Sometimes the phone is the enemy

I am sharing today's daily meditation from Answers in the Heart because I can relate so much to its message. I remember the anxiety that I felt when I was alone with the phone. Somehow by the grace of God, I only picked it up to call into a meeting or get support from friends or family. Indeed, it was abstinence one moment at a time.

OCTOBER 28
This pain is never permanent. — Teresa of Avila

Many of us have felt the impulse to pick up the phone and make the wrong call. You know the one. It’s not that we want to; we don’t. We can tell ourselves, as one group member did, “This could be dialing pain.” But no matter what we do, eventually we will face the moment when it’s just us and the phone. And it draws us like a magnet. We must be willing to go to any lengths at such a time. To make that first phone call can lead anywhere, especially to a slip. The program gives us the tools we need, especially the first three Steps. We can call someone from our group instead of someone who is part of our sex addiction. We can choose abstinence one minute at a time, if necessary. We may feel alone with our fear, loneliness, and compulsion, but we’re not. With our Higher Power’s help, we will emerge safely, with our abstinence undamaged.

God, help me meet moments of compulsion with patience, willingness, and courage.