Sherry spent 90 days in jail. Those 90 days allowed her to detox—and reassess her life choices.

She left jail with a strong faith in Christ. And a strong desire to stay clean.

 But, her resolve quickly faded in the weeks after her release—and she relapsed.

The steps leading to her relapse illustrate that willpower is limited.

The technical term is “ego-depletion.”

Ego depletion is what happens when we try to resist temptation for too long—Our limited supply of will power is eventually depleted.

Once it is gone—we relapse.

We eat the donut. We smoke the cigarette. We go back to drugs.

Sherry’s Relapse Story.

When she leaves jail, Sherry lacks money and resources for a new life. The money available to her only takes her as far as her dealer’s house. 

She stays for a few days. And despite an intense desire to use—amazingly--she does not go back to using.

Following her stint with her drug dealer, she returns to her husband. 

Unfortunately, her husband is still using Meth. 

At first, Sherry heroically avoids temptation. 

But as she details in her video—she eventually falls. 

She is upset with herself for using—but, she can no longer resist.

Staying with the drug dealer depleted some willpower. And living with her her meth-using husband depleted her willpower completely. 

The lesson for us has two parts.

First, recognize ego depletion exists. We should be very aware of the limited nature of our will power. Don’t falsely assume that we have power “over” our addiction. As Matthew 26:41 points out, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Many times we want to stop doing something—yet we fall into temptation because we run out of the power to say no.

Don’t be misled. Ego depletion is real. 

Second, avoid temptation. If will power is limited, we shouldn’t waste it unnecessarily. As a former addict and current neuroscientist, Marc Lewis, puts it:

“Get yourself out of the room! Or out of the house, or out of the neighborhood. Or get the booze out of the cupboard, or the ice cream out of the fridge. Or stay away from your buddy Sam: he's usually in the mood to party.” https://bit.ly/3iz2vpq

Fortunately, Sherry’s story does not end in relapse. She pulls away from temptation by going back to jail. (Turns out she had additional jail time to serve in another county.)

When she is released, she goes to a place of safety. Her grandmother’s house.

16 years later and she is still sober.

But as she states in her video, she is still careful about avoiding temptation.

See a video of Sherry’s Relapse story here.

Want a plan that will help you prevent relapse?