What if addiction isn't who you are, but merely what's distracting you from your true purpose? In this transformative conversation, Mark Cain shares his powerful journey from the depths of alcoholism—including a life-threatening withdrawal seizure—to founding Spiritual Sobriety and authoring "Letters from Hope: Freedom from Addiction."
Mark's approach shatters traditional recovery paradigms by rejecting permanent labels like "alcoholic" that keep people trapped in shame-based identities. Instead, he offers a healing pathway centered on reclaiming our true identity as children of God. "We don't need to be fixed, we need to be found," Mark explains, capturing the essence of his recovery philosophy.
The conversation reveals how Mark's innovative book uses letters to personify different aspects of addiction, allowing readers to externalize their internal battles. Particularly eye-opening is the letter from "Bottling Booze," where alcohol itself confesses its sinister intentions: "I make you believe you need me...even as I lead you towards a tragic end." This format creates powerful moments of recognition for those struggling with substance use.
Mark's five-module "Journey to Freedom" program begins with a deceptively simple question: "Why do you want to be sober?" Through his "seven whys" technique, participants discover their true motivation—their superpower against relapse. For Mark, this was realizing he didn't want his young daughter to grow up fatherless as he had. The program continues through mindset reframing, thought navigation, intentional living, and harnessing prayer's power.
Whether you're personally struggling with addiction or supporting someone who is, this conversation offers a fresh perspective and practical tools for lasting freedom. As Mark reminds us, "The enemy will use whatever he can to distract you from your purpose,"—but through spiritual reconnection, we can reclaim the life we were created to live.
More Info at https://spiritual-sobriety.com/
If you or someone you know is in crisis and at risk of self-harm, please call or text 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline.
To contact us directly send an email to Dan@10-42project.org or call 515-350-6274
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back to another episode of the Shared
Voices podcast.
Welcome listeners.
Thank you for joining us again.
We got a great episode today.
Wow, I tell you I really lovethis guest because I got to meet
him a couple of years ago andyou guys know my story with
alcoholism, you guys know mystory with pain pills.
You guys know my story withpain pills.
(00:26):
You know my stories and mystruggles.
So when I met Mark and I heardabout a guy who had some
struggles here in the centralIowa area, a man who had dealt
with addictions, who had dealtwith the guilt and the shame, a
man who just I could relate to,and I got to meet him and learn
about a book that he was in theprocess of writing.
(00:47):
Mark, you hadn't even writtenit yet.
You had already started writinga book and you sent me the
transcript and I got to read itand I read the whole thing in
one sitting and I said, whoa,this book is powerful because it
is healing in a new way, andthe reason why I say that is
when you guys hear me talk aboutgetting, getting, getting, um,
getting sober.
(01:07):
There's a lot of differentpaths and there's different
paths for different people.
Um, aa is a path.
It's a very great path for somepeople.
Um, there's several othertreatment facilities that are
out there that have an alcoholprogram, but what Mark has
created, in my opinion, issomething a little different
because it dealt with.
His book deals with what I dealtwith.
(01:28):
I didn't want to be labeled analcoholic my whole life.
That is what my mental healthdrove me to.
That's what I relied on, that'swhat the enemy used as a tool
to hurt me and tried to kill me.
And what I learned from Mark'sbook is that we are not an elk.
(01:51):
We are not that person.
We are the son, a daughter ofChrist who has lost their way,
who had got addicted tosomething that they used to numb
their mind.
It was meant for a shortdistraction and it ended up
being a long-term destinationthat we didn't want, and it's
about healing you from within.
It's about looking at the rootsof the problems and putting
(02:16):
those at the feet of Christ,because, see, it's only in
Christ that we find our identity, our purpose, our calling, our
self-worth.
Mark, and your book gives thatback to our first responders.
It gives it back to the peoplethat are struggling, the people
covered in guilt and shame andsays, no, you are not guilty,
you are not shameful, you're ason, a daughter of God.
(02:36):
You can come, you can get soberand you can find a community of
healing.
So, mark, thank you for joiningus.
This is Mark King, the authorof Letters from Hope.
Freedom from Addiction.
Thank you, mark.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Thank you, dan, for having me on.
You know I'm so excited to beable to share what the Lord has
poured into me, to be able toshare with your viewers.
So, as you said, my name isMark King.
I'm a minister as well as anauthor, so I'm the author of
Letters of Hope, freedom fromAddiction and the founder of
(03:09):
Spiritual Sobriety.
And Spiritual Sobriety cameabout when I was delivered from
my addiction to alcohol.
I had an alcohol withdrawalseizure.
I didn't know what that was, Ihad been on a bender and then I
decided that I was going to gocold turkey, I wasn't going to
drink anymore.
(03:29):
And then I found myself.
I woke up in the hospital andthe Letters of Hope is about
that journey.
I woke up in the hospital and Ihad an encounter with the Lord
and basically he said to me thatthis is not the life that I
planned a purpose for you, andand I had to be willing to give
(03:49):
over my pain, I had to bewilling to give over what it was
that was that was tearing meapart to him in order to get
free from alcohol.
You know, and in this in thatjourney, many people will say
something.
And in this in that journey,many people will say something.
And in my counseling I'vetalked to people will say that
well, I'll ask the Lord to takethe taste of alcohol out of my
(04:12):
mouth.
Yes, and I tell people, it'slike he's never going to do that
.
He's not going to do that, andthe reason why is because for
him to take the taste of alcoholout of your mouth means that he
would have to subjugate yourfree will and he's not going to
do that.
You have to be willing to putthe sin down, you have to be
willing to give that pain overto him and then he will give you
(04:34):
beauty for ashes.
He will exchange what he hasfor you, what the devil has been
trying to cover up and preventyou from getting to.
The Lord will reveal that toyou in that moment, in that
there's a process that takesplace and from that alcohol
withdrawal seizure I wrote thebook and I started the company
(05:00):
Spiritual Sobriety, in which Ideveloped a course called
Journey to Freedom, which is ourfive module course that
basically takes people throughthe experience that I had in a
unique way that you know, in asneaky way, I have to admit this
, dan, that the book it's aboutaddiction, but it's really not
(05:20):
about addiction.
It's really about restoring arelationship between the person
and God.
It's like addiction is just thedistraction like you were
saying earlier that the enemyused to try and kill us with so
that we don't fulfill ourpurpose.
And so that's my journey andthat's the mission that I'm on,
and I'm so grateful for thecalling that God has placed in
(05:42):
my life.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Man, I'm glad he brought you back from the ashes
Because, honestly, mark, I'mlooking at you and you're
looking at me, and neither oneof us should be here right now.
Oh, absolutely, but the graceof God.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
We both have been at the bottom.
We both tried to end it.
We both felt unworthy.
Yes, we felt full of guilt andshame, and, but God right, guilt
and shame, and and but godright, yes, he saved us.
And it wasn't.
He didn't.
He didn't save us because wememorized every scripture in the
bible.
He didn't.
He didn't save us because meand mark worked super special
(06:15):
and we prayed super hard and new, secret, secret prayers.
It wasn't because of that.
It was because jesus died onthe cross for us and he had set
us free.
From that point on.
Yes, we can give it to Christ,he can.
His blood paid for that.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
You do not have to be covered in guilt and shame.
Nope, and I know you're tiredof everybody in your life
yelling at you saying you're analcohol.
Stop it.
What the heck is wrong with you?
Pull your head out of your butt.
Pull your head out of your butt.
What the heck is wrong with you?
You're ruining your whole life,don't you realize it?
We don't need to hear that.
And me and Mark, that's not whowe are and that's not who his
book is.
We're not here to yell at youguys.
We hear that when I was goingthrough that, I dealt with that
(06:54):
from the public, from my family.
All right, we don't need to betold we're headed down a
destruction road.
We know that we need helpgetting out of it.
Right, we need someone to lifta hand and say brother, come
with me, let me put my armaround you and show what healing
looks like.
Right, and showing up to one ofyour sobriety trainings and
(07:18):
your I just lost the name of theword you use for it your
spiritual sobriety.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, and then the program Journey to Freedom.
I tell people in the process oftalking about this and
everything that we don't need tobe fixed, we need to be found,
and that's what God does when wesurrender ourselves to him.
Jesus said I came to find thelost.
He didn't say I came to fixpeople.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And lost is a good way to put it, because again we
go back to why we startedpicking the bottle up first,
mark, and honestly, for me itwas just some stress, being
maybe in an environment where Ifelt uncomfortable.
It was always easier to have adrink, right, you're with people
you don't know, whatever.
