Here's to Better HealthProverbs 3:8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
It's a known fact that stress breaks down the immune system leaving us wide open for disease.
Addictions first make us feel good. Whether we take drugs to alleviate physical pain, eat or drink to cover emotional pain, or gamble for the adrenaline rush, there's one purpose for seeking our drug of choice - relief; escape; to feel better about ourselves.
Over time, these things begin to cause physical problems, breaking down the liver, creating fat and lack of motivation, high blood pressure and heart disease just to name a few. What was once our respite, turns on us and becomes our bitter enemy.
As we give up our addictions and begin to seek God's way, eventually we find ourselves on the road to better overall health.
I'd always been a pretty healthy person all my life. I rarely had the flu, my colds were always short and mild, and that was the extent of it. A couple years before I got sober, I suddenly started getting sick a lot, culminating in a serious case of bronchitis. Even after I got sober, I still found myself sick far more than ever before in my life, experiencing problems with my kidneys, back, and frequent viruses. At first I joked that the alcohol had been like a preservative in my system, protecting me from illness. After I'd been clear-headed for awhile, I began to see what had really happened. The years of abuse had done some damage to my cells and that wasn't going to get better over night.
As we turn to God for wisdom and guidance, the body and mind begin to heal. We exercise more and eat healthier, seek healthier relationships, and become a giving member of society, bit by bit we recover more than just overcoming our addiction.
Some damage cannot be healed - we may have taken our addictions too far. But keep in mind how much worse things could be, probably would be, had you not made the decision to get help when you did! Let's be grateful for whatever we do recoup rather than focusing on irreversible damage done. Let's focus on the One who knows the way to optimal health for each of us.
This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
I'll have a drink of water to that - here's to better health!
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the strength to say no to our addictions, for the regeneration of damaged cells, for the resolve to stay the course and get healthier, day by day. We give You all the glory, in Jesus' name, amen.
