Recovery / Broken Chains Ministry Materials

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Life Worth Mending

ISBN: 9781933660219

Retail Price: $18.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Page Count: 95

Pub Date: In Stock

Book Synopsis:

My book reveals that I was an addict and how I am recovering. I have improved my spelling, vocabulary, and writing skills. My memory is improving also. I hope my book will enlighten people to understand addicts.

I hope that addicts can see that there is still hope for their life, and that they can defeat the devil inside them. I needed God in my life to help me beat the devil, and so do you. God loves you, and I urge you to please turn to Him every day. You will find that you must live one day at a time.

I came into this world prematurely in November of 1953 and was immediately given up for adoption. Adults often pacify adoptive children by telling them that they are loved and wanted even more just because they were adopted. I am sure that this is often true, but as in my case, unconditional love is no guarantee.

My dentist father and schoolteacher mother were both in their mid 40’s when they adopted me. This was a second marriage for both my mother and father. They both worked very hard and enjoyed a comfortable upper middle class existence in the small town of Iago, Texas.

What was missing from their perfect life was children. So, in 1951 my parents adopted a son, and 16 months later they adopted me. The family was now perfect and complete.

My father was a good provider for our family and my mother never wanted for anything. He had invested well, so when he died suddenly when I was five years old, my mother had no worries.

My mother continued teaching and buried herself in her own personal activities. Although we were not deprived of anything material, my mother provided little emotional support. She was detached and cold and not involved in our lives.

At twelve, my mother took me to visit relatives on her first husband’s side. While my mother visited with them I was repeatedly raped and forced to perform oral sex by one of the men relatives. This made my mother very angry. Although she believed me and made sure that I was never around any of them again, no charges were pressed and nothing happened to the man. We never discussed it again. My mother did not make me feel like it was my fault, but she offered no support to help me deal with the pain and confusion.

After the rape I graduated to Junior High. I was angry, lonely and confused. This state of being made me susceptible if not eager when one of my girl cousins approached me and introduced me to a new way of sex. I felt that no one really loved me and I had so much hate from the rape. I hated men! But I felt love from her. I really enjoyed being with another girl. I felt really secure. After a time, I had left this cousin and moved on to find another.

By fourteen, my self-esteem was very low and the tension in the home was unbearable. I moved to one of my relative’s homes until, at 16, I moved out on my own and into my own trailer. I got myself to school and work and did anything I wanted. The most painful part of this is that it was all fine with my mother. She didn’t have to worry about me.

When I was in High School another girl and I became friends and we started to see each other on a regular basis. She and I would go off and drink, smoke and have fun with each other. I felt really secure with her. I felt that I really loved her and she loved me. She and I stayed together for a long time, but as time went by she found a guy and got married.

Before graduating, I quit High School and went into the cattle business. I traveled a lot and showed cattle for other people. While showing cattle in Houston, I met this guy who was working for his aunt and uncle at the cattle sale. I too, was there to sell cattle for other people. From the start, this guy started chasing me. He said that he was in love with me and continued to chase me wherever I was showing cattle in other towns. He thought he would spend the night with me, but he was sadly mistaken, it didn’t happen! I was not interested and I didn’t have time for him. I just wanted to show cattle, drink and smoke. I was not interested in guys and a relationship. I liked to work hard, drink and shoot the bull. We had discussed my family, so he took it upon himself to call my mom and asked her if he could come over and meet her. He did, and then made it a habit to go to my mom’s and play dominos with her while I was on the road for months at a time.

When I called home to talk to mom she said a young man was visiting her and wanted to see more of me. I told her I was not interested, and I asked her to send him away! But he kept on chasing me! On some level I was flattered with his attention, so I gave in and had a date with him. The dates continued and I fell in love with him, and later married him in 1974.

We had a really rocky marriage. He was not faithful to me, so I got even and became involved with a married woman. Her marriage was on the rocks also. She and I drank and did drugs. She finally divorced.