It kind of starts off as thislike, yeah, let's go and have
some beers and it's kind of funand it seems innocent, and then
(08:11):
all of a sudden you're drinkingmore and then all of a sudden
you're in your bedroom byyourself, isolated, not talking
to any friends, not talking toanybody from church, not talking
, and you're sitting there withyour bottle and you're drinking
and passing out and goingthrough the cycle over and over,
day after day after day.
Yeah, and you don't have tolive like that anymore no and
(08:33):
mark's book and his program willhelp you realize that.
and I'm telling you, when I gothis book and I read it straight
through the first time it's nota long read but it's a beautiful
read learn, learn aboutaddiction in a different way
because it is a spiritual, it'sspiritual warfare.
Right, you see, I tried to getoff an alcohol mark, for I'm
(08:55):
getting emotional.
Probably since my mid-20s, youknow, 2005, I really started
getting into it.
Hard, tried a lot of stuff, man, stuff, man, nothing, just
nothing seemed to work, becauseeverything was trying to smack
the hand, the drink out of myhand, right, nothing was trying
to prevent me from picking upthe drink right and I needed a
(09:18):
reason not to pick it up,because what was going on inside
of me is hurt, pain.
It's trauma.
I've been on, it's the you knowwe deal with as first
responders, as men, we struggle,we start to deal with it in
ugly ways and when we deal withour, when we start to struggle
with our mental health, we dothings that can sometimes feel
(09:41):
shameful.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And God's come to set you free.
And I mean free from that,because when I say I tried
everything to try to get offalcohol.
I tried a lot of stuff, mark.
Nothing worked.
But that day, when I was on myway to end my life down by Lake
Aquabi and I had that encounterwith God and he had me drive
down to Lake Aquabi and he putthis whole mission on my life, I
(10:08):
life, I gave my life to Christthat day and I stood up and I no
longer needed alcohol.
And I didn't understand it, man, it was like a switch.
It was like a switch.
Now there was times during thatperiod when I was like, okay,
I'm not going to drink anymore,I don't need it.
Praise God, it's gone.
There were some times in therewhere I would say, hell, well,
I'm just going to gonna have asocial drink.
So I did that for a littlewhile and finally one of my
(10:29):
buddies said.
He said, man, why are youplaying around with that?
You got yourself sober.
Why are you doing this littlecasual drinking?
And I'm thinking, well, itain't gonna hurt, right, I'm
doing better.
No, and he and I love dwayne, 70year old guy, he's been through
a his whole life.
He's been sober like 40 yearsand he says, man, just stop.
He said, if you just let thatlast little part go, you can
(10:52):
then have a sobriety date.
And boy, is a sobriety date,cool man.
And I said, yeah, it made sense, and I just quit doing it.
And again, it wasn't through mypower, mark, it was through
giving it to Christ.
It was through meeting peoplelike you and having men like you
and an organization like 1042to be able to talk to fellow
brothers and sisters that arestruggling, and we all lift each
other up.
So tell me, when you wrote thisbook was part of it for you?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Part of it was for me , yeah it was a journey, isn't
it?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So tell me about that .
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Well, it's funny that when I was in rehab and I was
in rehab at the Powell Centerhere in Iowa on an outpatient
basis and as I was going throughtheir program was when I
started writing the bones of thebook, you know, because I was
noticing gaps and not in theirprogram or anything like that,
(11:50):
but in my own understanding thatI wanted filled, that I wanted
to know more about how I fellinto this situation and what I
was going to do to, to, to stayout of it.
You know, like you said, one ofthe situations that you
mentioned the social drinkingand stuff like that, after I had
(12:12):
the seizure and I got out ofthe hospital and that was about
eight years ago and I've beensober since then I've had
moments like that to where theenemy would make that suggestion
I'll have one drink, it's notgoing to hurt, and I'm like it
absolutely will hurt.
But you know what's interestingto me about that?
It's not that I'm afraid tohave the drink.
(12:36):
What really kind of stirs mysoul about that is that if I
have the drink and nothinghappens to me, that would be
worse than if I had the drinkand I had a seizure.
Because if I have the drink andnothing happens, then that's a
slippery slope to lead me.
Then it's like well, I had thatdrink, nothing happened.
(12:57):
I must be okay and I don't wantto play that game.
I'm not saying that alcohol isbad for everyone, but I do
believe that it is a weapon thatwas formed against me to
destroy my life.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Thank you for saying that, mark, because I'm sure
you've dealt with this too,whenever you've been addicted.
And then you get sober.
Right, when you get sober, uh,people will not want to.
It's kind of weird, like you'llbe at a social setting and
somebody be like, hey, you wantto drink.
You're like no man, I used tobe an alcoholic, I quit drinking
(13:34):
or whatever.
There's like this weird tensionlike uh, and they're looking at
their drink like uh, and it'slike, hey, man, alcohol is a
problem for me.
I'm not telling you not todrink.
I don't think it's a good idea,but I could care, like I don't
care if you drink.
You can drink in front of meand and that's okay.
It, like you said, it is poisonfor me right and so I always
(13:56):
think that's weird.
when you're talking, when you'reout of something, you tell
somebody you're recovered andthey're like they look at you
like you grew a third arm andit's like okay, I'm, I'm not
going to smack a drink out ofyour hand or anything.
It's OK, you can drink.
It's just not for me.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right.
I think that one of the thingsthat goes through the other
person's mind in thosesituations is when you say you
know that, you know, no, I don'tdo that anymore, and everything
.
And they're like why?
And it's like what was a realproblem for me is they think to
themselves like, well, wait aminute, is this a problem for me
too?
I'm not sure, and most peopledon't want to think about it
(14:33):
that way.
You know and you know.
And then I have to do the samething that you just did.
This was saying that it's likeno, it's like it's a problem for
me, and it's like you know.
It may be I don't know, youknow I'm saying it may be I
don't know.
You know what I'm saying.
It may be a problem for you,but the reality of it is.
Is that really we're alladdicted to something as if
(14:53):
we're honest, our phone a TVprogram, food, you name it.
You know, the enemy is, like theBible says, is like a roaring
lion looking to whom he coulddevour.
So you know, we have to bemindful of the things that we
lift up as idols, because that'swhat an addiction becomes, hmm
(15:14):
so walk me through the, the bookletters of hope, and I know it
kind of matches your, yoursobriety program but, any
letters of hope.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
So kind of walk me through what the, what the, the
idea behind it is, because it'sletters to and from right.
So you want to unpack that andwhy that's important um, and why
that helped you and why thisbook's a little different, in my
opinion, than other sobrietyprograms like what is it about
this style that you're doing,that you think um is helping
(15:45):
change people's lives?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
okay, well, the book, the reason why it's titled
Letters of Hope, and it is aseries of letters my desire was
to personify the elements ofaddiction and it started with
the idea that what if thealcohol could talk?
What would it tell me?
You know, what would it tell meabout its intentions toward me?
And then so there's a letter inthere from bottling booze.
(16:10):
So it's the alcohol.
And actually that letter, ofall the letters in the book, I
had the most fun with because Igot to play the villain, so I
poured a lot into that.
But people that have read thebook and read that letter I had
a friend of mine recently toldme that he he opened the book
(16:34):
and it fell on that, that part,that letter, and he said it kind
of it was chilling to him, itkind of, you know, made him
uncomfortable and I said, good,that means it's doing its job.
But but it is a series ofletters from different.
Like there's a letter from, fromhope, and and hope's not what
(16:54):
people think it is.
You know, when most cases, whenyou mention the word hope to
someone, a person will will,will look at it or think of it
as a wish and the hope is not awish.
Hope is actually certainty inGod's faithfulness.
So it's bedrock, it's solid.
(17:15):
It's not something that you'rehoping, that, like I was about
to say, hoping or wishing isgoing to happen.
It's something that you know isgoing to happen because you're
putting your faith in the onewho cannot fail.
And then there are other lettersin there from.
There's a letter from my soberself to my drunken self and I
made mention in that letter ofhow the two of us were never in
(17:40):
the same place at the same timeand I had someone say to me that
sounds kind of weird.
I said, well, think about it.
If you drink too, you knowdoing things that you don't
usually do, or whatever the casemay be, or whatever you know.
It's almost like a switchhappens and it's like the person
(18:00):
that you actually are is nolonger in control and the
alcohol or whatever the drug ofchoice is in control.
Alcohol or whatever the drug ofchoice is in control.
So technically the two peopleare not in the same place at the
same time, because the morningafter the drunken me doesn't
have to deal with the mess thathe made, the sober me has to
deal with that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So I wrote a letter from those two and then back and
forth.
