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Sherry Hoppen joins Amber to discuss the years she spent addicted to alcohol, how it impacted her relationships and life after being flat on her face, fully surrendering her addiction to God.

Getting Sober & Walking with Jesus Questions Discussed:

1. (4:40) Share a little of your faith journey with us.  When did you begin walking with Jesus?
2. (6:24) There is a season of your life where the label, “addicted follower of Christ” was true of you. Will you take us back and share how alcohol addiction became a part of your story and what day to day life looked like during that time?
3. (15:00) You can have a huge problem with alcohol and not necessarily get to the point where you’re hiding it in your bathroom. Talk about that a little?
4. (18:39) What are some signs that should kind of trigger us to think something more may be going on here than what I realize?
5. (22:08) After many failed attempts at sobriety, what took place that finally set you on the path of freedom from addiction?
6. (29:20) You’ve said, “I think addiction is spiritual warfare at it’s finest, and I believe the devil is going to use it to his advantage every way he can.” Will you expound on that statement?
7. (41:40) Maybe, there is a Christian woman listening right now who is walking a similar path to the one you were on decades ago.  What would you like to say to her?

Getting Sober & Walking with Jesus Quotes to Remember:

“I look at alcohol in the store and I’m almost confused by the fact that you can just buy it. It’s accessible, then that, however many ounces of liquid has the power to undo my whole life.”

“I drank socially without any problems…You know what the devil had his claws on it. Because there is a history of addiction in my family. And I should have known better. But I also had this false belief that I was in total control. And that was not going to happen to me. “

“In essence, you think that you’re keeping your life separate from God. Like I have my life with God, and I have my life without God. Because, really, you’re ashamed. You don’t want God to see that side [alcoholism].”

“If someone disagreed with my drinking…I cut them out of my life.”

“If you’re questioning if you have a drinking problem, you do.”

“Anytime you use something to numb and protect you from facing something, that’s a problem.”

“I really thought I was surrendering and that God was letting me down. When, in essence, I didn’t surrender anything. I was surrendering on my terms…. The difference was instead of saying to God, ‘I just want to go back to drinking like normal when I go to this event. Help me to just put a lid on it when I need to. Or take away this craving. Or, please don’t let anybody find out’…. I was flat on my face on my living room floor, just crying out to God saying, ‘You know what, I surrender, I’m done. I’ll do whatever you want.’ And I’d never said that before.”

“When I was drinking, I felt like, every time I drank, I took another step away from God’s plans for me.”

“I also felt like, when I picked up the bottle, God walked out and that is simply not true. God was with me the whole time, when I was crying over the fact that I drank again, and had let myself down or my family down and let God down. I know, he was weeping right with me.”

“There is no magic answer, but there is a way. And I believe the way is by taking God’s hand and not letting go and finding a community that supports that.”

Scripture References

• 1 Peter 5:8
• 2 Cor. 11:14

Resources Mentioned:

• Shesurrenders.com
• Book: Sober Cycle by Sherry Hoppen

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• 116: David & Krista Dunham | Eating Disorder Recovery