Carol Littleton once shared a charming story about how she had met her husband.
“Was it love at first sight?” She was asked.
“He had been a friend of my brother’s so I had known him for years. Once when they were fourteen years old, my brother and his friend went on a boy scout camp out in the woods. After dropping my brother off, I split from my family for a few minutes. I wandered around looking inside the different tents. I barged into one tent and, much to my surprise, my brother’s friend was there. Completely in the buff. He had been changing to go swimming and I’m sure he thought his tent was a safe place to change into his suit!”
“You must have been embarrassed!”
“Well, you could say that then it was love at first sight.”
After I heard this story I knew Carol was the sort of person I was going to have to get to know. When I heard she had written a book I asked to read and review it.
In Carol’s book, “From Strength to Strength,” she speaks of her marriage to “that boy scout in the buff,” Mike. As funny as the nascence of their romance was, it became less funny as the years went by. What started out as social drinking in the first few years of their marriage became everyone’s nightmare come true when they find themselves tied to an alcoholic spouse. On page one Carol writes:
“After seventeen years of marriage, my husband Mike and I were constantly at odds with one another. His drinking had become an all-day long habit; His “happy hour” often stretched from before breakfast to long after dinner…I was often harsh and cruel to the man I once loved so much. I hated his drinking, yet said nothing about his supply of booze in the house. I even agreed with his buying a liquor store because I liked the idea of making a lot of money… and I’m sorry to admit, I let him drive our kids to their activities when he had alcohol sloshing in him.”
Things got worse before they got better. The turning point came when one night, in a drunken rage, Mike tried to strangle her.
“On the brink of passing out, I cried out to a God I hardly knew: “God, please just make him quit yelling at me.” Immediately, my husband dropped his hands from my throat, stalked over to the bed and passed out until morning! To my utter astonishment, God actually came to my rescue! The Ruler of the Universe and the King of Kings reached out to save me-a nobody, a confused, cowardly, faithless little girl housed in a woman’s body.” (Pg 1)
This experience led to Carol accepting Jesus Christ into her life and soon after, her husband’s salvation as well. Still, it was not a smooth road and there were many hills and valleys. Over the course of time, however, both Mike and Carol became Addiction Specialists. For the last twenty years of their marriage, before Mike’s passing, they ministered and counseled countless families who suffered from life destructive addictions.
“From Strength to Strength” is Carol’s labor of love so she can share the strategies and solutions she and Mike came to discover as they both conquered their unhealthy addictions. In her book she takes a step by step, methodical approach to identifying an unhealthy self- image, addictive personality traits, dangerous life style choices and how to overcome them. She has done a thorough job researching her topic and has combined reliable sources with personal experience in an interesting and readable way.
The whole book is infused with Carol’s love for the Lord and at the end you will have no doubt who her Source of strength is and Who is also beckoning you to lay your burdens down at His feet as well.
I received this book free from the author.
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