So that was the idea with theseries of letters, because I
wanted these are like theconversations that the the
alcohol at the attic is havingin their head.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
And I wanted to be able to put that down on paper
so you can see it outside ofyourself and then you can
analyze it and then that helpsto change the whole thought
process around addiction in thefirst place, to change the whole
thought process aroundaddiction in the first place.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Wow, I love that.
I love that with this letterformat it is, it's like you're
unpacking your thoughts.
Instead of being in monologue,you're in dialogue right.
Because you are.
It's like you're facing it, butfrom a different perspective.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And it's laying out, and you guys will notice when
you read this book, like letterfrom the bottle to the booze,
like there's things in hereyou're going to hear like whoa,
I've said that to myself, I'veheard those same thoughts.
I mean, like just reading aline out of it like but the most
sinister part of my plan again,this is booze talking.
I make you believe you need meand I am the only one who
(19:30):
understands, can numb the painand can fill the void.
I make you think you're incontrol, even as I tighten my
grip around you.
My ultimate triumph is when youcan't imagine a life without me
, even as I live, using as, evenas I lead you towards a tragic
end.
And that's just one paragraph,but it's basically putting word
by word what alcohol is doing toyou.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
And it's just a cool perspective, mark.
I really think it is.
And you got the letter, letterfrom God, which I think, which I
think is pretty cool, which iskind of a reminder, right Right
For God saying and this isn'tMark trying to pretend to be God
, this is Mark using scriptureand things that he's known from
the faith over years and puttingit, put it together on what the
(20:14):
Bible says about God and us andaddiction, and it's pretty cool
.
That one I really, reallyenjoyed.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
You got to check this book out.
It's on Amazon.
Is it anywhere else?
Mark, just Amazon.
Currently just on Amazon.
Okay, you gotta check this bookout.
It's on amazon.
Is anywhere else?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
mark, just amazon uh, currently just on amazon okay,
and is it in?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I've got the paperback, for I don't know how
many I've ordered.
I keep giving these away.
Mark, I got one for me thefirst time and, um, I just keep
getting them.
I give them away to people umbut check it out.
Um.
Lettersters of Hope by MarkCain.
I'm going to put a link in thepodcast episode for you guys to
be able to click on and order it.
(20:55):
Is there an Audible version?
Oh?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
not yet.
I'm working on that, but thereis a Kindle version and a
paperback.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Okay, cool.
The reason why I was asking isI've noticed that for me anyway,
and a lot of police officers,first responders, people that
have dealt with like PTSD andtrauma, like you have, Mark, and
I have that that was.
I can say, the computer glitchand I froze up.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Well, I get what you mean.
I was even going to say I'msorry, I had a computer
distraction here well, it'seasier to uh, for, depending on
the kind of work that you do,it's easier to to um to listen
to it than, if you know, if youdon't have time to read it.
So the uh.
The audio version of it will beout soon.
I'm looking forward.
How does that?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
work because, I will you know, god's called me to
write a book or two down theroad and I've kind of wondered
so, do you?
Does that work?
Because, I will you know, god'scalled me to write a book or
two down the road and I've kindof wondered so do you?
Does that something you have topay extra for?
Or do you do the?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
recording and then it's um, you can do it yourself
or you can pay someone else todo it as well.
You know, I'm endeavoring to doit myself and see how it works.
And see how it works.
I mean, I wrote that book onand I published it myself on
Amazon.
I had some a third party tolook at it to make sure the
formatting and everything wasright, but I published it myself
(22:18):
.
So I'm taking a stab at theaudio recording.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, man, I think you've done great, mark.
I mean, this is amazing.
You know, everybody thinksabout writing a book.
Very few people actually do it,very few people are called to
do it, but it is on Amazon.
Get the book.
It's a short read, guys.
It's 122 pages.
It's a short, powerful read.
It's not going to take you 18hours to read this book.
Like I said, I read it in onesetting.
(22:44):
It's short, and powerful.
And then when you get that bookon Amazon, it's $14.99.
That's a really good price.
Got a fly flying around me.
When you get that book, then Iwant you to go to his website,
because on there, mark, is whereyou have your spiritual
sobriety.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Spiritual sobriety is the website, and then on there
we have access to our recoveryprogram, the course called
Journey to Freedom.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Okay, and I want to talk about that For some reason
when I click on it.
Let me see here what's theactual.
Is it just called SpiritualSobriety?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
The web address.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
It's wwwspiritual-sobrietycom.
Gotcha, yeah, so there's a dashbetween spiritual and sobriety.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, so let's talk about this.
Why did you start this program?
What's the goal of it is?
You know well how, how can ourlisteners, if they want to find
out about this and get involvedinto the program, how do they do
that?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
yes, well, you go to the website and the website has
a wealth of information.
There's some free materials onthere as well, but, um, I
started the, the website, thecompany as a whole, to be able
to reach people and to share theexperience that I had with the
Lord, that that, I believe,delivered me from an addiction
to alcohol.
And you know, with this websiteand with this course, journey
(24:16):
to Freedom, I was able to tocreate process based off of the
book Letters of Hope Freedomfrom Addiction.
It's a five-module course thatyou can.
It's self-led, you go online,you sign up for it and then you
have there's a small fee, butthen there's you get lifetime
(24:36):
access to the tools andeverything that goes with it and
even stuff that I continue toadd into it um for all the
participants.
But um, it's a five modulecourse that takes you through um
, these different, these fivedifferent stages and the um the
main.
The first one is um why do youwant to be sober?
And uh, that's always aninteresting question, because
(24:59):
I've gotten a lot of not a lot,but I would say a little flack
from people at first when I makethat, when I ask that question
why do you want to be sober, andit's like well, that's such a
silly question.
I want to be sober because Iwant to be healthy, I don't want
to die, I don't want to do this, and I'm like well, are you
(25:22):
sober?
And they're like, well, no, andI'm like so then that's not a
valid reason, right, it ain'tworking, right, exactly, you
know, the math ain't mathing.
And so then, with that module,we really dig into this process.
It's called the seven whys, andI'll ask a person why?
Seven times?
Like we say, I want to be sober, why do you want to be sober?
Well, I want to be soberbecause I want to be healthy.
(25:42):
Well then, why do you want tobe healthy?
And so on, and by the timeusually by the time you get to
the seventh one, the person hastouched on something that they
hadn't thought of before.
Now, when I took myself throughthat process, I was given the
same surface answers and in theend, it came down to my because
(26:03):
your why is really yoursuperpower.
It's the thing that's going toprevent you from relapsing, from
going back, or any of thatstuff.
And I'd say it's yoursuperpower, because it's tied to
your purpose.
That's right, and so mine was.
I'm taking myself through thisprocess.
(26:23):
And then, as I'm getting to thebottom, I realized, and when I
was in the hospital and I had myseizure, my youngest daughter I
have three daughters myyoungest daughter was six years
old and she came in to visit meone day and she gave me this
little, this locket that shemade, that had made a yarn, and
had a little picture in thislocket of she and I that we had
(26:46):
taken at like Disney World orsomething some years before.
And she, it amazed me that whenshe came to see me she was
smiling, she was happy.
And I'm thinking to myselfdoesn't this kid realize not
that I wanted her to be sad?
Doesn't this kid realize notthat I wanted her to be sad?
But doesn't she realize thatyou know, daddy's in a bad
situation here?
But she knew something that Ididn't know and that's that she
(27:08):
had been praying for me and thatGod was going to deliver me.
But she, she gave me thislocket and then she left with my
wife and they left that nightand I was looking at this thing
and I, just I was bawling, I wascrying.
It was just like man, I can'tnot be here for her Now.
My father passed away when I was10.
(27:28):
He died from it was a cancerrelated issue, not alcohol, but
I was without him during thoseyears.
So when I was taking myselfthrough this Y process, I
realized that that moment, towhere she came and she saw me
and she gave that to me, thatthought process that I was
having later on about notwanting for her to experience
(27:52):
life without me the way Iexperienced life after 10 years
old without my dad, that's mywhy.
I don't want to see anotherperson be lost by addiction and
then their children, theirfamily, their loved ones grow up
or go on without them, andthat's my why.
(28:12):
That's why I created thisprogram.
That's why I do the work that Ido is because I don't want them
to experience the pain that Iexperienced.
That in some ways was part ofmy issue with alcohol, and I
don't want people to have toexperience that.
So any enemy will use whateverhe can to get you on that
(28:33):
slippery slope to distract youfrom your purpose in life.
Because he knows that if wetruly find out who we are and
who we're connected to and whathe's called us to do because
Jesus didn't save people just sowe can enjoy life.
