Prayer Needed for Hardcore Alcoholic

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FickleFreckled

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Me again…asking for prayer this time for a woman who wonders in and out of my life when she’s in need. She’s only in her 40’s, but her alcoholism has already damaged her mind and her body. She can’t keep jobs, has racked up DWI’s, been jailed more than once, the most recent on an assault charge for a fight with her boyfriend. She is so completely absorbed in herself and her drinking that she’s oblivious to the needs of other people, is often out of touch with the real world and has difficulty thinking and phrasing sentences even when she’s sober. I’ve seen her get the shakes when she’s 2 hours overdue for a drink. She resists all forms of real help: two years ago, she walked out of a county treatment center when she had only 3 days left of a 21-day detox and as a result, cannot be readmitted. She has no money for a private one. Her alcoholic dad died recently and she’s drinking even more to escape. He started her drinking at 16; she says he molested her on numerous occasions. If she doesn’t stop drinking, she’ll die, pure and simple and it won’t take that long. The last time I saw her, two years ago, she already had some kind of liver damage judging from her appearance. She just got back in touch with me; I believe she’s a strong suicide risk now as well. Her family’s wacked out, there’s no interest or support there. They’ve given up on her. Please help me pray for her. She’s living in a black hole. Her name is Lisa. She’s Catholic. Thank you very much. I’ll let her know you’re praying for her.
 
From today’s Liturgy of the Hours:

Prayers and Intercessions

Let us pray to our Lord Jesus, whom the Father handed over for our transgressions but raised up for our redemption:
  • Lord, take pity on your people.
Lord, we ask you to listen to our prayers and forget the sins we confess,
and in your kindness to give us pardon and peace.
Through you St Paul said “where sin has abounded, grace abounds still more”:
be generous in forgiving our many debts.
Lord, our sins are great but we trust that your mercy is infinite:
change our hearts and we will change our lives.
Lord, save your people from their sins
and restore them to your favour.
The thief called you Saviour and you opened to him the gates of paradise:
do not close them against our deceased brethren.

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those that trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Lord, holy Father, you decreed Christ your Son as the price to be paid for our salvation.
May his Passion be part of our lives
and bring us the strength of his Resurrection.

He lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
Amen.
 
Hi there, just letting you know I have said a prayer for Lisa and will continue to do so. I am also praying for the Lord to give you strength and guidance.

God bless you!
 
I will pray for Lisa. I know this is a very difficult postion to be in. No matter what happens know that you have done all you can. Father, by the power of your Spirit you have filled the hearts of your faithful people Hear the prayers we offer for Lisa. Give her health of mind and body that she may do your will. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen!
 
Best wishes to her and to you for your involvement with her. It’s hard to be strong sometimes in the face of alcoholism.
 
Thankyou. God is the Lord and Savior of Lost Causes. May He hear and answer our prayer.
 
***† JMJTJ †

Lisa will be in my prayers for her healing through the intercession of Bl. Matt Talbot.*

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us, so that in difficult moments we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your Holy Will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen

***God bless you † ***
**
 
Jesus Your sister Lisa has been much sinned against in her youth and doesn’t value or love herself enough to seek health and life. Please Jesus find ways to communicate Your love to her, as you do even now in our sister’s prayer request of us.

Lisa darling, we want you to recover and to find joy in life
 
I am saying my prayers for Lisa. God bless you for being a part of her life and for caring about her at a time when she has nobody, not even herself. It is a blessing that you took her story onto the CF so that people could have her in their prayers. I will certainly be parying for her and keep her in my prayers.
 
justlooking,
What you said about Lisa not even having herself is so perceptive and so true. I thank you and everybody for praying.

(How are you doing?)
 
FickleFreckled said:
justlooking,
What you said about Lisa not even having herself is so perceptive and so true. I thank you and everybody for praying.

