Happy Easter Recovery Friends & Warriors. Topics of Recovery Ramblings on a Special Day. Learning My God-Given Purpose In Life Through Life Lessons…

He died for our sins so we can have eternal life with Him. Have you accepted His free Gift of salvation? He loves you unconditionally… Have a Blessed Easter!

~Lydia Brady Grimes

I have been sharing and writing for over 14+years as a form of advocacy but also as a healing process to share my past of how far I have come within my recovery journey thus far. And through my redemption of my HP (God), he continues to have me grow and overcome challenges too. It’s a view into a life and journey from a cunning disease and what addicted gambling looks like. There is the GOOD, the BAD, and the very UGLY when deep in our addictions.


Today, I enjoy sharing all the GOOD and within the present, in the moment, and have built a new beautiful life with my amazing husband who, BTW, stuck with me all these years of CHAOS. I think he would agree that the past 14+years have been the best thus far! I have the blessings and honor of helping others, being of recovery service, speaking about the pitfalls of problem gambling, and I am proof recovery works.


I enjoy sharing my experiences, strength, and HOPE to others so they know they are not alone with addicted gambling problems and they can recover. It wasn’t always this way. Even though my past doesn’t define who I am, those years were rough and heart-breaking when I look back to this past addicted woman I was.


Many who have never been touched by any addictions or lived with an addict may not comprehend how much chaos and devastation that goes on with an addict and the people around them become caught in the cross hairs. It’s why we share are stories of addiction and what it takes to recover. It can be tools to help those reaching out for help.


When it comes to my side of the family, I had not hurt anyone when I was gambling addict. I lived in a different state at the time. And we had many beautiful memories of the years when my family came to visit us, we made sure we did lots of fun things and take my parents to many places in Oregon and have experiences they other wise may never had. And healing I have learned that full healing will most likely take a lifetime for me. That is the roots and the issues that sometimes I feel I still have more work to do around the old pain and hurt.

And it is why I hold firm to my faith and belief in GOD.

See, my father recently passed away on Jan. 29th, 2021, of COVID, which was the same day I made 14th-years celebrating my recovery. He lived in Southern California in the home I was raised and where horrible memories of my past childhood still lay. When I first began my recovery journey, I wasn’t ready to dive into my past childhood trauma, abuse, and haunting memories. Most this began and resurfaced when I turned 30, I lost my brother-in-law to cancer. He was the real brother I never had, and I would tell him everything.


After Mike’s passing, it took me a few years to get over his death with a lot of therapy to even begin to process it. Shortly after, is when all the haunting pain and memories flooded back. I had to learn to process them and forgive and lay those haunting memories away. It was some of the roots and underlying issues of how I got sucked into gambling addiction. I was using gambling as a coping skill, an escape, and numbing the pain of my childhood trauma and abuse until I finally could not stuff away any longer.


Then in 2003, my mom passed away. By then, I had about nine months of recovery when I began writing and journaling. The next few years were pretty rough. We seem to think our parents will always be with us. Still, more painful memories, and I was not ready to share that part of my past. Now that my mom and dad have passed on, here I go again; it has again begun to surface slightly. Even when I started to write my book all of 2010 into early 2011 to see all that gambling addiction had taken from me, was when I began a deep dive into all the sexual trauma and abuse I’d endured.


One of the many amazing things about truly working through my childhood was the act of taking every single thought and terrible memory that held me captive; I began to watch Christ redeem them, helping me face them, and feel them. Without making excuses. Without placing or taking the blame. Finally, today the abuse and abuser no longer linger in the darkest parts of your mind controlling or tainting the memories. That is how God works in your life!


So, now with the passing of my dad, even though we had not spoken in almost 15-years, I was able to still forgive him for it, accept and respect his choice. It still stung, but I have the comfort of knowing God and (my mom) has told him the truth about all that I went through as a little girl, was telling the truth, and that if he knew? I’m pretty sure he would have protected me. He would have understood the WHY I also sought his unconditional love and validation. I have the comfort of knowing he is now with our father above and at peace with my mom.