He saved us for a reason he'sgot work for us to do that's
right, and help save others isone of them.
(29:13):
So that's the first module iswhy do you want to be sober?
Then the subsequent ones are.
Number two is the reframingmindset, which helps put your
energy and effort into.
So if you're focusing on thewrong thoughts like I've got to
get a I got to get rid of thispain by going to go and have a
drink Then you know, if itlingers in your head too long,
it'll move to your heart.
And once it moves to your heart, you're going to do it.
(29:34):
Action is going to take place.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
So this second module helps to deal with that aspect
of it.
The third one is navigatingthoughts and feelings.
And I was having a conversationwith a gentleman the other day
and he said some things to meabout some thoughts that he was
having.
And I said to him, I said youdo realize that not every
thought you have is your ownRight.
And he looked at me like whatdo you mean?
(29:58):
And I'm like, well, they're not.
I'm like the they're not.
I'm like the devil is talkingto you.
He's trying to get you,persuade you to do things you
shouldn't do.
And God's talking to you andtrying to get you to do things
that you should do.
And in the middle you're tryingto figure out what it is that
you want to do, or whether ornot you're going to do one or
the other.
So that navigating thoughts andfeelings is an opportunity to
(30:22):
really utilize one of thesuperpowers that God has given
us and that's the ability tochoose.
You have the power to choosewhich one you're going to to go
with.
It's kind of like that.
I think it's an old NativeAmerican saying that you know
something about two wolves andwhich one.
(30:42):
You know which one lives, whichone is going to thrive and it's
the one that you feed.
So you know, if you're feedingthe one that leads you down the
path of a right way of livingand things like that, then you
know those areas are going togrow in your life.
Then the fourth one is livingwith intention.
So that's about creating a planof how to live with intention.
(31:02):
Now you've gotten free from,you know, whatever it was that
you were addicted to, and you'vegot to.
You've got to fill that spacewith something, and so it's got
to be filled with the thingsthat you are desiring to do, the
things that you're learningthat you were meant to do in
life.
And then the last module ismodule five, and that's the
(31:24):
power of prayer.
And you know, I love all themodules, but that one right
there just truly identifies.
You know that.
I mean, the Bible says that weare wonderfully and fearfully
made, and the truth of thematter is is that we have no
idea how powerful we are.
I mean, in some ways, as humanbeings, we're running with
(31:46):
scissors.
You know what I'm saying?
Because we don't know howpowerful we are.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
So true.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And prayer is the way in which we connect with God,
to find out who we truly are, sothat we can stop running with
scissors and be more intentionalabout the life that we're
living and fulfill the call, theplan and purpose that he has in
our life.
And that's the reason why I putthis together I want to help
people to uncover that, touncover that Life beats us down
(32:25):
daily, trying to get us to focuson the wrong thing, because the
fact of the matter is, at anygiven moment, both good and evil
are both present, and thewonderful power that we have is
we have the ability to choose,and I think that so many people
are on automatic pilot to whereit's just like.
You know, they're not choosingand we're just existing rather
than living.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Yeah, man, those are all great steps going clear back
to your why I mean that's thebiggest, that was one of the
biggest things for me because,honestly, I didn't.
I mean I wanted it in my life.
I was already destroying myself.
I didn't care if I died.
My why was my family.
It wasn't me.
I know that sounds sick, butthat's what it was for me and it
(33:11):
was what God did for me.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, I don't think that that sounds sick, though
because it's like you know youliving, but it's because it's
like you know you living.
I like to use this analogy thata fruit grows on a tree, but
the tree never eats the fruit.
The fruit is always for someoneelse.
(33:34):
So we're all living for someoneelse other than ourselves.
When we truly come tounderstand that the only way the
tree eats the fruit itself iswhen the fruit stays on the vine
and it rots.
So if you don't give whatyou've been giving, then you're
not going to really get anywhere.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
There's no fulfillment, then what a great
analogy.
I love that man, powerful Mark,I'm so glad that God is using
you the way he is.
Thank you.
Just seeing this in my hand Imean when I first got it, like
you know from talking to youbefore it was written to this
and now you know, having you onthe podcast and just seeing a
(34:13):
thought come to a program withyour obedience to Christ, I
think that's pretty amazing.
Man, I think you're producingfruit and I think this book is
fruit.
I think what it'll do helpbring healing to people is fruit
To our first responders givethis book a chance.
(34:34):
Check out his program.
I highly highly recommend it,highly recommend it.
Get a hold of him, find outabout this program, find out how
to get involved, how to gethelp.
I would like to see our firstresponders group up and do some
of this stuff together.
Let's start a side group forpeople that are struggling with
(34:55):
alcoholism.
Let's use Mark's program andwalk it out together.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Mark, thanks for telling your story, thanks for
being open and honest andtransparent.
And as we close out here, mark,I just want to thank you and I
want you to again let mylisteners know how they can get
ahold of you, how they can getstarted on the program, how they
can find out more.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Let them know how they can get started on the
program, how they can find outmore, let them know how they can
get started.
Oh yeah, absolutely so.
You can go online to my website, wwwspiritual-sobrietycom, and
that has all the informationwhich you can purchase it there,
and then also the book you can.
There's a link there and thenit has more information about
(35:44):
how we do what we do and why wedo what we do.
You can also email me at MacM-A-C at spiritual-sobrietycom
and, you know, let's start amovement, let's get things
moving.
I mean, I know that there'speople out here who need this
kind of help and, like I said, Imade this with the Lord's help
(36:09):
as an alternative to some of thematter is that you know, just
going through this program isnot going to make you sober.
Going through this program anddoing the work is going to get
you there and it's like, but youhave to do the work.
(36:30):
It's not a magic bullet, likeDan was saying.
It's a short book but it's deepwork, especially when you get
into the program itself.
So I encourage people that youcan go through it as an
individual or you can.
I have it set up also to whereit can be used by recovery
centers and ministries anddifferent organizations as well,
(36:52):
and taught as a group as wellalso.
So, but all of that informationis on the website
wwwspiritual-sobrietycom.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Thank you, Mark, and I'll put a link into that, into
the description listeners, soyou guys can click on that find
it easily.
I encourage you to reach out toMark, reach out to his website.
If you have any questions, feelfree to call him or me.
You can call me.
I will.
Again, I recommend this.
I don't recommend everythingthat I come across, you guys
know that, but I do recommendthis book and recommend this
(37:25):
program.
So if you're struggling withalcoholism, you kind of tried
everything else.
Maybe you're a believer inChrist, Maybe you're not.
You don't have to be a believerin Christ to start this program
right.
This program just has the heartof Christ in it and through the
program you will learn that youwere created on purpose, for a
purpose, and that God's createdus to produce fruit and healing
(37:46):
to others.
And this program is going tonot only help you get sober,
it'll be a tool to help you getsober.
One of many tools to where youguys can get your life back.
You can get your family backand, honestly, I believe God's
going to use all that pain thatyou guys are struggling with
right now, even though you feelcovered in guilt and shame and I
know it doesn't feel like itbut god can use that as a
(38:09):
platform for him to build hiskingdom on yes your pain, he can
turn into purpose absolutelyhis connection, his true hope to
the father that created you.
So again, you don't have to be abeliever to join this, but what
I would say is be open to it.
There's a God that created you.
There's a God who loves you.
(38:30):
There's a God who has a purposefor you, a plan for you.
And that plan and that purposeis not to be drunk all the time,
hungover, all the time, angryall the time, isolated all the
time.
That is the enemy's plan.
That's the enemy's plan.
That is not God's plan.
John 10.10 says that the enemycomes to kill, steal and destroy
, and God comes to give life andlife abundant.
(38:52):
If those thoughts you have inyour mind that are not yours, is
that thought coming to kill,steal and destroy you, or is
that thought that popped in yourmind coming to give you life
and life abundant?
Let's capture those thoughts,let's speak truth to them, let's
put John 10 over them, let'sfind out if they bring life or
destruction, and that can help.
You know, is it God giving youthis message?
(39:13):
Is it the enemy giving you yourmessage?
God's not going to tell you tokeep drinking.
God's not going to tell you tokeep drinking.
God's not going to tell you togo hide somewhere and keep doing
it and lie into people.
No, our God is a God of truthand transparency.
He wants healing for you, foryour family, and it is possible.
Thank you, mark.
(39:36):
Thank you for joining us andlisteners.
Check out our 1042 page.
Stay up to date.
Sign up for our newsletter ifyou have not.
It stays up to date on all ofour programming, all of our
outings, our ambassadors.
