For the past thirteen years Jenny has been an RN at a large metropolitan hospital. In addition she has also been teaching Sunday school at the local Nazarene Church. Even though she lived in a medium size countryside town where it seemed like every person knew everyone’s business, almost nothing was known about Jenny. Needless to say almost everyone knew that she had worked quite a few years as a nurse and that she taught Sunday school for as long as she was a resident of their small town. Besides that, then again, it almost seemed as if Jenny was merely a visitor in their community.

You can imagine the hubbub that was created when it was discovered that one Sunday morning Jenny had passed out due to too much alcohol. To be sure, the article in the hometown weekly newspaper claimed that Jenny not only passed out, but that she also received a DWI because her blood alcohol concentration was substantially higher than the legal limit for intoxication. This is clearly one of the alcohol effects on the body that no Sunday school teacher wants to have made known to the entire community. But this is exactly what occurred, much to the embarrassment of Jenny.

Jenny Gets Quite Troubled About Her Arrest for Drunk Driving

It almost goes without saying that Jenny was very unhappy about her arrest for driving while inebriated. Not only should she have known better about drinking and driving because of her nursing position, but she also should have conducted herself according to a more lofty yardstick because of the simple fact that she taught Sunday school.

After her arrest for driving while under the influence, Jenny thought about moving out of town so that she would not have to feel dismayed about her arrest and also so she wouldn’t have to justify her actions for the five hundredth time to the other members of her community. After discussing things with her minister, however, she finally determined that she would get alcohol counseling at a local rehabilitation center. She did this for two simple reasons. First, it was relatively easy for her to drive to a local rehab hospital. And second, she honesty wanted the word to get spread among all the individuals in the community that she was in all honesty dealing with her unhealthy and excessive drinking.

Jenny Goes Through Detox and Gets an Extensive Examination

After Jenny went through detox, she was thoroughly examined by a healthcare professional at the drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospital. She then underwent a variety of laboratory tests where it was determined that she was not dependent on alcohol but instead was engaging in irresponsible and abusive drinking. In short Jenny was engaging in long term alcohol abuse.

Jenny was provided with the alternative of getting alcohol counseling as an in-patient or getting alcohol rehab as an outpatient. Jenny, then again, believed that she could still work as a nurse and keep her Sunday school teaching position if she were to be registered as an out-patient and this is precisely what she did.

According to her treatment action plan, Jenny went to two rehab sessions every week, she learned a lot about alcohol info, she worked on her take home “projects,” and she found out how to do things in life without having a need for alcohol.

After nineteen weeks, Jenny thought that her drinking problems were under control and so she got released from the drug and alcohol treatment center under the proviso that she would return for follow up counseling once per month for the next eight months. Jenny signed an agreement form and followed through on her “word of honor.”

Jenny Makes up Her Mind to Stay Away From Any and All Drinking Circumstances and Finds Out That Her Self Respect Becomes More Pronounced

After she finished her counseling Jenny reasoned that she would be able to drink in moderation. After pondering her situation more intently, nevertheless, she arrived at a decision that she would completely abstain from any and all drinking circumstances.

When Jenny arrived at this conclusion, she found out that her sense of worth became stronger the more she was in charge of her life. And as her positive attitude about herself became more established, it seemed like she became more outgoing and started attending more community functions such as local high school basketball and football games, music festivals, carnivals, Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, flower festivals, rib roasts, and strawberry festivals.

Jenny Faces Her Abusive and Irresponsible Drinking, Decides To Do Something Constructive About It, and Reaffirms Her Faith

As the years went by, the people in the town expressed more consideration for Jenny because she was intermingling with them more routinely and also because she addressed her excessive and hazardous drinking and decided to do something positive about it. It may have been her imagination, but it also seemed as if her Sunday school students displayed more respect and affection for her.

Jenny is a living illustration of someone who had a hazardous problem and who did something beneficial about it. She is also a person who learned that her religious faith is not only something that is intrinsic, but that it is also something that affects the way in which a person relates to other people.