I will continue to live and build a beautiful and amazing life within my recovery!

ME and my HUBBY, Tom xoxo

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Recovery News~Meet The Author for Those In Mason, MI!

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Hello, And Welcome Recovery Friends!

Today is a share for all of those who live in or near Mason, MI …
My dear friend and fellow Author, Aaron Emerson will be having a Meet and Greet reception and book signing on April 8th, 2016. Here is a share from his recovery blog with all the details, so you won’t want to MISS this Special Event!

My Book Signing Is April 8!

By Aaron Emerson

I received some great news the other day so it is with great excitement I announce it here on my blog: I am having a book signing on April 8 at Bestseller Books & Coffee in Mason.
The book signing will held from 5 to 7 p.m. so if you aren’t doing anything or if you are getting out of work, stop on over.

Bestsellers is a bookstore and coffee shop in downtown Mason, located at 360 S. Jefferson Street right across the street from the iconic courthouse. My books are selling for $13.99 and you can purchase as many copies as you want. You can also request a message from me written inside the book for you or someone else.
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This is something I am really excited about, as a lot of my hard work on putting this book together is coming to fruition. I really hope I can see you there. If you want, bring over a friend or purchase a copy for someone else if you haven’t already purchased a book. If you already have a copy, you can still bring it in to get signed. I just want to see some faces!

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me in this journey, whether that has been a big or small role. It has been a goal of mine for several years to write a memoir and I could never have done it without help and support from so many people.

The book – To Hell And Back: Heroin And Recovery – is a memoir I wrote on my addiction to heroin and my first year of recovery. It is written in the form of my journals I wrote while I was going through everything, so, in a way, it is like getting inside the mind of an addict.

If you can’t make the book signing, you can purchase a copy here on my blog through PayPal by clicking HERE or on Amazon with a credit card by clicking HERE  . . .

( Click book to Amazon for purchase)

 

About Aaron’s Book:

Aaron Emerson grew up as the son of a successful minister in Mason, Michigan. Blessed with a loving, caring family, he had the makings of a great life. At 14, however, his dad was unexpectedly fired from the church he helped build, right after the tragic passing of his cousin.

Aaron turned to marijuana and alcohol, finding pleasure in covering up the pain he was experiencing. A year later, he was introduced to prescription pills and eventually became addicted to oxycontin. Once oxycontin became too expensive and hard to find, he made the decision to switch to a cheaper, more potent drug: heroin.

Heroin would take Aaron through a life of hardcore addiction, lengthy jail stints, and several near-death experiences. After years of addiction that saw a once middle-class teenager turn into a felon and become homeless, a journey to find recovery transpired.

That journey took Aaron to several rehabs and through many heartbreaking relapses. However, recovery from his addiction was ultimately found, and now he shares his story around the state to raise awareness and spread hope.

Throughout his addiction and recovery, Aaron journaled and wrote about all of his experiences. He has now published his journal entries full of addiction, jail, rehab, overdose, relapse, and recovery. This book is the collection of all of those writings that shaped his life for several years.
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Aaron’s Message:

“My name is Aaron Emerson and I sincerely appreciate you visiting my blog. I am a 24-year-old from the small town of Mason, Michigan. I am a writer, author, and reporter that often writes and blogs about addiction, recovery, God and hope. Many of my writings relate to my recovery from a heroin addiction that almost took my life. By the grace of God, I am alive to share my story and a lot of my life is devoted to spreading the hope I have found.”

Let’s be clear: if you are alive, there is hope! I hope you can sense that attitude in my writings and blog. If I can help one person find recovery or inspire one young boy or girl to not make the same choices I did, well, I will feel I have accomplished my goal.

My first book, “To Hell And Back: Heroin And Recovery” was released on January 6, 2016, and is a memoir about my addiction and my first year of recovery. It takes you into the mind of an addict in his addiction and eventual attempts to find sobriety. Click here to buy the book!

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Visit: Aaron’s Blog here.
Follow & Like Him On: His Facebook Page!
Follow: Him On Twitter Too!