How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) by June Hunt

nausea, sweating, shaking, and anxiety
    – Intense craving —developing a pattern of compulsive substance use
     
    Other common indicators include:

    – Loss of control— failing at attempts to decrease or stop the substance abuse
    – Targeting activities— choosing events only where alcohol or drugs are available
    – Continual substance abuse —continuing to use despite negative ramifications
    • Withdrawal occurs when the distress caused by a lessening or lack of the drug:
    – Severely disrupts your daily life
    – Renders meaningless normally meaningful activities, such as work and relationships
    – Drains the emotions until all joy is gone
    The prophet Isaiah describes such a time when
     
“no longer do they drink wine with a song…In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished”
    (I SAIAH 24:9,11).
Responsibility for Drug Dependence
    Q UESTION : “How can I be held responsible for my drug dependence? After all, most drugs are addictive and cause the addiction.”
    A NSWER : Your drug dependence has been created both by your choice to use drugs and by the drugs themselves. Intoxication results from the makeup of the drug you choose to use and the way it is metabolized by your body. The only sure way to avoid addiction is to avoid addictive drugs altogether.
     
“How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine”
    (1 S AMUEL 1:14).
II. C HARACTERISTICS OF A LCOHOL AND D RUG A BUSE
    Now consider another all-American hero: In 2010 alone, he was selected as one of baseball’s all-star players, voted the American League’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), and Player of the Year. 12
    During his growing-up years, the star outfielder for the Texas Rangers couldn’t have been more “squeaky clean.” Josh Hamilton never neglected to give his grandmother a kiss before each high school game. And while his teammates partied after each game, he was home with mom and dad.
    Through all four years of high school, neither drugs nor alcohol entered Josh’s body, but that all changed in the spring of 2001. 13 Two major setbacks stalled his promising career in major league baseball, and the fallout almost proved fatal.
    It’s as though Josh had written these words:
     
“When I expected good, then evil came; When I waited for light, then darkness came”
    (J OB 30:26 NASB ).
A. What Checklist Helps Discover a Chemical Dependency? 14
    The changes in Josh Hamilton’s lifestyle and behavior read like a checklist for discovering chemical dependency, with almost every box checked yes .
    The new crowd of friends—found in a tattoo parlor—was a far cry from the fresh, innocent faces of his youth. In their company, Josh took his first drink of alcohol, which eventually culminated in drinking a bottle of whiskey every day. And in their company, he experimented with his first drug, which culminated in countless encounters with a crack pipe. 15
    Josh Hamilton, the schoolboy pitcher who could fire off balls to the plate at 96 mph and who once swung a bat clocked at an incredible 110 mph—Josh Hamilton, the first high school player to be the #1 draft pick since Alex Rodriguez in 1993—became tragically addicted to both alcohol and cocaine.
    “I never used one without the other,” Josh remembers. “When I’d get mad, I’d go use. When I’d get sad, I’d go use.” 16 Josh abused drugs and alcohol to numb his painful feelings, but later realized “they’d always be there the next day.” 17
    This checklist will help reveal whether a person is chemically dependent:
     
    C Do you conceal your habit from others?
    H Do you hope to get help for your habit?
    E Is your employment affected because of your habit?
    M Is your memory impaired because of your habit?
    I Are you intoxicated periodically ?
    C Are you criticized unfairly (in your opinion) because of your habit?
    A Do you assume you can avoid problems by using the substance?
    L Do you lose relationships as a result of your