(How are you doing?)
Click to expand...
Ah, how am I doing…now that is a different story!! I will get to it…but first let me share with you a story about an alcholic friend of mine from 9 years ago…

His name is Kevin and 9 years ago he was in a deep state of despair…was suicidal. He called one day from a beach, 3 hours away with a gun to his head, loaded. I drove for 3 hours to get to him with 1800suicide on the phone the entire time. I knew he reached a brink in his life and I knew he was standing on the edge…make a long story short…that night with his reluctance I took him to a hospital…he was kicking and screaming and was admitted…he hated me for doing that. The thanks I got was he never wanted to speak to me. He had lost everything at this point in his life…wound up with an alcholic woman…and repeated a very bad cycle. I finally had to remove myself from what became unhealthy for me because I couldn’t help him and spent so much time praying for him, hurting over what he was doing to himself and, wishing I could get into his heart and help him to change his life for the better. I felt almost as helpless at helping him as he felt about himself… Anyway, make a long story short…Our lives crossed paths again a few months ago. He told me that I saved his life and if it wasn’t for me that night he would be dead. He thanked me for the difference I made in his life at that time…when he had nobody…not even himself. That I believed in him at a time when even he didn’t. He contacted me yesterday, 38 years old from his hospital bed in Florida, he had a heart attack. He believes this is yet another wake up call that he can’t keep doing this to his body or he will never see 40 (according to the Doctors) He knows he needs to make changes in his life and knows he needs help…maybe now he will get it. So when I heard of your friend…I just have to pray because I know what I had been through with him and how hard it is to love someone that is so self destructive. You can see things that they can’t and be there eyes of hope when they lose sight. The irony of all of it is that he sees what I am going through in my life right now…and is actually praying for me!

As for me…oh my different story! lol My eyesight is going!!! My life is spiraling downward and I feel like I am getting really close to that place he was a few years ago…kinda like if this continues I may need someone to talk me off that ledge. I’m just trying to get through the days without crying…it’s really really a bad time right now…I’m trying to hold on and recruit people to help see me through and pray for me. Thank you for asking though. God bless you for all the love you have in your heart for others. ((((((((((((((BIG HUG)))))))))))))))) You are a wonderful beautiful person!
 
justlooking,
You’re always in my prayers and hope that all the people praying for you here are helping to get you through the awful, anxious period you’re going through.

Maybe I should explain a little more about Lisa and how I know her. 17 years ago when I moved back to Texas, I took a retail job while I tried to change professional careers. Lisa and I were both in a category that had a sales goal and made commissions on top of our salary. My first experiences of her was that she’d steal sales out from under me; walk right up, offer an additional item, pick up what I had for the person and walk away with them! She was also very nasty and would chew me out in front of customers! Not an easy person to work with. She’d flit around very fast and talked very fast; I assumed she was bipolar and I started praying for her. Eventually I was moved to another department; she got fired for having alcohol on her breath. Two years later she somehow located me - I have no idea how - and proclaimed her undying friendship. (?) That’s Lisa. Every once in awhile she’d turn up, I’d listen to her complaints and life story again, she’d call repeatedly for awhile and then she’d disappear, usually after I told her not to call me or come over when she’d been drinking. Somewhere along the line I discovered she was related to two dear people who took me into their family and hearts when I was a troubled teen. They never lost patience with me, mostly ignored what I got into, and just loved me unconditionally. The odds of that were just too weird; I knew it came from God and out of gratitude for these “adopted” parents, I have continued to be there for Lisa. At one point I made a very big mistake and let her stay with me for a couple of weeks until she could get into a treatment center. I’d had no experience with alcoholics; it was stupid. Oh my gosh. She immediately became the meanest and most manipulative person on the planet. When she was afraid she wouldn’t get her way, she’d scream really rude things at me so that my neighbors could hear in the adjoining condominiums. Every day when I came home from work, she was cooking with a spice that I’d repeatedly asked her not to use because the smell nauseated me. Just little stuff like that meant to let me know she didn’t respect me or my home. Every day I’d open all the windows to air out the place from the smell of the spice. She often took that opportunity to scream something awful. Finally she yelled something really disgusting that made it sound as though I was gay and forcing myself on her. I literally saw the devil grinning at me out of her face. That was the last straw; I told her to call her mom to come get her or I’d call the police. I never let her into my home after that and when she called drunk, I’d immediately get off the phone. She got scared and agreed to go into treatment after I’d become exasperated and told her I couldn’t help her, that she was going to hell. (That is So not me…) But she left treatment 3 days early and that was that.

We aren’t friends; to be honest, my heart drops to my feet when I hear her voice, but at the same time, when I hear it, I feel God. That may sound strange, especially because there’s such a darkness in her, and such a sense of real evil that has taken over her. But where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more, right? At least that’s what I count on because she sometimes really creeps me out. I’ve got her in almost every prayer category I have, including deliverance. So now you know the REST of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say…
 
ok, so now I have a better idea of what other prayers she needs as well!! I will continue to pray for her and you!
 
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