Friday, May 31, 2013

Be a True Soldier in God's Army....more of my story!

Hello and good day to you! PLEASE REFER ANYONE YOU KNOW THAT STRUGGLES WITH ADDICTION TO THIS BLOG. THIS BLOG IS ALSO FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE DEALING WITH SOMEONE THAT IS STRUGGLING WITH ADDICTION. Thank you to everyone that is reading this blog, I really appreciate it and I sure hope you are uplifted and inspired in some way. I figure it will be helpful to others to not only share my addiction recovery story with you, but also to let you in on a little of what is happening in my life today.

I was injured on the job a few months ago and I have been in physical therapy for weeks now. My most recent job is assembling (BOP's) which are blow out preventers that go under an oil rig. Yes, a BOP is the same piece of eqipment that failed and caused an explosion and oil spill in the gulf! It has been a great job that pays well, but since I hurt my lower back at work I have decided to go back to school. I figure I need to work more with my brains than with my back! I feel like God is leading me to change my direction in life. I am going to become a Licensed Professional Counselor. I will work with others struggling with addiction. The goal is to one day own and operate my own treatment facility. My first day of school is Monday. I am 36 yrs old and going back to school!!!  So if your thinking of going back to school or learning a trade of some sort I encourage you to get started today. I am doing it with a positive attitiude and so can you! They say life is all about your attitude, it will make you or break you...Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it! JUST DO IT!!

Whatever you are going through in life remember that you are not alone...we are all in this together...and never be ashamed to reach out and ask for help. We all need help at diffirent times in our lives.  Most important remember that God is literally your Father and He is ALWAYS there for you. It is also important to remember that some blessings are conditioned on you asking for them, this is why the scriptures repeat so often the phrase, "ASK AND YE SHALL RECIEVE". Because God wants to hear from His children, He wantys to hear from YOU! Dont forget to pray today my friends. Never under estimate the power of prayer. Prayer is one of our most powerful weapons in this spiritual warfare we call life.  God hears and answers your sincere prayers. I know its true!  I remember when God answered the prayer of someone through me and it was such a cool feeling to realize that God answered someones prayer through ME! I was in a substance abuse treatment facility when it happened. I had been having frequent gospel conversations with this young man also in the treatment facility. His name was Gary. One night in my dream I saw Gary down on his knees praying to God. I didnt really think much of it, but the next day I told Gary that he was in my dream. I told him that in my dream he was wearing a shirt and a tie and he was praying to God. Gary became really emotional as he explained to me that the night I had the dream he had been down on his knees praying to his Heavenly Father. Gary siad that he specifically asked God to answer his prayer in a dream! All of the sudden it was clear that God had infact not only heard Gary's prayer, but He also answered his prayer! God really does hear our prayers...Im not sure how He does it...I just know that He does!!! That is just one example. I have had many really cool  experiences with the power of prayer. When we pray we should pray from our hearts and not use vain repetitions. If you have never learned to pray or forgotten how, well I will teach you now. Just follow this simple pattern : 1 Adress your Heavenly Father,2 Give thanks for whatever your thankful for,3 Ask for whatever you feel you need, and 4 close in the name of Jesus Christ. Thats it! Just be sincere!
  By the way I would like to say that I really appreciate it when you comment here on this blog. It really means a lot to me, so please leave your comments. Have you ever had an experience when God has answered your prayers? Have you ever been the answer to someone elses prayer? I know you have. It happens all the time and we dont even realize it! If you feel like you want to share an experience that you have had with prayer PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT HERE! Remember others are inspired by your experiences. Also please feel free to share whatever you may be going through in life or any uplifting exerience, and please LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS BLOG (good or bad) please keep it clean...Thank you!

The scripture for today is: MATTHEW 6: 5-8....   To encourage you to open your scriptures I will only put the reference to the scripture. Its your job to open your Bible and read it. Remember the words of God have more power over the hearts of men than anything else. Gods words have the power to change your life!


Words of encouragement:

“When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place.” – Unknown

“If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.” – Flavia Weedn

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

“You must do the think you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Time heals all wounds.” – Common Saying

“Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don’t look back at it too long. Mistakes are life’s way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.” – Og Mandino


Now I will post a little more of my personal story. I will continue to post a little at a time untill you know my entire addiction recovery story. Well you will know a lot of it anyway......I firmly believe that when we are just real with eachother, and we share our real life stories we are empowered and we ignite hope in eachother, so here is the next part of MY STORY.....

