May I say that scripture from the bible, especially psalms, has helped me through many a bout of physical and emotional trouble.
I;ve been through seven years pluw of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and its a chore to try and get better.  Through prayer almost all of my symptoms disappeared, but getting off the duragesic patch is tough.  Not at all being judgemental, but faith has pulled a lot of us through when some who didn't use their faith didn't quite make it.
I hope the best for each of us, and that is most definitly my prayer this morning.

Well I am glad I brought a smile to your face! Also am glad to hear you are doing well.

I am doing ok also...struggling but day by day...

Huggs to you!
Tracy

Awesome post..gives me something to ponder on today. Looking forward to seeing you tonight!

Huggs
Tracy

I'm doing well, Tracy. How are you doing?  Your post brought a smile to my face.

I take it from my brief review of recent posts (above) that there's been some fighting going on in here.  I believe I'm like you - it makes me sad to see it.  I am pleased to see, however, that I no longer have a need to jump in the middle of it - despite the fact that I used to LIVE in the middle of it (creating it if I couldn't find it).  

Back to work : )

Just wanted to say HI and glad to see you here today. How are you?

Huggs
Tracy

It gets easier, it really does.

Cool thing -- A Psalm that seemed to speak to me directly about the destruction of addiction and the Grace inherent in Recovery:

Psalms 107:17-22
Some were sick through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.  Then they cried to
the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress;  he sent forth his word,
and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.  Let them thank the LORD for his
steadfast love, for his wonderful works to the sons of men!  And let them offer sacrifices of
thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

This was given to me today and it literally brought tears to my eyes.  The part about "loathed any kind of food" and "drew near to the gates of death" was ME.  EVERYONE thought I was about to die. I'm considered thin at my current weight of 165 - I looked like someone out of a concentration camp at the 128 I weighed at the end.

Again, I'm late .... (I'm always late)

WOWWWWWWWWWWWW.....I don't know what to say. But I will say this..
I am sooo glad that you are now a "recovering" addict my friend. You seem to be so sweet, so understanding and helping if others, and always have some very insightful information for us all here.
You really are, and I know I always say it but I will keep saying it! You ARE an INSPIRATION to us all here in the forum and a huge asset to this forum my friend!
Thank you also for this wonderful post, as always!
I am copying this one as well and saving to my pc!
Huggs my friend...hope you were not too late!
hehe
Tracy

From my experience as we getting farther and farther into addiction you become dead inside. Your emotions harden like a rock, your spiritally dead. An addict is like a walking Zombie......
These are good people but when they make that deal with the devil there personality and morals change big time.

On the other side when you stop doing drugs your emotions go frigging crazy. Its like getting on a roller coaster that won't stop. They are hard to control that tear jerker you used to watch and say was dumb now you need three boxes of Posh Puffs just to get through it.

I grew up a strong Catholic and had some very strong religious beliefs, I'm fighting to get them back and I realize that road will take a lot of travel time to get back. I'll keep trying though.........

Sounds to me like you're turning in a good direction.  I've done a boat load of reading on spiritual stuff since I've been back from rehab.  Only some of it has been expressly Recovery related.  However, I think anything spiritual is at least implicitly Recovery related - as some "Oldtimers" put it: "it's ALL spiritual."

I am horrible with the names of books and their authors.  However, one that springs to mind (with a little help from Google)is "The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning," by Kurtz.  

This may sound wierd, but "What the Bleep Do We Know" was really good and got me started on a quest to find God and serenity through quantum physics and science.  Two books in this area that are REALLY good are: "The Science of God" and "The Hidden Face of God," both of which are by Gerald Schroeder.

The Hazelden recovery place up in Minn runs or is associated with a publisher (Hazelden Press maybe) and they publish a LOT of really good Recovery stuff, a great deal of which is directly about the spiritual aspects of Recovery.  I've seen a lot of their stuff at rehab and in the Rooms but I can't specifically recall it and don't have time to look it up now - appointment in 11 minutes.  Bye