If you are a first responder whoneeds help or a family member,
please reach out.
That's what our organization isfor.
This podcast is just a platformto talk about the actual
(39:57):
organization we run, walkingalongside first responders and
their family members, makingsure that there's no guilt or
shame.
They have an organization wholoves them for who they are, who
wants to walk alongside them,help them get better.
So please reach out to us at10-42projectcom or you can call
my cell phone if you need helpat 515-350-6274.
(40:18):
I care about you.
Christ cares about you.
Thank you for listening and wewill see you next week.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks, mark.
I appreciate it.
Buddy, I hope you have a goodrest of your day.
Let me just jam out to somebeats here for a little bit, man
.
It's good to see what God'sdoing in your life.
Don't be a stranger man.
(40:39):
I hope we get some firstresponders headed your way.
Yeah, and I'm proud of you, man.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
You have a blessed day, you too.
Welcome back to another episode of the Shared
Voices podcast.
Welcome listeners.
Thank you for joining us again.
We got a great episode today.
Wow, I tell you I really lovethis guest because I got to meet
him a couple of years ago andyou guys know my story with
alcoholism, you guys know mystory with pain pills.
You guys know my story withpain pills.
(00:26):
You know my stories and mystruggles.
So when I met Mark and I heardabout a guy who had some
struggles here in the centralIowa area, a man who had dealt
with addictions, who had dealtwith the guilt and the shame, a
man who just I could relate to,and I got to meet him and learn
about a book that he was in theprocess of writing.
(00:47):
Mark, you hadn't even writtenit yet.
You had already started writinga book and you sent me the
transcript and I got to read itand I read the whole thing in
one sitting and I said, whoa,this book is powerful because it
is healing in a new way, andthe reason why I say that is
when you guys hear me talk aboutgetting, getting, getting, um,
getting sober.
(01:07):
There's a lot of differentpaths and there's different
paths for different people.
Um, aa is a path.
It's a very great path for somepeople.
Um, there's several othertreatment facilities that are
out there that have an alcoholprogram, but what Mark has
created, in my opinion, issomething a little different
because it dealt with.
His book deals with what I dealtwith.
(01:28):
I didn't want to be labeled analcoholic my whole life.
That is what my mental healthdrove me to.
That's what I relied on, that'swhat the enemy used as a tool
to hurt me and tried to kill me.
And what I learned from Mark'sbook is that we are not an elk.
(01:51):
We are not that person.
We are the son, a daughter ofChrist who has lost their way,
who had got addicted tosomething that they used to numb
their mind.
It was meant for a shortdistraction and it ended up
being a long-term destinationthat we didn't want, and it's
about healing you from within.
It's about looking at the rootsof the problems and putting
(02:16):
those at the feet of Christ,because, see, it's only in
Christ that we find our identity, our purpose, our calling, our
self-worth.
Mark, and your book gives thatback to our first responders.
It gives it back to the peoplethat are struggling, the people
covered in guilt and shame andsays, no, you are not guilty,
you are not shameful, you're ason, a daughter of God.
(02:36):
You can come, you can get soberand you can find a community of
healing.
So, mark, thank you for joiningus.
This is Mark King, the authorof Letters from Hope.
Freedom from Addiction.
Thank you, mark.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Thank you, dan, for having me on.
You know I'm so excited to beable to share what the Lord has
poured into me, to be able toshare with your viewers.
So, as you said, my name isMark King.
I'm a minister as well as anauthor, so I'm the author of
Letters of Hope, freedom fromAddiction and the founder of
(03:09):
Spiritual Sobriety.
And Spiritual Sobriety cameabout when I was delivered from
my addiction to alcohol.
I had an alcohol withdrawalseizure.
I didn't know what that was, Ihad been on a bender and then I
decided that I was going to gocold turkey, I wasn't going to
drink anymore.
(03:29):
And then I found myself.
I woke up in the hospital andthe Letters of Hope is about
that journey.
I woke up in the hospital and Ihad an encounter with the Lord
and basically he said to me thatthis is not the life that I
planned a purpose for you, andand I had to be willing to give
(03:49):
over my pain, I had to bewilling to give over what it was
that was that was tearing meapart to him in order to get
free from alcohol.
You know, and in this in thatjourney, many people will say
something.
And in this in that journey,many people will say something.
And in my counseling I'vetalked to people will say that
well, I'll ask the Lord to takethe taste of alcohol out of my
(04:12):
mouth.
Yes, and I tell people, it'slike he's never going to do that
.
He's not going to do that, andthe reason why is because for
him to take the taste of alcoholout of your mouth means that he
would have to subjugate yourfree will and he's not going to
do that.
You have to be willing to putthe sin down, you have to be
willing to give that pain overto him and then he will give you
(04:34):
beauty for ashes.
He will exchange what he hasfor you, what the devil has been
trying to cover up and preventyou from getting to.
The Lord will reveal that toyou in that moment, in that
there's a process that takesplace and from that alcohol
withdrawal seizure I wrote thebook and I started the company
(05:00):
Spiritual Sobriety, in which Ideveloped a course called
Journey to Freedom, which is ourfive module course that
basically takes people throughthe experience that I had in a
unique way that you know, in asneaky way, I have to admit this
, dan, that the book it's aboutaddiction, but it's really not
(05:20):
about addiction.
It's really about restoring arelationship between the person
and God.
It's like addiction is just thedistraction like you were
saying earlier that the enemyused to try and kill us with so
that we don't fulfill ourpurpose.
And so that's my journey andthat's the mission that I'm on,
and I'm so grateful for thecalling that God has placed in
(05:42):
my life.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Man, I'm glad he brought you back from the ashes
Because, honestly, mark, I'mlooking at you and you're
looking at me, and neither oneof us should be here right now.
Oh, absolutely, but the graceof God.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
We both have been at the bottom.
We both tried to end it.
We both felt unworthy.
Yes, we felt full of guilt andshame, and, but God right, guilt
and shame, and and but godright, yes, he saved us.
And it wasn't.
He didn't.
He didn't save us because wememorized every scripture in the
bible.
He didn't.
He didn't save us because meand mark worked super special
(06:15):
and we prayed super hard and new, secret, secret prayers.
It wasn't because of that.
It was because jesus died onthe cross for us and he had set
us free.
From that point on.
Yes, we can give it to Christ,he can.
His blood paid for that.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
You do not have to be covered in guilt and shame.
Nope, and I know you're tiredof everybody in your life
yelling at you saying you're analcohol.
Stop it.
What the heck is wrong with you?
Pull your head out of your butt.
Pull your head out of your butt.
What the heck is wrong with you?
You're ruining your whole life,don't you realize it?
We don't need to hear that.
And me and Mark, that's not whowe are and that's not who his
book is.
We're not here to yell at youguys.
We hear that when I was goingthrough that, I dealt with that
(06:54):
from the public, from my family.
All right, we don't need to betold we're headed down a
destruction road.
We know that we need helpgetting out of it.
Right, we need someone to lifta hand and say brother, come
with me, let me put my armaround you and show what healing
looks like.
Right, and showing up to one ofyour sobriety trainings and
(07:18):
your I just lost the name of theword you use for it your
spiritual sobriety.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, and then the program Journey to Freedom.
I tell people in the process oftalking about this and
everything that we don't need tobe fixed, we need to be found,
and that's what God does when wesurrender ourselves to him.
Jesus said I came to find thelost.
He didn't say I came to fixpeople.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And lost is a good way to put it, because again we
go back to why we startedpicking the bottle up first,
mark, and honestly, for me itwas just some stress, being
maybe in an environment where Ifelt uncomfortable.
It was always easier to have adrink, right, you're with people
you don't know, whatever.
It kind of starts off as thislike, yeah, let's go and have
some beers and it's kind of funand it seems innocent, and then
(08:11):
all of a sudden you're drinkingmore and then all of a sudden
you're in your bedroom byyourself, isolated, not talking
to any friends, not talking toanybody from church, not talking
, and you're sitting there withyour bottle and you're drinking
and passing out and goingthrough the cycle over and over,
day after day after day.
Yeah, and you don't have tolive like that anymore no and
(08:33):
mark's book and his program willhelp you realize that.
and I'm telling you, when I gothis book and I read it straight
through the first time it's nota long read but it's a beautiful
read learn, learn aboutaddiction in a different way
because it is a spiritual, it'sspiritual warfare.
Right, you see, I tried to getoff an alcohol mark, for I'm
(08:55):
getting emotional.
Probably since my mid-20s, youknow, 2005, I really started
getting into it.
