Episode 71: An Interview with Substance Abuse & Addiction Counselor Julianna Sliger on Brokenness, Her Journey, and Substance Abuse Healing Our Brokenness Podcast Seri...
Substance Abuse plagues every family. No one is exempt. Although it is something that plagues every family, it is not something that we want to talk about. It causes shame, exhaustion, anger, and fear. Addictions leave the same effect, with innocent parties sitting back on edge, waiting to see what happens next. Click here to listen to Substance Abuse & Addictions Counselor Julianna Sliger with her take on Brokenness, Substance Abuse, and Her Journey in General.
Julianna Sliger, Substance Abuse and Addictions Counselor
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
How many of you have found yourself being someone else’s poison container? How many of you have tried making someone else your poison container? I know. All this talk of poison and containers sound a little weird. Some people like to use the words punching bags. Same difference. Whether you are the victim or the perpetrator, the whole concept is one that is very unhealthy. Tune in to this week’s podcast episode to find out what happens in both situations.
Photo by Sarah Pflug at Shopify
Podcast Outline
Poison Defined
Container Defined
Poison Container Defined
How it works
Workable Solutions
Bible Verses to Ponder On:
Biblical Examples Of Laban and Jacob using Leah as their poison container of deception and past hurt
What does brokenness mean to you? Many people have their own interpretation. Take a listen to this new episode with Lisa Romero, and find out what it means to her, along with several other topics.
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
PTSD/trauma is real. And for those of us who live with it on a daily basis, it can be challenging for some, and debilitating for others. Everyday, we have conversations with people, and those conversations may involve sights, sounds, smells, etc. that trigger some form of trauma that we have experienced in our lifetime. The question that I have for you today is, “What happens when one traumatic event triggers another traumatic event?”
For instance, we are living in a pandemic. This pandemic is trauma-inducing. It brings with it fear, anxiety, uncertainty, unpredictability, isolation, etc. Just going over these elements themselves, it is important to take note that they rank high on the list as contributing factors to PTSD.
In the month of June, we had the death of George Floyd as the deaths of Breanna Taylor and Armaud Arbery were still fresh in our minds. His death led to a series of protests, looting, and upheaval all across the nation, and then all across the world. Some areas even got so bad that the nation guards were brought in, For some people like my mom, this series of events took them straight back to the 1960s when the Civil Rights movement was in full swing. Dr. King had come to Memphis, Tennessee to march peacefully in hopes of helping the sanitation workers get fair pay and treatment.
What he didn’t plan on happening, is that his arrival in Memphis would sadly be the beginning of the end of his life. The national guards would come in to take control. People like my uncle and cousin would be beaten with billy clubs. Looting would take over the city, as well as other places in the United States.
The hardest part about navigating a traumatic event like murder in broad daylight is hoping that you’re not alone. Someone understands and empathizes with your pain. In the sixties, there wasn’t social media. Today, there is. After these deaths, people flocked to social media for expressing their feelings, whether it was outrage, disbelief, shock, or empathy, as others lied in wait to attack them.
The surprise attacks caused these expressers to be retraumatized over and over again. People who you thought felt the same way that you do were showing their true feelings, causing you to feel like a knife was being inserted in your chest. Life became even trickier to navigate. Friendships among races became trickier to navigate. Nothing felt certain. So in a time like this, what do we do in order to navigate this trauma, the trauma of these lives that have been taken.
First of all, we pray, and then pray again, humbling ourselves.
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Remind ourselves that this is now 2020, and that our minds want us to think that we’re back in the 1960s.
Ground ourselves in the spaces that you we in, with smells, sights, sounds, and pictures reflecting the current time.
Remind ourselves that God is soverign and in control, while we pray and hope that justice will be served, knowing that God is the ultimate judge.
Talk to our pastor, or another trusted leader for support.
Find like-minded friends and family members that you know will offer support.
Sign yourself up for therapy if needed.
Limit your time on social media.
Give yourself grace, compassion, and empathy.
And most importantly, grieve, lament, and grieve again. There is no time constraint on grief, and seeing the loss of life is hard for any and all witnesses.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Child Development Teacher and Woman of God, Joyce Mosely. What made this interview extra special is the fact that Joyce is my mother. I hope that you guys enjoy listening to Joyce, being herself, and teaching us about her life and how it relates to brokenness.
