“It’s like being in a room with hundreds of doors, but you can’t find the doorknob on any of them.” These immortal words were spoken by an addict while attempting to relay the endless hopelessness he felt while being enslaved by drugs. Perhaps most distressing about Doug’s experience with drug addiction is that, however unfortunate his experiences, they were not unique to his life.

Whether the addiction presents itself in the form of drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, or any other kind, there is a common theme… Each addict has a wound they have not been able to find healing for. Some emotional or traumatic event whether a one-time occurrence or an ongoing situation inflicted so much emotional pain on them that they sought to escape from it. And, with time, their efforts to numb this pain eventually took over their lives. Doug, for reasons we won’t get into here, struggled with rejection. But the wounds come in all shapes and sizes; whether it is an abusive father, a retrenchment, the death of a family member… There is no shortage of pain in this world.