feeling Stressed About the Addict in Your Family?
Al-Anon describes alcoholism as a family disease. In fact, each alcoholic is said to affect five other people. Most of the time these are family members. Our lives are so busy, sometimes it can feel hard to breathe. Add a person(s) recovering from addiction in the mix and we feel like we are drowning. Reverse…
Why Codependency Turns You Away From God
Could you hear me, if I told you codependency is only a symptom? The way you choose to respond to a relationship or depend on a relationship is learned. Learned really? Yes! You learned it really early in your life with your primary caregivers. Now as with all learned behaviors you can blame, shame and…
Codependent: What is That?
Are you codependent? Yes. We all have a dependence on others. When does it turn ugly? When does dependence turn from normal to destructive? Wait! Didn’t God supply Adam with Eve because He felt it was not good for man to be alone? (Genesis 2:22) Aren’t we supposed to live in community with other people…
How To Make An Easy Step 8 Amends List
In making an amends list, we review our humble willingness to make a real life change. Just like Step 4, Step 8 requires putting pen to paper. Making the Amends List is separate from actually making amends to people you have harmed. What is the difference between “making an amends” and saying “I am sorry”? I am…
I am Not My Addiction: God Says I Am
I am not my addiction. I am a child of God. Hello, My name is Tanya and I am a codependent. Hello, my name is Sally and I am an alcoholic. Phrases so iconic in our culture that anyone can finish the sentence for you. God never design me to be anything but his child. When…
Calling An Addiction Intervention Specialist
I just did it one day. I called the Addiction Intervention Specialist. lAfter reading Why Don’t They Just Quit: Hope for Families Struggling with Addiction, I just picked up the phone and called Joe Herzanek. I sat on that ordinary day with no big crisis looming and listened to Joe talk truth to me. Joe introduced me in his…
The Year Addiction Stole Christmas
It all feels like an upside-down fairy tale as I share with you about the year addiction stole Christmas. In a book for children,Beamer’s World, addiction is personified as a “joker” style villain. Not super scary, he is a creepy and sinister looking man that seems to appear everywhere. Addiction feels like this, lurking in…