Hard, tried a lot of stuff, man, stuff, man, nothing, just
nothing seemed to work, becauseeverything was trying to smack
the hand, the drink out of myhand, right, nothing was trying
to prevent me from picking upthe drink right and I needed a
(09:18):
reason not to pick it up,because what was going on inside
of me is hurt, pain.
It's trauma.
I've been on, it's the you knowwe deal with as first
responders, as men, we struggle,we start to deal with it in
ugly ways and when we deal withour, when we start to struggle
with our mental health, we dothings that can sometimes feel
(09:41):
shameful.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And God's come to set you free.
And I mean free from that,because when I say I tried
everything to try to get offalcohol.
I tried a lot of stuff, mark.
Nothing worked.
But that day, when I was on myway to end my life down by Lake
Aquabi and I had that encounterwith God and he had me drive
down to Lake Aquabi and he putthis whole mission on my life, I
(10:08):
life, I gave my life to Christthat day and I stood up and I no
longer needed alcohol.
And I didn't understand it, man, it was like a switch.
It was like a switch.
Now there was times during thatperiod when I was like, okay,
I'm not going to drink anymore,I don't need it.
Praise God, it's gone.
There were some times in therewhere I would say, hell, well,
I'm just going to gonna have asocial drink.
So I did that for a littlewhile and finally one of my
(10:29):
buddies said.
He said, man, why are youplaying around with that?
You got yourself sober.
Why are you doing this littlecasual drinking?
And I'm thinking, well, itain't gonna hurt, right, I'm
doing better.
No, and he and I love dwayne, 70year old guy, he's been through
a his whole life.
He's been sober like 40 yearsand he says, man, just stop.
He said, if you just let thatlast little part go, you can
(10:52):
then have a sobriety date.
And boy, is a sobriety date,cool man.
And I said, yeah, it made sense, and I just quit doing it.
And again, it wasn't through mypower, mark, it was through
giving it to Christ.
It was through meeting peoplelike you and having men like you
and an organization like 1042to be able to talk to fellow
brothers and sisters that arestruggling, and we all lift each
other up.
So tell me, when you wrote thisbook was part of it for you?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Part of it was for me , yeah it was a journey, isn't
it?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So tell me about that .
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Well, it's funny that when I was in rehab and I was
in rehab at the Powell Centerhere in Iowa on an outpatient
basis and as I was going throughtheir program was when I
started writing the bones of thebook, you know, because I was
noticing gaps and not in theirprogram or anything like that,
(11:50):
but in my own understanding thatI wanted filled, that I wanted
to know more about how I fellinto this situation and what I
was going to do to, to, to stayout of it.
You know, like you said, one ofthe situations that you
mentioned the social drinkingand stuff like that, after I had
(12:12):
the seizure and I got out ofthe hospital and that was about
eight years ago and I've beensober since then I've had
moments like that to where theenemy would make that suggestion
I'll have one drink, it's notgoing to hurt, and I'm like it
absolutely will hurt.
But you know what's interestingto me about that?
It's not that I'm afraid tohave the drink.
(12:36):
What really kind of stirs mysoul about that is that if I
have the drink and nothinghappens to me, that would be
worse than if I had the drinkand I had a seizure.
Because if I have the drink andnothing happens, then that's a
slippery slope to lead me.
Then it's like well, I had thatdrink, nothing happened.
(12:57):
I must be okay and I don't wantto play that game.
I'm not saying that alcohol isbad for everyone, but I do
believe that it is a weapon thatwas formed against me to
destroy my life.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Thank you for saying that, mark, because I'm sure
you've dealt with this too,whenever you've been addicted.
And then you get sober.
Right, when you get sober, uh,people will not want to.
It's kind of weird, like you'llbe at a social setting and
somebody be like, hey, you wantto drink.
You're like no man, I used tobe an alcoholic, I quit drinking
(13:34):
or whatever.
There's like this weird tensionlike uh, and they're looking at
their drink like uh, and it'slike, hey, man, alcohol is a
problem for me.
I'm not telling you not todrink.
I don't think it's a good idea,but I could care, like I don't
care if you drink.
You can drink in front of meand and that's okay.
It, like you said, it is poisonfor me right and so I always
(13:56):
think that's weird.
when you're talking, when you'reout of something, you tell
somebody you're recovered andthey're like they look at you
like you grew a third arm andit's like okay, I'm, I'm not
going to smack a drink out ofyour hand or anything.
It's OK, you can drink.
It's just not for me.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right.
I think that one of the thingsthat goes through the other
person's mind in thosesituations is when you say you
know that, you know, no, I don'tdo that anymore, and everything
.
And they're like why?
And it's like what was a realproblem for me is they think to
themselves like, well, wait aminute, is this a problem for me
too?
I'm not sure, and most peopledon't want to think about it
(14:33):
that way.
You know and you know.
And then I have to do the samething that you just did.
This was saying that it's likeno, it's like it's a problem for
me, and it's like you know.
It may be I don't know, youknow I'm saying it may be I
don't know.
You know what I'm saying.
It may be a problem for you,but the reality of it is.
Is that really we're alladdicted to something as if
(14:53):
we're honest, our phone a TVprogram, food, you name it.
You know, the enemy is, like theBible says, is like a roaring
lion looking to whom he coulddevour.
So you know, we have to bemindful of the things that we
lift up as idols, because that'swhat an addiction becomes, hmm
(15:14):
so walk me through the, the bookletters of hope, and I know it
kind of matches your, yoursobriety program but, any
letters of hope.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
So kind of walk me through what the, what the, the
idea behind it is, because it'sletters to and from right.
So you want to unpack that andwhy that's important um, and why
that helped you and why thisbook's a little different, in my
opinion, than other sobrietyprograms like what is it about
this style that you're doing,that you think um is helping
(15:45):
change people's lives?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
okay, well, the book, the reason why it's titled
Letters of Hope, and it is aseries of letters my desire was
to personify the elements ofaddiction and it started with
the idea that what if thealcohol could talk?
What would it tell me?
You know, what would it tell meabout its intentions toward me?
And then so there's a letter inthere from bottling booze.
(16:10):
So it's the alcohol.
And actually that letter, ofall the letters in the book, I
had the most fun with because Igot to play the villain, so I
poured a lot into that.
But people that have read thebook and read that letter I had
a friend of mine recently toldme that he he opened the book
(16:34):
and it fell on that, that part,that letter, and he said it kind
of it was chilling to him, itkind of, you know, made him
uncomfortable and I said, good,that means it's doing its job.
But but it is a series ofletters from different.
Like there's a letter from, fromhope, and and hope's not what
(16:54):
people think it is.
You know, when most cases, whenyou mention the word hope to
someone, a person will will,will look at it or think of it
as a wish and the hope is not awish.
Hope is actually certainty inGod's faithfulness.
So it's bedrock, it's solid.
(17:15):
It's not something that you'rehoping, that, like I was about
to say, hoping or wishing isgoing to happen.
It's something that you know isgoing to happen because you're
putting your faith in the onewho cannot fail.
And then there are other lettersin there from.
There's a letter from my soberself to my drunken self and I
made mention in that letter ofhow the two of us were never in
(17:40):
the same place at the same timeand I had someone say to me that
sounds kind of weird.
I said, well, think about it.
If you drink too, you knowdoing things that you don't
usually do, or whatever the casemay be, or whatever you know.
It's almost like a switchhappens and it's like the person
(18:00):
that you actually are is nolonger in control and the
alcohol or whatever the drug ofchoice is in control.
Alcohol or whatever the drug ofchoice is in control.
So technically the two peopleare not in the same place at the
same time, because the morningafter the drunken me doesn't
have to deal with the mess thathe made, the sober me has to
deal with that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So I wrote a letter from those two and then back and
forth.
So that was the idea with theseries of letters, because I
wanted these are like theconversations that the the
alcohol at the attic is havingin their head.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
And I wanted to be able to put that down on paper
so you can see it outside ofyourself and then you can
analyze it and then that helpsto change the whole thought
process around addiction in thefirst place, to change the whole
thought process aroundaddiction in the first place.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Wow, I love that.
I love that with this letterformat it is, it's like you're
unpacking your thoughts.
Instead of being in monologue,you're in dialogue right.
Because you are.
It's like you're facing it, butfrom a different perspective.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And it's laying out, and you guys will notice when
you read this book, like letterfrom the bottle to the booze,
like there's things in hereyou're going to hear like whoa,
I've said that to myself, I'veheard those same thoughts.
I mean, like just reading aline out of it like but the most
sinister part of my plan again,this is booze talking.
