Addiction: Suffering, Hope, and Healing

For my Theology of Healing class, I recently wrote a paper called Addiction: Suffering, Hope, and Healing. It's basically about how addictions are the result of some type of suffering and that a person must have hope if they are to ever find healing. My first hand experience from my intense struggle with cutting helped me A LOT when writing this paper.

To be honest, I never thought I'd end up getting the response I did; to me, it was just another paper. But, I was standing in the hallway outside one of my classrooms when my Healing professor walked by. She stopped and told me how much she loved my paper. I was floored. I've never had a professor come up to me and tell me how good something I did was. I got an A on the paper and after class, my professor pulled me aside and told me that she recommended my paper be published. I couldn't believe it. It never would have even crossed my mind to ever try to get a paper published.

One of my household sisters who has struggled with addictions herself asked me to send it to her, so I did. She texted me after she was finished reading it telling me that she LOVED it and that her new favorite quote was from my paper. I asked her which one (I assumed it was something I had quoted and not actually something I'd written, but I was wrong. It was something I'd written) and this was it:

"When someone is seriously addicted to something, it is only the addiction that speaks. When the man in Mark 5 is possessed, only the demons can speak. The person who is addicted loses themselves. The person who has taken over cannot speak anymore. It is only when Christ comes into the life of the person that the shackles can be broken and the person can be liberated." I was honored when she told me that.

I wrote this paper for myself as well as other people who struggle with addictions. I know first hand what it's like and all I wanted to do was be able to share with others that the way to true healing is Christ. My household sister confirmed for me that I'd succeeded in what I was trying to do.

If you're interested in reading it, please let me know. Feel free to comment and let me know. I ask that if you do ask me to send it to you and you do read it, please do not share it with anyone else without first asking my permission. Gotta protect my hard work, ya know?

Jeremiah 30:17