Byline: FROM HEART TO HEART By Denise G. For The Register-Guard

My personal journey to recovery through the Twelve Steps began 22 years ago, after many painful, demoralizing and humiliating experiences with alcohol and drugs. The steps literally saved my life.

The phrase "God

as we understood God" (in the Third Step) is of particular importance, because it allowed me to find a personal relationship with my God. To me, God is a great mystery, far beyond my human understanding. And yet, my God is a loving and caring God who guides me along every step of this spiritual path to recovery.

I thank God every day for my release from the prison of drug and alcohol addiction. I am tremendously grateful that my children have grown up with a sober mother, and that my husband has had a sober wife. For myself, freedom from the addiction to alcohol/drugs has allowed me to be more like the woman God intended me to be. Conscious contact with the God of my understanding has been the foundation of everything in my life.

My story is not complete without the most recent of my spiritual awakenings. One day about 14 months ago, a chance encounter with a beautiful recovering woman opened my eyes to an addiction that had been growing within me but that had not come to my conscious awareness. Her simple words knocked the scales from my eyes. In a flash, my world changed. I knew, deep down, that I was a food addict and that I was going to find recovery for that.

I had struggled with my weight for years, believing that dieting and exercise could solve the problem. Eventually, I lost control and my weight ballooned. My health was impacted in a very negative way. Worse, I felt hopeless. I still thought diets were the answer, and I knew I never wanted to go on another diet as long as I lived. I thought that I would just get fatter and fatter, until I died at an earlier age than I should. In an instant, all that changed. I understood that I was an addict and that there was a solution.

Believing that as a food addict, I am sensitive to certain foods, I eliminated these foods. At first I felt awful, but I persevered. I began to attend meetings of Food Addicts Anonymous. I gained a clearer mind, emotional stability, a new-found happiness and a normal weight. I believe it was God working in my life, using the human voice and human touch of my friend to reach my true soul.

Today I have a new freedom and a new peace of mind. People often comment on my changed appearance, which is nice, but when they tell me I have a "glow" about me, I know that glow is the happiness that comes from liberation and gratitude.

God gave me the incredible gift of a sudden spiritual awakening, and that allowed me to find freedom from the addiction.

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The author is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and Food Addicts Anonymous, and often attends and participates in Interfaith Services. In accordance with the tradition of anonymity, she is identified by her first name and last initial. This column is coordinated by Lane Interfaith Alliance to offer inspiration, share spiritual experiences and bring a deeper understanding of faith perspectives with the intention of blessing our community and world.