I make you believe you need meand I am the only one who
(19:30):
understands, can numb the painand can fill the void.
I make you think you're incontrol, even as I tighten my
grip around you.
My ultimate triumph is when youcan't imagine a life without me
, even as I live, using as, evenas I lead you towards a tragic
end.
And that's just one paragraph,but it's basically putting word
by word what alcohol is doing toyou.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
And it's just a cool perspective, mark.
I really think it is.
And you got the letter, letterfrom God, which I think, which I
think is pretty cool, which iskind of a reminder, right Right
For God saying and this isn'tMark trying to pretend to be God
, this is Mark using scriptureand things that he's known from
the faith over years and puttingit, put it together on what the
(20:14):
Bible says about God and us andaddiction, and it's pretty cool
.
That one I really, reallyenjoyed.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
You got to check this book out.
It's on Amazon.
Is it anywhere else?
Mark, just Amazon.
Currently just on Amazon.
Okay, you gotta check this bookout.
It's on amazon.
Is anywhere else?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
mark, just amazon uh, currently just on amazon okay,
and is it in?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I've got the paperback, for I don't know how
many I've ordered.
I keep giving these away.
Mark, I got one for me thefirst time and, um, I just keep
getting them.
I give them away to people umbut check it out.
Um.
Lettersters of Hope by MarkCain.
I'm going to put a link in thepodcast episode for you guys to
be able to click on and order it.
(20:55):
Is there an Audible version?
Oh?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
not yet.
I'm working on that, but thereis a Kindle version and a
paperback.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Okay, cool.
The reason why I was asking isI've noticed that for me anyway,
and a lot of police officers,first responders, people that
have dealt with like PTSD andtrauma, like you have, Mark, and
I have that that was.
I can say, the computer glitchand I froze up.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Well, I get what you mean.
I was even going to say I'msorry, I had a computer
distraction here well, it'seasier to uh, for, depending on
the kind of work that you do,it's easier to to um to listen
to it than, if you know, if youdon't have time to read it.
So the uh.
The audio version of it will beout soon.
I'm looking forward.
How does that?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
work because, I will you know, god's called me to
write a book or two down theroad and I've kind of wondered
so, do you?
Does that work?
Because, I will you know, god'scalled me to write a book or
two down the road and I've kindof wondered so do you?
Does that something you have topay extra for?
Or do you do the?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
recording and then it's um, you can do it yourself
or you can pay someone else todo it as well.
You know, I'm endeavoring to doit myself and see how it works.
And see how it works.
I mean, I wrote that book onand I published it myself on
Amazon.
I had some a third party tolook at it to make sure the
formatting and everything wasright, but I published it myself
(22:18):
.
So I'm taking a stab at theaudio recording.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, man, I think you've done great, mark.
I mean, this is amazing.
You know, everybody thinksabout writing a book.
Very few people actually do it,very few people are called to
do it, but it is on Amazon.
Get the book.
It's a short read, guys.
It's 122 pages.
It's a short, powerful read.
It's not going to take you 18hours to read this book.
Like I said, I read it in onesetting.
(22:44):
It's short, and powerful.
And then when you get that bookon Amazon, it's $14.99.
That's a really good price.
Got a fly flying around me.
When you get that book, then Iwant you to go to his website,
because on there, mark, is whereyou have your spiritual
sobriety.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Spiritual sobriety is the website, and then on there
we have access to our recoveryprogram, the course called
Journey to Freedom.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Okay, and I want to talk about that For some reason
when I click on it.
Let me see here what's theactual.
Is it just called SpiritualSobriety?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
The web address.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
It's wwwspiritual-sobrietycom.
Gotcha, yeah, so there's a dashbetween spiritual and sobriety.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, so let's talk about this.
Why did you start this program?
What's the goal of it is?
You know well how, how can ourlisteners, if they want to find
out about this and get involvedinto the program, how do they do
that?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
yes, well, you go to the website and the website has
a wealth of information.
There's some free materials onthere as well, but, um, I
started the, the website, thecompany as a whole, to be able
to reach people and to share theexperience that I had with the
Lord, that that, I believe,delivered me from an addiction
to alcohol.
And you know, with this websiteand with this course, journey
(24:16):
to Freedom, I was able to tocreate process based off of the
book Letters of Hope Freedomfrom Addiction.
It's a five-module course thatyou can.
It's self-led, you go online,you sign up for it and then you
have there's a small fee, butthen there's you get lifetime
(24:36):
access to the tools andeverything that goes with it and
even stuff that I continue toadd into it um for all the
participants.
But um, it's a five modulecourse that takes you through um
, these different, these fivedifferent stages and the um the
main.
The first one is um why do youwant to be sober?
And uh, that's always aninteresting question, because
(24:59):
I've gotten a lot of not a lot,but I would say a little flack
from people at first when I makethat, when I ask that question
why do you want to be sober, andit's like well, that's such a
silly question.
I want to be sober because Iwant to be healthy, I don't want
to die, I don't want to do this, and I'm like well, are you
(25:22):
sober?
And they're like, well, no, andI'm like so then that's not a
valid reason, right, it ain'tworking, right, exactly, you
know, the math ain't mathing.
And so then, with that module,we really dig into this process.
It's called the seven whys, andI'll ask a person why?
Seven times?
Like we say, I want to be sober, why do you want to be sober?
Well, I want to be soberbecause I want to be healthy.
(25:42):
Well then, why do you want tobe healthy?
And so on, and by the timeusually by the time you get to
the seventh one, the person hastouched on something that they
hadn't thought of before.
Now, when I took myself throughthat process, I was given the
same surface answers and in theend, it came down to my because
(26:03):
your why is really yoursuperpower.
It's the thing that's going toprevent you from relapsing, from
going back, or any of thatstuff.
And I'd say it's yoursuperpower, because it's tied to
your purpose.
That's right, and so mine was.
I'm taking myself through thisprocess.
(26:23):
And then, as I'm getting to thebottom, I realized, and when I
was in the hospital and I had myseizure, my youngest daughter I
have three daughters myyoungest daughter was six years
old and she came in to visit meone day and she gave me this
little, this locket that shemade, that had made a yarn, and
had a little picture in thislocket of she and I that we had
(26:46):
taken at like Disney World orsomething some years before.
And she, it amazed me that whenshe came to see me she was
smiling, she was happy.
And I'm thinking to myselfdoesn't this kid realize not
that I wanted her to be sad?
Doesn't this kid realize notthat I wanted her to be sad?
But doesn't she realize thatyou know, daddy's in a bad
situation here?
But she knew something that Ididn't know and that's that she
(27:08):
had been praying for me and thatGod was going to deliver me.
But she, she gave me thislocket and then she left with my
wife and they left that nightand I was looking at this thing
and I, just I was bawling, I wascrying.
It was just like man, I can'tnot be here for her Now.
My father passed away when I was10.
(27:28):
He died from it was a cancerrelated issue, not alcohol, but
I was without him during thoseyears.
So when I was taking myselfthrough this Y process, I
realized that that moment, towhere she came and she saw me
and she gave that to me, thatthought process that I was
having later on about notwanting for her to experience
(27:52):
life without me the way Iexperienced life after 10 years
old without my dad, that's mywhy.
I don't want to see anotherperson be lost by addiction and
then their children, theirfamily, their loved ones grow up
or go on without them, andthat's my why.
(28:12):
That's why I created thisprogram.
That's why I do the work that Ido is because I don't want them
to experience the pain that Iexperienced.
That in some ways was part ofmy issue with alcohol, and I
don't want people to have toexperience that.
So any enemy will use whateverhe can to get you on that
(28:33):
slippery slope to distract youfrom your purpose in life.
Because he knows that if wetruly find out who we are and
who we're connected to and whathe's called us to do because
Jesus didn't save people just sowe can enjoy life.
He saved us for a reason he'sgot work for us to do that's
right, and help save others isone of them.
(29:13):
So that's the first module iswhy do you want to be sober?
Then the subsequent ones are.
Number two is the reframingmindset, which helps put your
energy and effort into.
So if you're focusing on thewrong thoughts like I've got to
get a I got to get rid of thispain by going to go and have a
drink Then you know, if itlingers in your head too long,
it'll move to your heart.
And once it moves to your heart, you're going to do it.
(29:34):
Action is going to take place.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
So this second module helps to deal with that aspect
of it.
The third one is navigatingthoughts and feelings.
And I was having a conversationwith a gentleman the other day
and he said some things to meabout some thoughts that he was
having.
And I said to him, I said youdo realize that not every
thought you have is your ownRight.
And he looked at me like whatdo you mean?
