Pam Morrison - Jesus and the Addict: Twelve Bible Studies for People Getting Free from Drugs

Ordinarily, opening pages are filled withpraise for the author and recommendations for the authors writing.Instead, here are some voices of people recovering from drugaddiction, sharing their thoughts, praising the Author - oflife and salvation.

In praise of Jesus:

I used to be hopeless and lost, a monster Ididnt know or like. Now Im joyful and peaceful, a wonderfulmother, wife, daughter, and friend. I give all glory to you, Jesus,for being the light in my world of darkness, for completelyrestoring my life. Forever grateful and blessed, Tarah

I love you, Jesus, for loving me when Icouldnt love myself. Thank you for putting light back into my eyeswhen everything was dark. Im truly blessed. Schyler

I love Jesus because He has changed me forthe better and made me who I am. He gave me life and let the realme come out. He gave me the strength to put a smile on otherpeoples faces and to give me the joy to see that! Thank You. Ilove You, God. Ashlynne

God had His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die onthe cross for us, for our sins. That just shows how much God reallyloves us. Thank You! Laurin

When I was broken and bleeding, the Lordknit me together and set me on my feet again.

Brad

I turned away from God in my addiction andyet He still rescued me from my addiction. I was dead in myaddiction, but now, by the grace of God, I am alive. Devon

It has taken six felonies, five trips to theDepartment of Corrections, the loss of my grandparents and mymother to cause me to start looking for God. And then, it only tookme finding fifty cents while I was living in a homeless shelter toshow me He loves me. Marcus

When I try to explain how God changed mylife to others, they sometimes cannot relate. But when I talk aboutJesus to those of us who God has taken out of the dark into thelight, it is the best feeling in the world just to talk about Himwith them. It is because we KNOW how He has changed our lives. Icannot speak for anybody else, but for me, God is awesome. Amos

I spent twenty-six years of my life as adrug addict and I never really believed in God until now. I amsober and alive today and I thank God. Mindi

Jesus and the Addict

Copyright 2019 PamMorrison

ISBN: 978-1-945976-33-9

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, NewInternational Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 2011 byBiblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reservedworldwide.

Scripture taken from the HolyBible, NEW INTERNATIONAL READERS VERSION. (NIrV) Copyright 1996, 1998 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Usedby permission of Biblica.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version(NKJV). Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from theHoly Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004 2015 byTyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rightsreserved.

Scripture quotations marked TLB aretaken from The Living Bible ,copyright 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission ofTyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. Allrights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked TPT are from The PassionTranslation. Copyright 2017 by Broadstreet Publishing Group,LLC. Used by permission. All rights reserved.thePassionTranslation.com.

Scripture quotations marked ESV arefrom the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version),copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of GoodNew Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging in PublicationData

Jesus and the Addict

pages cm

Copyright 2019 PamMorrison

ISBN: 978-1-945976-33-9

All rights reserved.

1. Religion & Spirituality

TXu 2-099-774 2018

Published by EA Books Publishing, a division of

Living Parables of CentralFlorida, Inc. a 501c3

EABooksPublishing.com

at Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.If you would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre readingthis book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for yourenjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or yourfavorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of this author.

I wish to thank two beautiful ladies, Bobbi Jo Reed,and Judi Burkholder, the moms of the Healing House RecoveryCommunity in Kansas City, Missouri. Their wonderful faith andtremendous love for people in recovery is inspiring and a model forbold ministry.

I thank my dear friend, Pastor Tom Langhofer, whohas given me many opportunities to teach at the Healing Houseduring the Friday night gatherings.

I wish to say thank you to the countless men andwomen that I have met and with whom I have had the privilege ofministering in recovery facilities, jails, churches, and at theHealing House. It is hard to say who was helped more by theserelationships, them or me! I am grateful to witness their courageand to receive their love.

And, as always, I am so thankful to my dear husband,David, who has supported me in every adventure with God. Thank you,David

Several years ago, I was appointed pastor of a church that hostedvarious community groups, among them, an Alcoholics Anonymous Group(AA) that met in the basement. The AA group kept their rented roomneat and tidy; chairs ringed the room, a coffee pot rested on arolling cart, and posters encouraging sobriety adorned the walls.The only fault of the group, if one was looking for faults, was theconstant, pungent smell of cigarette smoke in the room, even thoughthe members smoked outside, and the fact that, well, they werethere.

Periodically, the Administrative Board of the churchwould meet in the dark-paneled church library and someone wouldbring up the AA group asking, Isnt it time we had them leave andmeet somewhere else? After all, they only give us twenty-fivedollars a month for rent!! Granted, that was twenty-five dollars amonth more than any of the Sunday school classes, Bible studies, orvarious other community groups but there was something abouthaving AA in their church building that seemed, for some, to bestuck in their craw. Saying, we need the space, was notreally what lay beneath the eviction talk. This was a staid,traditional, non-growing church. Somewhere in their collectiveheart, it appeared they found it indelicate to have smokingex-drunks and drug users coming into their holy building.

It was striking, but not surprising, that only twoor three of the recovering addicts were seen participating in thelife of the church, coming to worship, or joining a small group.The tension over them was one of many battles that can occur in achurch community, and I did not deal with this one head on, Iregret to say. I didnt fully understand it at the time, nor was Ithe advocate of those escaping addiction that I would later become.I did not understand the needs of the church members as well as Ishould have either. I needed to grow.

Now, years later, having spent much time with manyaddicts in recovery, I wonder, How could a church congratulateitself on being broad-minded by hosting an Alcoholics Anonymousgroup, but never feel it important or part of the gospel tojoyfully woo them upstairs and bring them into the full life of thechurch community? How could they not go beyond the walls of thechurch and bring even more in since God was highlightingthis opportunity?