When I did have sex with my husband I was either drunk or on drugs or both. I didn’t want to remember the hurt and the things I went through when I was raped. At 23 years old, I became pregnant, and in 1976 we had a son Chris. I had quit drinking, smoking and taking pills. My son Chris was a precious child and the light of my life. His love and trust in me was the first time that I had experienced total unconditional love. He loved me just the way I was and I was able to show him the love I had not received from my mother.

On July 26, 1980 my husband and I had gone home to change clothes after work before picking up Chris from the babysitter’s home when we got a call saying that a truck had struck Chris. Rushing to the scene, I jumped out of the truck and ran into the middle of the crowd. To my horror, I could see that my son had been hit by a truck and was already dead, his small head almost torn from his shoulders. A drunk driver had come up into the yard and hit Chris with his truck. The driver happened to be a friend of the police officer on the scene and so was not even arrested. In the report that was less than one page, it had been ruled an accident. That was the end of it.

It was also the beginning of the end of my marriage and my life for the next 20 years. I began to drink to dull the pain. I started living my life as if nothing mattered and as if there were no consequences for my actions. My husband and I were growing apart. I stepped up my dangerous living and did anything to make my waking moments a blur. I dug myself into a bottle and pills. I would go to the bars and stay until I was passed out. Someone would call my husband and he would come get me. I did this for a long time, but as time went on I got a little better.

After Chris was killed we hired some Lawyers from Houston. The man who had been driving the truck that killed Chris was not ticketed for any thing. The oil field worker had been coming home from work and was drinking and driving on the wrong side of the road. When he saw a car coming toward him, he swerved and lost control of his truck. He drove up into the driveway where Chris was playing and hit and killed him. When we arrived at the scene there were beer cans scattered on the ground that had fallen out of the truck. The policeman at the scene knew the driver and wrote only a one-page report about this accident. The cop did nothing to his friend. Our child was laying there uncovered with bugs crawling over his open wounds, it was clear he was dead before we got there. The Lawyers checked into the accident and found the driver was negligent. The Lawyers sued the oil field company. It was months before it was settled out of court. We took some of the money we got and bought two motorcycles.

Late one evening in 1982, we were riding the motorcycles on a gravel road and I had a very bad accident. The police and rescue unit could barely get to me where I had slid off the road and into a ravine. They did not think I would even make it to the hospital. My body was a broken mess that would require multiple surgeries and much therapy and over 100 days in the hospital.

The doctor prescribed a series of painkillers for me as I truly was in a great amount of pain. However, I was in as much emotional and spiritual pain as I was in physical pain. The medication took over the job of the alcohol in dulling the internal pain I felt. My body was broken, but so were my life and my home. I was alone, childless and angry.

Over time my body healed, but my marriage was dying. Neither of us knew how to deal with the death of our child. My husband began not coming home at night. He would stay at his aunt’s house in another town. Months later I found out he was sleeping with another woman. I got really mad and had an affair with another man to get back at him. He never even knew. I had been drunk when I was having the affair. After years of this pattern we got a divorce in 1991.

I got back with a woman friend from before. She and I were both divorced now. We drank and took pills and had fun with each other, but we never did live together. She got sick and was in a hospital in Houston, and while she was there, I took her some clothes and sneaked her out and we went around the corner to a bar and got plastered. I took her back to the hospital and came home; they never missed her. After she moved in with a man friend, she and I still saw each other for a while longer and then it ended.

One day I ran into the man that I had an affair with. He started coming over and we would have unprotected sex. This lasted for a while, but he turned out to be just a user looking for money from me. I told him to hit the road and never come back.

A complication of the accident and the trauma my body had gone through was the development of a chronic bone infection called Osteomyelitis. When the bone is infected, pus is produced within the bone, which results in an abscess. The abscess then deprives the bone of its blood supply. Chronic Osteomyelitis results when the bone tissue dies from the lack of blood supply. The condition caused me to experience constant pain in my bones, fever, nausea, chills and back pain. For the pain my doctor prescribed Demerol which I took with alcohol. I needed a series of surgeries after the accident and so for a couple of years it seemed reasonable that I would need all of the pain medication.

