Have you ever had addictions go away through prayer?

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catholickat

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I have been addicted to drinking soda ever since I can remember. I remember drinking it as far back as five years old. Ever since then, I have been hooked on it. I have it every day and it’s a real addiction for me. It may sound silly, not as serious as other addictions perhaps, but for me it is serious. It has taken over my mind and my life.

I can’t go a day without it. If I do, I am extremely downcast and sometimes I have headaches. The thought of giving it up makes me sad, because it has always been my solace.

I have recently begun dreaming of a life where I do not always think of food or the delights in food as much as I do. Where I can focus on God and eating non-extravagant foods in order to do some sort of penance, and also to not be so tempted. I know there is a saint out there who used to put ashes in his food to mitigate the flavor (although I don’t think I could ever do that; that sounds kind of dangerous) but I do admire the lengths saints will go to avoid temptation.

I guess what I’m getting at is this, have you ever prayed for an addiction to go away? Was your prayer answered? What about a gluttonous addiction?
 
You can’t just pray for an addiction or other bad habit to go away. You can pray for God to help you and trust in His higher power, but you will have to do the hard work of stopping the bad habit and replacing with a good habit yourself. Don’t over think it, just stop, realizing and planning for the fact you will feel very bad for several days and need to drink lots of water and maybe lie down, take naps, aspirin etc.

I spent 6 weeks earlier this year drinking nothing but plain water for a charity fundraiser. It helped to be doing it to benefit a cause other than myself.
 
Its an addiction to sugar. Its a real thing.

Start slowly by giving up one sugary thing at a time

Does your soda include caffeine,
 
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Addiction to sugar is a real thing. Addictions are hard, and most people feel powerless against them. Sugar affects how the brain works, and there are studies on how too much sugar is correlated to dementia and other neurological conditions.

You can definitely pray for deliverance from addiction, and doing all you can to break it.

There are rehabs for drug and alcohol addicts, but none for sugar. It is even deadkier in a way, because it’s everywhere and not illegal.
 
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You are far better helped by praying since this brings us closer to God, from Whom grace comes.

The most effective thing that can ever be brought to bear against addiction is the grace of God. But what does God’s grace do? It prompts us, and offers us the power, to take the right action at any given moment…but we still have to make the decision to act on this prompting.

The most effective way to cooperate with the grace of God in life is to develop the virtues. The virtues are habits of moral behavior. The absence of virtuous behavior is called vice and is immorality and sin. Usually, addiction is the result of bad habits (vice), and so overcoming addiction requires replacing the vice with virtue.

In this case, the vice is gluttony, and so the virtue is called abstinence: it is the habit of moderating the pleasure of eating/drinking, and is primarily performed through the action of fasting.

Every disordered passion should be shunned: when you experience the urge to drink soda in an immoderate way (too much or too often), try to set the urge aside through an act of will, don’t let the urge control your actions.

Pray, receive the sacraments, and do the best you can.
 
This doesn’t really answer your question but here’s what works for me…

I started making my own Italian sodas with soda water and syrup additives. Every week I added less and less syrup until I was only drinking the soda water. I have never actually stepped away from drinking a soda water, but the extra gas in my water isn’t harmful.

This was 10 years ago, about. Now when I take a sip of a soda I am disgusted by how overly sugary it is. Definitely unhealthy. I only legitimately crave it and drink it now about once a year, when I am in a situation where I have a little blood sugar. Best of luck!
 
I like vincentleo’s words. I struggle with my tobacco addiction and he and Tis hit the nail on the head. Plus a reading of Psalms 143 and 141. Thanks, vincentleo and Tis! 😊
 

There is a lot of information on the internet about getting away from sugar addiction. I have actually been delivered from a different addiction, but God took the initiative there. Prayer will help you.
We used to call sugar “white death.” I think it’s appropriate.
 
I asked Him to rescue me from pornography and He did it. I still experience desires to look at it, though. Some days are easy and some are difficult. It’s like if I was really thirsty, but the only liquid to drink would make me even more thirsty than before. Pornography never satisfies. You just want more of it and suddenly the plain old pornography no longer excites you, so you look for more extreme kinds of porn, like incest or bestiality.

I’m free from pornography; praise be to God. 😃
 
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