Today is a good day. Its 6 am in the morning and so far I have managed to stay clean all morning. I know. I know many of you are thinking well, its only 6 am. Big deal! You probably haven’t even been awake but for just a few minutes…

If you are thinking this, then you’re spot on and I have only been awake for a short time. I’ve been clean for sometime now, yet every second I can continue to remain drug free is a far greater victory than many of you can even imagine. That’s the way this disease works. Now, you can call it all choice or you can call me a loser or a reject or whatever floats your boat, but I know for a fact that in the eyes of Christ I am a champion! A winner!

And I also know that there is nothing that I cannot overcome with Christ himself beside me.

That doesn’t mean I just let go and let God do everything for me. It means I allow Him to do for me what I cannot do for myself. I have to do my part. I have to fight my addiction to the best of my ability. This is how He makes us stronger. It’s how I know I’ve done all I can yet I still fall short and need to be carried from time to time.

A very good friend of mine told me the other day to declare that I am no longer an addict. To declare that I have beat this disease with God’s help. They told me as long as I keep classing myself as an addict, folks will continue to wonder about whether I’m using and that others will continue to look down on me.

I’ve thought about this very thing. I’ve prayed about how I should handle it. I’ve meditated on this very statement to great links. So here is what I am led to do and say to statements like this. Even though I personally know the person who stated this to me and I know that she meant well according to her beliefs, but here it goes for anyone to read…..

My name is Phillip Lee. I am an addict. I am addicted to drugs and will likely remain addicted to them until my final breath. I have done many disrespectful things to folks. I’ve hurt many friends and all my family. I’ve offended an entire community in ways that is not right or just. I’ve cost the taxpayers great deals of expense and time in dealing with my addiction in legal costs, medical treatment and so on. Yet I am here today writing this story in an attempt to help folks understand each other a bit better. I write because those of you who are on the offensive when it comes to attacking an addict for what they are need to understand that many of us addicts aren’t thinking of all we are actually doing to everyone else when we are feeding our addiction. We can’t see it during that time. Not because we choose not to see what it’s doing to others, because it is not literally visible to use in those times of using.

And I also write because I choose to attempt to make a positive difference in addict’s lives. I am here though all I have been through, still alive, still clean, and still telling you that through Christ all things are possible, including staying clean for the mere few minutes I have been awake this morning that I first mentioned.

Now if you wish to look down on me for being who I am and classing myself as I truly am an addict, then do what you got to do according to your own faith. Judge away. Condemn and keep the stigma going as it pertains to this disease. I only care about reaching out and helping others like me, who are addicts, to reach recovery.

My book comes out in April of 2018. It is called the Journey of an Addict. It details much of what I have been through in addiction and it is aimed at reaching others so they know they are not alone in this fight. If you know of someone who is suffering from addiction, have them contact me if they would like to know a better way. I will sincerely do all I can for them. I’ve heard from people in many states who read these stories and they tell me how it is helping those closest to them who suffer from the same thing. To that I say, please continue to share with your families. If this will help one person reach freedom from using and to turn around their lives then I have done my job. Thank you for taking the time to read my stories.

May God bless each of you in recovery and those yet to recover. May God keep you safe, may He also bless those of you who are suffering from a loved one’s addiction.

An addict, a child of God, a Christian,

Phillip Lee