The medication dulled my mind and kept me from feeling and dealing with my broken emotional and spiritual life. This was not enough, so I began to add alcohol, but it made me sick so I stuck to the medications. When, in the doctor’s opinion, I should have been doing better, I complained that the pain was increasing. In my mind, I was telling the truth. If I wasn’t actually in pain, I was afraid that the pain was coming back. It was a vicious cycle. I said whatever I needed to say to make sure that the prescriptions kept coming.

My doctor sent me to a pain clinic as he had prescribed all that he was willing to prescribe. My new doctor connected me to a Physician’s Assistant that would come to Lake Jackson or Angleton (communities near me in Texas) to see patients. The doctor now had me on Morphine and after each trip to the Physician’s Assistant I returned home with a higher dose of Morphine.

By now, I was living the life of a full-blown addict. The only task each day was to get my Morphine. I was like a caged animal; I could not keep still. I was hyper and jittery and had to have my legs moving at all times. I talked fast and obsessed on the pain. I was taking over 750mg of Morphine a day and wanted more.

From this point until I was clean and sober, I do not have many recollections of what my day to day life was like. But I have a friend, Frances, who stuck by me and helped me though my recovery and she has put into words what the period leading up to and during my recovery was like.

I have lived a very sinful life, and I am ashamed of the sins I have done in my past. But I have found the word hope in my new life. My hope comes from God because God is hope. I am a faithful Christian today which causes me to realize that I have not been a good child of God’s. Now, I have repented and have been re- baptized to wash away my horrible sins. I have put God first in my life from now on. I have everything I need in my life today because of God. Trust me when I say that God is your only hope to get out of the bondage that you are in. When I was in charge, I made a big mess of my life. Like me you need to turn your life over to God and you too can have a wonderful life.

When I was in Brazos Place in Freeport during my recovery, they offered an AIDS test. I took them up on that. Thanks be to God, the test came back clean!

I have now celebrated over ten years clean and sober. In the ten years of my sobriety I have written and published a book of poetry called, “A Life Worth Mending”, created and published a complete Christ-Based 12 step program and founded a non-profit ministry called “Broken Chains Ministry”. My vision is to offer hope to those suffering in their addiction through God.

The mission of my ministry is the educating and motivating those bound by various addictions through the written and spoken word. That is why I have written these books.

It takes courage to begin your recovery. There are going to be stormy seas and many times what you think is going to be a safe harbor is really shallow and rocky water. Let Christ, the one who loves you most, be the lighthouse that guides you to a safe shore.

Other Titles By the Author:
A Life Worth Mending               9781933660219    $18.95
A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness        9781933660226      $21.95
A Mended Life - Recovery Journal        9781933660271    $16.95
A Mended Life - Student Workbook         9781933660233    $16.95

Other Products From Broken Chains Ministry:
12 Step Recovery Cards                                          GWMS-BCM-1007    $2.95
CD - Recovering the Pieces of a Broken Life            GWMS-BCM-1001 $18.95
CD - Scripture & Prayer for Recovery                      GWMS-BCM-1000 $12.95
Embossed Spiral Devotional Journal                          GWMS-BCM-1003    $8.95
Mended Life, A - Recovery Journal Refill                  GWMS-BCM-1002    $8.95
Pewtertone Lighthouse Keychain                               GWMS-BCM-1008    $2.95
Pocket Reminder Coin - Mark 10:27                         GWMS-BCM-1010    $2.95
Pocket Reminder Coin - Psalm 43:3                          GWMS-BCM-1009    $2.95
Poster - 12 Step Prayers                                           GWMS-BCM-1005    $3.95
Poster - Isaiah 42: 15 - 17                                         GWMS-BCM-1006    $3.95
Step 8 Apology Cards                                               GWMS-BCM-1004    $8.95

A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness

ISBN: 9781933660226

Retail Price: $21.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Page Count: 217

Pub Date: In Stock

Book Synopsis:

By the time I hit bottom and knew I had to change my life and get free from my addictions, I truly was unlovable. There was nothing left for others to embrace or to find desirable about my company or companionship. I was only about my addiction.

But God had a plan for my life, and He placed people around me that would love me unconditionally, just like He does. I had to want help and want to get clean. I took myself to church where there are people who could pray for me and give me direction. Without them, I would not be clean today.

