PS 103:2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

When you first quit your addiction it will feel and seem like a really bad idea for the first few days or weeks, because you will feel insecure without your normal fear pacifier and your body and mind will likely be going through withdrawals. One thing that can help you to get through this initial hump is making a list of the good things and benefits you have gained by quitting. Below is a list of the possible benefits you will receive from finally living free from the drudgery of your addiction, but it is still good to make your own list and to personalize it.

1. You will no longer have to be a slave to your addiction by finding the money, getting your addiction, and then having to hide it and use it. You will be in control and not your addiction.

2. You will no longer have to face the shame and ridicule from people that know about your addiction and who keep bugging you to quit. Your relationships will improve and be restored.

3. You will no longer have to go through the physical pain and health problems that your addiction creates in your body and mind. Your health will improve and you will sleep better.

4. You will no longer keep losing everything and everyone in your life in order to serve your addiction. God will even restore what you have lost throughout all of your years of addiction.

5. You will be right with God again, and no longer afraid to face Him. Your ability and desire to pray will improve, and you will not have to fear going to hell anymore if you suddenly died.

6. You will finally have some peace back into your life, and no longer feel so much turmoil and pressure all the time. Your thoughts will become clearer, and you will laugh once again.

7. Instead of your life constantly eroding and dissipating, it will begin to accumulate once again, and be built up into something that you will want to live again, and not kill yourself.

LK 21:34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.

If you have ever quit an addiction and stayed quit for some time, then try to remember back to just how important that addiction seemed at the time just before you quit, and how it's importance gradually diminished with each week that you remained free of it. In time instead of wondering how you ever lived without it, you will wonder how you ever lived with it, and how you tolerated its power and control over your life for so long. What may seem so big in your mind right now (especially if you have withdrawals) will soon become very small.

Remember to keep telling yourself "This pain, fear, anxiety, and physical discomfort, that I am feeling right now is just temporary, and will subside with each clean day". Pain always feels permanent at the time when we are suffering, but that is an illusion. Your body, mind, and soul will actually operate much better when you are free of your addiction. Remember too, that if you give in and go back to your addiction that all of the bad things will return with it again. Pray when you are hitting a rough spot and God will truly help you to get through it.

JOB 11:13 "Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, 14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, 15 then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. 16 You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. 17 Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. 18 You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. 19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.