A Monthly E-Zine For Those Recovering From Addictive Behaviors

by

Author & Founder

Elisabeth Freeman

copyright@2003, February

Feature Article: "Have You Lost Your First Love?" by Elisabeth Freeman

The month of February brings to mind cupid, shooting his fiery arrow into our lover’s heart. The thought has so many romantics, hoping for that chance at the true love they feel they’ve been missing.

In our busy lives it’s hard to make relationships work these days. In fact, the divorce rate is higher than it’s ever been. With these negative statistics warring against us, we must discover the mystery to what’s pulling us apart.

When a couple breaks up, the thing I hear most is: "I just fell out of love with them". How can you simply fall out of love with the one you vowed to love, honor, and cherish until death do you part? There is nothing else in life that we vow to do before a public audience, except the marriage to our spouse. We make a commitment.

When my marriage seems to get tough and John and I tend to be at one another’s throats, I try to look back to what first attracted me to him. I ponder on our first date, first kiss, and the day he proposed. I remember all the kind, thoughtful, romantic things he’s done. I remember our first love.

Nothing is more satisfying and fulfilling than that new, first love. My heart would pitter-patter every time he walked into the room. When we weren’t together, we’d talk on the phone for hours. Our lives were so exciting, and thanks to the memory, we can rekindle the flame, and have that in our lives again!

But there’s also a spiritual side to this. Did you know that there are a lot of people who claim to know Jesus as their Savior, but they feel like they’ve grown apart from him? I believe many of these individuals have lost their first love. They felt all good and wonderful for awhile—but then they let their relationship slip away—they forgot what they had. Maybe they really never made a commitment… A commitment says, "Jesus, I don’t just want to date you once in awhile, I want you to live with me every day."

Like a spouse, Jesus wants our commitment. Have you lost your first love? The Bible tells us that love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8

Today, by coming humbly before God, you can receive that love and forgiveness. Whatever it is that’s holding you back—give it up (porn, lust, masterbation, adultery, ect.—nothing is worth losing what Christ has to offer!

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

"Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.

"A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. Mc James if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story.

One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."

"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy, this is for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.

So it is with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.

THIS DAY IS YOURS DON'T THROW IT AWAY!!!

I realize the pain is so great in many individual’s lives that they can’t seem to break through and find the one thing that will quench it (JESUS)… But what are we doing to ourselves in this world?

Men, women, and children are turning to violence, drugs, pornography, sexual addiction, gay lifestyles, and even murder as a solution to repair the aching hole inside of them.

Don’t we understand that these things only pull us away from the God that loves and can deliver us? He can take our sorrow and turn it into joy, but we want a quick fix, something we can see, something that someone else told us worked… until we find ourselves waking up in a world too tough to bear..

What are we doing to ourselves? We’re hurting ourselves. I often hear people say, "Why did God let this happen?" Let me tell you something, God has been trying all along to prevent certain things from happening, but we make our own choices. We need to choose this day whom we will serve—God or the things of this world…

It’s time to get tough. Today’s the day to make the decision and say "No more" to sin and start living a life of holiness for God.

*Kiss The Mirror Good-Bye*

According to a radio report, a middle school in Oregon was faced with an
unique problem:

A number of girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the custodian. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every day.

To demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the mirrors, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it into the toilet and then cleaned the mirror.

Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

*More Incorrect*

Two young engineers applied for a single position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the department manager.

Upon completion of the test, both men missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other applicant."

"And why would you be doing that? We both got 9 questions correct," asked the rejected applicant.

"We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," said the department manager.

"And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" the rejected applicant inquired.

"Simple," said the department manager.

"Your fellow applicant put down on question #5, 'I don't know.' You put down, 'Neither do I.'"

*Dog Review*

A man follows a woman out of a movie theatre. She has a dog on a leash.

He stops her and says, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't help but notice that your dog was really into the movie. He cried at the right spots, he moved nervously in his seat at the boring parts, but most of all, he laughed like crazy at the funny parts. Did you find that unusual??"

"Yes," she replied, "I found it very unusual ...because he hated the book!"

*Noah Glue*

Ending his sermon, a preacher announced that he would preach on Noah and
the Ark on the following Sunday, and gave the scriptural reference for the congregation to read ahead of time.

A couple of boys noticed something interesting about the placement of
the story in the Bible. They slipped into the church and glued two pages of the pulpit Bible together.

The next Sunday, the preacher got up to read his text. "Noah took unto himself a wife," he began, "and she was" - he turned the page to continue - "three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high."

He paused, scratched his head, turned the page back, read it silently, and turned the page again.

Then he looked up at his congregation and said, "I've been reading this old Bible for near fifty years, but there are some things in it that still amaze me."

*Reversal of Fortune*

Dear John,

I have been unable to sleep since I broke off our engagement.

Won't you forgive and forget?

Your absence is breaking my heart.

I was a fool, nobody can take your place. I love you.

All my love, Belinda.

xxxxoooxxxx

P.S. Congratulations on winning this week's lottery.

*Wake Up Call*

One night at an economy motel, I ordered a 6 a.m. wake-up call. The next morning, I awoke before 6, but the phone did not ring until 6:30.

"Good morning," a young man said sheepishly. "This is your wake-up call."

Annoyed, I let the hotel worker have it. "You were supposed to call me at 6!", I complained. "What if I had a million-dollar deal to close this morning, and your oversight made me miss out on it?"

"Well, sir," the desk clerk quickly replied, "if you had a million-dollar deal to close, you wouldn't be staying in this motel!"

*Forgetfulness*

While on a car trip, an old couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. The old woman unfortunately left her glasses on the table, but didn't miss them until they were back on the highway.

By then, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around. The old man fussed and complained all the way back to the restaurant.

When they finally arrived, as the old woman got out of the car to retrieve her glasses, the old man said,

"While you're in there, you may as well get my hat, too."

*Wrong Guard*

It was in the early 1960's and spray deodorant, new to the market, was being advertised on television about six times a day. I was still living at home with my parents saving money for college. One afternoon after a hard day of construction and before dinner I took a nice hot shower.

After drying off I spotted a new spray can on the bathroom shelf. The label read "SafeGuard" and I was so surprised that my mom had bought some of that new deodorant so I sprayed a liberal amount under each arm.

When I entered the kitchen, where mom was fixing dinner, I thanked her for getting some new spray deodorant but also complained that it was pretty sticky and I didn't know if I really liked it yet.

Her response still rings in my ears..

"I didn't buy any spray deodorant, but I did buy some of that new bandage spray, SafeGuard!"

After shaving my arm pits in order to lift my arms and hours of laughing by my entire family I realized that RightGuard and SafeGuard were not the same thing.

*Hasty Departure*

A young ensign had nearly completed his first overseas tour of sea duty when he was given an opportunity to display his ability at getting the ship under way. With a stream of crisp commands, he had the decks buzzing with men and soon, the ship had left port and was streaming out of the channel.

The ensign's efficiency has been remarkable. In fact, the deck was abuzz with talk that he had set a new record for getting a destroyer under way. The ensign glowed at his accomplishment and was not all surprised when another seaman approached him with a message from the captain.

He was, however, a bit surprised to find that it was a radio message, and he was even more surprised when he read,

"My personal congratulations upon completing your underway preparation exercise according to the book and with amazing speed. In your haste, however, you have overlooked one of the unwritten rules -- Make sure them captain is aboard before getting under way."