Dear Addiction,

Thank you for being there for all these years, and for being a friend to me when I felt alone. Thank you for being a coping mechanism and a safe place I could go when I felt bad, lonely, upset, or depressed. You always delivered and made things better.

Thank you for helping me deal with the pain of my father dying, and the aloneness I felt as a child. You were a friend in the truest sense of the word.

But you didn’t tell me about the guilt and shame. You didn’t tell me about the isolation and more pain. You didn’t tell me you were going to put me in bondage. You didn’t tell me that the pain you would create would be worse than any I could feel from life’s difficulties. You didn’t warn me that you wanted to take over and own me. You didn’t tell me this would cause destruction in my marriage. You didn’t tell me this would harm my relationship with God, and make me feel far from Him. You wanted to be God, didn’t you? You didn’t tell me this would ruin my view of women and healthy sexuality.

So, now it is time to say good-bye. I’m through with depending on you, only to be let down even more when you didn’t come through. I’m ready to move on with my life, and learn how to have healthy activities and relationships that are real. I’m ready for a full relationship with the real God—not you. I want to build a real relationship with my wife and begin to heal some of the pain we’ve caused her.

You don’t own me, and I will not be a slave to you anymore.

Good-bye, Addiction.