Answered by people who lived it
Can God save you from addiction?
Two of the most-read recovery testimonies in American history answer yes from inside the pit. John B. Gough was a stage-struck young drunkard who signed the temperance pledge shaking, relapsed, and was carried through; Jerry McAuley, a drunkard and river thief, was transformed in prison and spent his life running a rescue mission for men like himself. Neither story skips the relapses — which is exactly why they have lasted.
Gough, still drinking — four glasses of brandy that same afternoon — resolves to sign the pledge anyway. The honesty of the account is the point; he tells you how strong the appetite remained:
“If it should be the last act of my life, I will perform my promise, and sign it even though I die in the attempt, for that man has placed confidence in me, and on that account I love him.”
McAuley, a drunkard and thief since boyhood, at the end of himself in a Sing Sing cell — the prayer that was answered on the spot:
“I prayed, and then I stopped; I prayed again, and stopped; but still I continued kneeling. … “and then,” said I to myself, “if I get no relief, I will never, never pray again.””
Keep reading
T.S. Baker — testimonies in their own words, free sources linked.