(29:58):
And I'm like, well, they're not.
I'm like the they're not.
I'm like the devil is talkingto you.
He's trying to get you,persuade you to do things you
shouldn't do.
And God's talking to you andtrying to get you to do things
that you should do.
And in the middle you're tryingto figure out what it is that
you want to do, or whether ornot you're going to do one or
the other.
So that navigating thoughts andfeelings is an opportunity to
(30:22):
really utilize one of thesuperpowers that God has given
us and that's the ability tochoose.
You have the power to choosewhich one you're going to to go
with.
It's kind of like that.
I think it's an old NativeAmerican saying that you know
something about two wolves andwhich one.
(30:42):
You know which one lives, whichone is going to thrive and it's
the one that you feed.
So you know, if you're feedingthe one that leads you down the
path of a right way of livingand things like that, then you
know those areas are going togrow in your life.
Then the fourth one is livingwith intention.
So that's about creating a planof how to live with intention.
(31:02):
Now you've gotten free from,you know, whatever it was that
you were addicted to, and you'vegot to.
You've got to fill that spacewith something, and so it's got
to be filled with the thingsthat you are desiring to do, the
things that you're learningthat you were meant to do in
life.
And then the last module ismodule five, and that's the
(31:24):
power of prayer.
And you know, I love all themodules, but that one right
there just truly identifies.
You know that.
I mean, the Bible says that weare wonderfully and fearfully
made, and the truth of thematter is is that we have no
idea how powerful we are.
I mean, in some ways, as humanbeings, we're running with
(31:46):
scissors.
You know what I'm saying?
Because we don't know howpowerful we are.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
So true.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And prayer is the way in which we connect with God,
to find out who we truly are, sothat we can stop running with
scissors and be more intentionalabout the life that we're
living and fulfill the call, theplan and purpose that he has in
our life.
And that's the reason why I putthis together I want to help
people to uncover that, touncover that Life beats us down
(32:25):
daily, trying to get us to focuson the wrong thing, because the
fact of the matter is, at anygiven moment, both good and evil
are both present, and thewonderful power that we have is
we have the ability to choose,and I think that so many people
are on automatic pilot to whereit's just like.
You know, they're not choosingand we're just existing rather
than living.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Yeah, man, those are all great steps going clear back
to your why I mean that's thebiggest, that was one of the
biggest things for me because,honestly, I didn't.
I mean I wanted it in my life.
I was already destroying myself.
I didn't care if I died.
My why was my family.
It wasn't me.
I know that sounds sick, butthat's what it was for me and it
(33:11):
was what God did for me.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, I don't think that that sounds sick, though
because it's like you know youliving, but it's because it's
like you know you living.
I like to use this analogy thata fruit grows on a tree, but
the tree never eats the fruit.
The fruit is always for someoneelse.
(33:34):
So we're all living for someoneelse other than ourselves.
When we truly come tounderstand that the only way the
tree eats the fruit itself iswhen the fruit stays on the vine
and it rots.
So if you don't give whatyou've been giving, then you're
not going to really get anywhere.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
There's no fulfillment, then what a great
analogy.
I love that man, powerful Mark,I'm so glad that God is using
you the way he is.
Thank you.
Just seeing this in my hand Imean when I first got it, like
you know from talking to youbefore it was written to this
and now you know, having you onthe podcast and just seeing a
(34:13):
thought come to a program withyour obedience to Christ, I
think that's pretty amazing.
Man, I think you're producingfruit and I think this book is
fruit.
I think what it'll do helpbring healing to people is fruit
To our first responders givethis book a chance.
(34:34):
Check out his program.
I highly highly recommend it,highly recommend it.
Get a hold of him, find outabout this program, find out how
to get involved, how to gethelp.
I would like to see our firstresponders group up and do some
of this stuff together.
Let's start a side group forpeople that are struggling with
(34:55):
alcoholism.
Let's use Mark's program andwalk it out together.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Mark, thanks for telling your story, thanks for
being open and honest andtransparent.
And as we close out here, mark,I just want to thank you and I
want you to again let mylisteners know how they can get
ahold of you, how they can getstarted on the program, how they
can find out more.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Let them know how they can get started on the
program, how they can find outmore, let them know how they can
get started.
Oh yeah, absolutely so.
You can go online to my website, wwwspiritual-sobrietycom, and
that has all the informationwhich you can purchase it there,
and then also the book you can.
There's a link there and thenit has more information about
(35:44):
how we do what we do and why wedo what we do.
You can also email me at MacM-A-C at spiritual-sobrietycom
and, you know, let's start amovement, let's get things
moving.
I mean, I know that there'speople out here who need this
kind of help and, like I said, Imade this with the Lord's help
(36:09):
as an alternative to some of thematter is that you know, just
going through this program isnot going to make you sober.
Going through this program anddoing the work is going to get
you there and it's like, but youhave to do the work.
(36:30):
It's not a magic bullet, likeDan was saying.
It's a short book but it's deepwork, especially when you get
into the program itself.
So I encourage people that youcan go through it as an
individual or you can.
I have it set up also to whereit can be used by recovery
centers and ministries anddifferent organizations as well,
(36:52):
and taught as a group as wellalso.
So, but all of that informationis on the website
wwwspiritual-sobrietycom.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Thank you, Mark, and I'll put a link into that, into
the description listeners, soyou guys can click on that find
it easily.
I encourage you to reach out toMark, reach out to his website.
If you have any questions, feelfree to call him or me.
You can call me.
I will.
Again, I recommend this.
I don't recommend everythingthat I come across, you guys
know that, but I do recommendthis book and recommend this
(37:25):
program.
So if you're struggling withalcoholism, you kind of tried
everything else.
Maybe you're a believer inChrist, Maybe you're not.
You don't have to be a believerin Christ to start this program
right.
This program just has the heartof Christ in it and through the
program you will learn that youwere created on purpose, for a
purpose, and that God's createdus to produce fruit and healing
(37:46):
to others.
And this program is going tonot only help you get sober,
it'll be a tool to help you getsober.
One of many tools to where youguys can get your life back.
You can get your family backand, honestly, I believe God's
going to use all that pain thatyou guys are struggling with
right now, even though you feelcovered in guilt and shame and I
know it doesn't feel like itbut god can use that as a
(38:09):
platform for him to build hiskingdom on yes your pain, he can
turn into purpose absolutelyhis connection, his true hope to
the father that created you.
So again, you don't have to be abeliever to join this, but what
I would say is be open to it.
There's a God that created you.
There's a God who loves you.
(38:30):
There's a God who has a purposefor you, a plan for you.
And that plan and that purposeis not to be drunk all the time,
hungover, all the time, angryall the time, isolated all the
time.
That is the enemy's plan.
That's the enemy's plan.
That is not God's plan.
John 10.10 says that the enemycomes to kill, steal and destroy
, and God comes to give life andlife abundant.
(38:52):
If those thoughts you have inyour mind that are not yours, is
that thought coming to kill,steal and destroy you, or is
that thought that popped in yourmind coming to give you life
and life abundant?
Let's capture those thoughts,let's speak truth to them, let's
put John 10 over them, let'sfind out if they bring life or
destruction, and that can help.
You know, is it God giving youthis message?
(39:13):
Is it the enemy giving you yourmessage?
God's not going to tell you tokeep drinking.
God's not going to tell you tokeep drinking.
God's not going to tell you togo hide somewhere and keep doing
it and lie into people.
No, our God is a God of truthand transparency.
He wants healing for you, foryour family, and it is possible.
Thank you, mark.
(39:36):
Thank you for joining us andlisteners.
Check out our 1042 page.
Stay up to date.
Sign up for our newsletter ifyou have not.
It stays up to date on all ofour programming, all of our
outings, our ambassadors.
If you are a first responder whoneeds help or a family member,
please reach out.
That's what our organization isfor.
This podcast is just a platformto talk about the actual
(39:57):
organization we run, walkingalongside first responders and
their family members, makingsure that there's no guilt or
shame.
They have an organization wholoves them for who they are, who
wants to walk alongside them,help them get better.
So please reach out to us at10-42projectcom or you can call
my cell phone if you need helpat 515-350-6274.
(40:18):
I care about you.
Christ cares about you.
Thank you for listening and wewill see you next week.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks, mark.
I appreciate it.
Buddy, I hope you have a goodrest of your day.
Let me just jam out to somebeats here for a little bit, man
.
It's good to see what God'sdoing in your life.
Don't be a stranger man.
(40:39):
I hope we get some firstresponders headed your way.
Yeah, and I'm proud of you, man.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
You have a blessed day, you too.
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