The Addict's Psalm
The Lord is my Shepherd and though at times my flesh still wants terrible and sinful things, He is still completely committed to providing for me.
And even though I have many times lain down in filth, He is not ashamed to lie down with me in lush green places He Himself has prepared for us.
In all the tumbling rush of my life, even in the midst of the swirling flood of my thoughts and desires, He calls to my heart and mind, guiding me to places where the waters are cool, and gentle, and still.
His one purpose: To restore each of my broken places.
As He walks beside me, opening and revealing the path for my life, His name and His Self are more and more precious to me. He gives me His own righteousness, and it is His glory to do so.
When the way is dark and threatening, though at times I fear for my life, the Lord is with me, strengthening me by his Word, and correcting me with His truth, comforting me with His Presence.
Ever the Servant, my Lord Jesus, You feed me with Yourself at a feasting table laid by Your own hands. Prepared right in front of those who have long strived for my destruction and disgrace.
Yet still, You pour the oil of Your anointing on my unworthy head. I cannot contain it; my heart wells up with praise and adoration; at times I am brim-full, yet You tell me there is more. Selah.
I grow more convinced that Your mercy is forever mine, that You give it gladly, that it follows me even when I stumble. You have married it to the purity and goodness of Your own precious Self and are determined that they will be mine to the end of my days.
Above all, I know I have a place in your heart, my home, and that I will live there for all time.
Amen, Come Lord Jesus,
- Barry W, Pirate Monk
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23 Tools for Sobriety
During my more than 20 years in recovery from substance and sex addiction, I have developed a varied and useful sobriety toolkit. More so than I realized. In fact, this article, when I started writing it, was titled “10 Tools for Sobriety.” Before I realized it, I’d listed more than 20 items. Rather than paring down my list, I decided to publish it in full because different tools work better for some addicts than others.
These are the 23 tools I turn to on a relatively regular basis and that I know work well in terms of keeping me relatively sane and sober. If you have tools of your own that I did not list here, please email me (scott@seekingintegrity.com) and I will update this list. In the interim, I hope you will find this listing helpful.
- 12-Step Meetings: This is where we connect with others who share our struggle, learning effective coping skills and both giving and receiving ongoing social support.
- 12-Step Sponsorship: Sponsors guide newcomers through the 12 steps of recovery while also serving as a confidant and advisor. Sponsors and sponsees tend to benefit equally from these relationships.
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Useful Resource
Don Germain has designed an excellent banner you can use for your local Samson Society meeting. Just take the link below to your local printer and hang it outside your meeting place.
![]() ![]() If you need a higher resolution file for your local printer, direct message Don on Slack and he will get it to you (vector file).
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12 Steps Toward Spiritual Growth (sarcasm alert)
1. Blame other people for your problems
2. Handle problems by yourself, don't ask anyone else for help (this works really well for addictions, especially porn addiction)
3. Live in denial of how bad your problem is - someone is always worse than you, in fact, you're not that bad.
4. Just pray about it, very quickly, don't ask anyone else to pray for you. If you do make that mistake, be very vague and don't get into details.
5. To know better is to do better - just study more and all your self-centered behavior, thoughts, and words will go away.
6. Spend more time in religious activity. If you just volunteer more, witness more, or preach more you will have victory over pride, lust, greed, rudeness and all the other problems you don't really have because you're a pretty great guy.
7. Beat yourself up about your sin. Tell yourself you're a failure and you'll never get over it. Repeat this step about 500 times a day and you will have peace.
8. Recoil in horror and spiritual pride if anyone gets close to exposing you. If you think you're better than other people, you are!
9. Remember, it's all about you! You are the center of the universe! You can be God! You don't need to apologize to anyone, in fact, everyone you've ever known owes you an apology for not realizing how right you are about everything!
10. Make a daily inventory of people you are angry at and decide how you will exact revenge.
11. Remind yourself of how much better you are than everyone who doesn't share your opinions on God, politics, or whatever else. After all, you're so obviously right, all the time!
12. Gossip about other people's problems, this will make you feel way better about yourself.
- Mike D, Pirate Monk
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Quick Financial Update
- We matched 2/3 of the Matching Gift Challenge
- We ended the year in the black (praise God)
- We had 141 men contribute in December '20
- MOVING FORWARD:
- Our expenses are generally the same month-to-month, but our contributions are clustered mostly in December. If your situation allows it, a monthly contribution would be very much appreciated (use the donate button on the home page). Of course, year-end giving makes a lot of sense for a lot of people, it just makes it difficult to pay our bills from March - November. Some men anticipate their year-end gift and then spread it out over 12 months with a bonus gift if there is any leftover.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY ... thank you all for advancing the Society. We truly are "rescuing families by helping men live in the freedom of authenticity."
- For a comprehensive review of 2021 finances email Tom Moucka.
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