Joyce Mosely
Woman of God
Child Development Teacher
If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
We all want acceptance. We want to be accepted. Rejection is way too painful. What about when the tables are turned, and we are expected to accept someone or something, and the end result is out of our control. Like death. The pandemic. Our financial stability. Tune in to Episode 67 as we dissect acceptance.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
I’m not sure if you are a meat lover or not. I wouldn’t consider myself a meat lover, but, I love chicken wings. And not just chicken wings. Fried chicken wings!!! It gets very tricky when it comes to buying fried chicken wings because some restaurants make them too greasy, or you end up with hardly any meat attached to the bones.
Shopify Photo
That defeats the purpose to me. Up until about 20 years ago, when I ate chicken wings, I had to have them with hot sauce. Now, I eat them with honey mustard sauce because I can no longer tolerate the hot sauce.
Shopify Photo
A couple of weeks ago, I had a taste for some chicken. This time it was for honey garlic chicken. This is a super quick recipe. It satisfied my taste for chicken, gave me a boost of protein, and I had something sweet to eat at the same time. That’s what I call a win-win situation.
Photo by Katina Horton
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
3 tablespoons of minced garlic
3 tablespoons of
onion and garlic powder
black pepper
3 tablespoons of honey
1/3 cup of olive oil
Directions:
Cut the two chicken breasts into chunks and season them.
Mix all of the above ingredients, except the honey, into a skillet of heated olive oil.
When the breasts are browned, add the honey, mixing it well with a wooden spoon.
Optional: Add parsley flakes to the mixture after it’s done for garnishing.
The following is a post that I wrote a year and a half ago on another website. Enjoy! God bless!
Book Adventures
I am in the process of reading a book by Peter Mayle entitled, “French Lessons”. It is one that is filled with a lot of humor, surprises, and vivid introductions to French cuisine. The one thing that made me stop and think is a scene where Peter is in a restaurant with two friends, and they are discussing how to make an omelette. The conversation intensifies because one person is insisting on saying that you can only make omelettes with a fork. Another person insists on the fact that they have been making omelettes all their life with a spatula.
This conversation ends, and then the conversation begins on what cookware should be used for the omelette. There was a toss up between cast iron and copper pots. The person with the copper pots said that everyone else was at a loss for the best omelette without using one. Peter leaves the scene feeling like he needs to get one fast.
Isn’t this how it is in life? Instead of us learning about all the different ways that we can say or do something, we have to impose our ways on everyone else, instead of celebrating the differences. This leaves the people who are different feeling as if they are missing out on something. It helps when we get into conversations like this, if we could take a moment and think about how it would make us feel if we were the “oddball out”.
On to the recipe:
Background on the Whole Wheat Pancakes
Last week, I had to wait for an hour for my daughter to pick me up. To kill time, I decided to look around in two sections of the grocery store. The first section was the magazines and books. Featured on the front of one of the magazines was a picture of blueberry whole wheat pancakes. The picture left me with a taste in my mouth that I couldn’t get rid of. I decided that since I had some pancake mix and blueberries at home, that I would go home, and have fun making them.
They turned out really good! And I praised God for that! It is just the little things in life. Instead of using an egg like the recipe calls for, I used 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal. Then, I added 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds, 3/4 cup of cashew milk, and blueberries. For the oil for the pancake mixture, I used grape seed oil. I used coconut spread to cook and top the pancakes with. Lastly, since I didn’t have syrup, I substituted with honey. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Red Mill Organic HIgh Fiber Pancake & Waffle Whole Grain Mix
Their recipes:
Blend 1 cup mix
1 egg
1 tsp oil
3/4 cup of cold milk
Mix until blended.
Cook on preheated griddle on medium heat.
My recipe:
1 1/2 cup of mix
2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal
1 tablespoon of grape seed oil
3/4 cup of Cashewmilk
1 cup of Blueberries
1/3 cup of sunflowers
Mix until blended.
Cook on preheated griddle on medium heat with 2 tablespoons of Earth balance Coconut Spread.
Top with Earth balance Coconut Spread, blueberries, and honey.
1 1/2 cans of Diced tomatoes with onions, celery, and green peppers
3/4 cup of quinoa
3 cups of water
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
3 tablespoons of onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, turmeric, ginger powder, curry, and cumin
5 tablespoons of chili powder
1/2 cup of avocado oil
Directions
Dump all of the above ingredients into your slow cooker and let it cook for 4 hours on high. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can put it into a big pot, and it should all be ready within 1 hour.
Enjoy!!
****** I don’t use salt, so if you taste it, and it seems like something is missing, more onion powder always does the trick.