My brothers were not into golf like I was. My older brother B.J. has always loved animals, and has always been very gifted working with animals. B.J. was always finding some sort of animal and bringing it home. I remember B.J. coming home with rats, cats, birds, dogs, even deer! So it was really no surprise when one day he showed up at the driving range with his new pet chicken. B.J. gave this chicken a name and a home at the family driving range. We called her “Homie- the- chicken”. It wasn’t long and this chicken was pooping all over the pro-shop and everywhere. Somehow B.J. trained Homie the chicken to hang her rear end into the trash can while she pooped! Homie also spent much of her time sitting on a bunch of cracked golf balls thinking they were her eggs about to hatch! I will never forget Homie-the-golf-ball-hatchin-trash-can-poopin-chicken!
I mention B.J. and Homie the chicken because it was around this same time in my life that B.J. convinced me to smoke marijuana with him. I was still in jr. high school .This was such a big mistake in my life because once I started smoking weed my life changed for the worse. My motivation and ambition to practice golf faded away. I started doing worse in school, I begin to smoke cigarettes and my life just took a turn for the worse. I was no longer living just for golf, now I was out looking for a party all of the time.  Marijuana proved to be the gateway drug in my life. It is true that the inner voice deep down inside of me would tell me that it was wrong to smoke, but the more I smoked the more that inner voice faded away. Shortly after I tried marijuana, I tried alcohol, and by the time I was in 10th grade I had experimented with L.S.D., mushrooms, ecstasy, and cocaine! B.J.’s influence played a large role in a lot of those experiences. My mom’s younger brother “Ted” lived with our family off and on for all of my young life. I hate to say it, but Uncle Ted was a drug addict. I believe it was Ted’s influence that had B.J. using drugs at such a young age. As Bj’s drug problem got worse his influence on me became worse and worse. I don’t blame him for my own mistakes; I am just saying that my older brother’s influence definitely had an impact on my life. B.J. has always been very wild and crazy. By the time he was 18 yrs old he had already been arrested several times and graduated criminal boot camp. B.J. was off and on drugs after that. He eventually had a big marijuana leaf tattooed on his back that said “Texas Redneck”. B.J. swore that he would go out in a bang some day, he also swore that he would smoke weed until the day he died, and that he did! It was on the 19th of April in 1998 on a beautiful Springtime Sunday morning when B.J. got the call. He was in the shower getting cleaned up for church when a group of friends called and invited him to the lake. They had planned to bar-b-q, play volleyball, and water ski, and have some good old Texas lake-side fun. B.J. couldn’t resist the offer, so he decided to skip church and join the party. This was the worst mistake of his life! He and his solid white pit-bull named “Arnold” jumped in the car with a group full of friends. The driver had been up all Saturday night drinking, and getting high before he showed up that Sun. morning. After a long day of partying, and lakeside “fun”, the driver was even more intoxicated for the drive home. In the pursuit to drop B.J. off back at home, the driver began to drive at speeds over 150 M.P.H.! B.J. loved to drive fast, so he an Arnold were in the back seat laughing, and enjoying the ride. Although several of the other guys in the car were pleading with the driver to slow down, he just drove faster and faster. By the time the driver noticed the sharp curve in the road, it was too late. He tried to steer the car back onto the road, but he over corrected. The road turned, but the car kept on going straight. The over correction to try and get back on the road at such excessive speeds caused the vehicle to shoot completely across the road and collide with a giant tree stump. B.J. went flying through the air and he was killed instantly when the car landed on him! Everyone else in the car, including Arnold, lived and suffered only minor injuries.
There are many life lessons to be learned from B.J.’s death, but one of the most powerful lessons I learned was about forgiveness. You see, at first I wanted to get revenge on the driver of the car. I blamed him for killing my brother, but in reality it was my brother that chose to skip church that day and get in the car with an intoxicated driver. It took me some time to realize that I needed to forgive. I realized it when we were in court for the sentencing of the driver and the Judge asked my Dad if he had any words to say. My dad surprised everyone when he told that judge that he believed that this young man was a child of God, and that prison would not rehabilitate him. My dad said that this young man deserves a chance to turn his life around. The judge couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and to be honest I couldn’t believe it either.  That’s when it hit me that I needed to forgive him, and I did. The judge sentenced him to many years of probation. The young man turned his life around and is now sober, and today he is a successful member of society. I have learned so much from B.J.’s death over the years. I have learned that “we live to die, and we die to live in a different realm” (Russell M Nelson). In other words I have learned that death is just as natural as being born!  We never stop living, even after we die, life is everlasting! God’s plan is an ETERNAL plan! I know B.J. is very much alive in the spirit world today, along with good old Uncle Ted. It wasn’t long after B.J’s death and Uncle Ted also passed on into the world of spirits.

There you have it.....I will post more as people read it.....Thank you so much for reading my blog. REMEMBER YOUR COMMENTS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED! HAVE A BLESSED DAY!!! 

1 comment:

  1. I love it...I haven't had the same types of struggle with addiction as you, but I think many people including myself struggle with it in different forms. The way I look at it, even if not illegal, something as good for you as exercise or food can become a problem if it draws you away from God.
    As for your life story....B.J. was my very first best friend. I have thought of him a lot over the years especially when I hear the song one more day. I wanna say we were 23 when he went to be with God. Sadly, his funeral was one of my fondest memories during that time in my life because I was so low and struggling in my marriage during that time and B.J. brought me closer to God that day. I hadn't heard God's word in a while and if it takes your best friend dying to bring you to God, that's just pathetic, but if you don't buy a clue from it...well that's even worse.
    I never knew the B.J. that you have described, but it doesn't make me love him less. I'm glad to hear what I missed out on. Loving animals is something we have in common and I could have used his help with the animal poop training because I can't even get a cat to poop in a litter box.
    Your writings are amazing and I'm a fan. Good job little brother.

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