In Gods eyes, I was a life worth mending. God knew me at my worst and still could see what I could become. Once I was sober, I wrote a book of poetry about my recovery and named it, "A Life Worth Mending". God took my broken pieces and all my frailties and restored me.

This new book is called, "A Mended Life…finding Christ in the Darkness", because God truly did mend my broken life. It was through that process, I found a new relationship with Him that now sustains me and gives me purpose. It is my hope that this book will be a part of your journey toward recovery and that it will be a lighthouse that you use to find your way in the darkness.

I have now celebrated over ten years clean and sober. In the ten years of my sobriety I have written and published a book of poetry called, “A Life Worth Mending”, created and published a complete Christ-Based 12 step program and founded a non-profit ministry called “Broken Chains Ministry”. My vision is to offer hope to those suffering in their addiction through God.

The mission of my ministry is the educating and motivating those bound by various addictions through the written and spoken word. That is why I have written these books.

It takes courage to begin your recovery. There are going to be stormy seas and many times what you think is going to be a safe harbor is really shallow and rocky water. Let Christ, the one who loves you most, be the lighthouse that guides you to a safe shore.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness - Recovery Journal

ISBN: 9781933660271

Retail Price: $16.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Page Count: 100

Pub Date: In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This 3-ring binder Journal is to be used in conjunction with the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness by Annette Brockman and it's companion book, A Mended Life - Student Workbook.

The Journal allows the student of the A Mended Life 12 Step Recovery Program to chart their progress and prayer requests.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness - Recovery Journal - Refill Sheets

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1002

Retail Price: $8.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Page Count: 100

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This Pre-punched Journal Sheet Refill for the 3-ring binder Journal is to be used in conjunction with the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness by Annette Brockman and it's companion book, A Mended Life - Student Workbook.

The Journal allows the student of the A Mended Life 12 Step Recovery Program to chart their progress and prayer requests.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness - Student Workbook

ISBN: 9781933660233

Retail Price: $16.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Page Count: 97

Pub Date: In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This book is the Student Workbook to be used in conjunction with the book "A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness" by Annette Brockman.

This 97 page workbook is highly beneficial to the reader during this 12 Step Recovery Program. It is also recommended that the reader takes advantage of the 12 Step Recovery Journal while on their path to recovery.

The only book in this three part series that could be used effectively on it's own is the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness."

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

Broken Chains Ministry Office - Spring

12 Step Recovery Cards

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1007

Retail Price: $2.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Package Count: one set of twelve

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

These 12 Step Recovery Cards are to be used in conjunction with the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness by Annette Brockman and it's companion book, A Mended Life - Student Workbook.

These 2"x 3" Cards come in a pack of twelve, a card for each step to carry with you while you are working through each step towards your recovery.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

CD - Recovering the Pieces of a Broken Life

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1001

Retail Price: $18.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

CD (2 Volume Set)

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This cd is to be used in conjunction with the book "A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness" by Annette Brockman.

This 2 volume 64 track set is highly beneficial to the reader during this 12 Step Recovery Program. It is also recommended that the reader takes advantage of the 12 Step Recovery Journal and Student Workbook while on their path to recovery.

The only book in this three part series that could be used effectively on it's own is the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness."

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

CD - Scripture & Prayer for Recovery

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1000

Retail Price: $12.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

CD (1 Volume Set)

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This cd is to be used in conjunction with the book "A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness" by Annette Brockman.

This 20 track cd is highly beneficial to the reader during this 12 Step Recovery Program. It is also recommended that the reader takes advantage of the 12 Step Recovery Journal and Student Workbook while on their path to recovery.

The only book in this three part series that could be used effectively on it's own is the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness."

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

Embossed Spiral Devotional Journal

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1003

Retail Price: $8.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Page Count: 49

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This Journal can be for your daily devotional or in conjunction with the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness by Annette Brockman and it's companion book, A Mended Life - Student Workbook.

This 6" x 8 1/2" Journal comes in Red, Blue, or Black, and contains Scriptures from Psalms.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

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Pewtertone Lighthouse Keychain

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1008

Retail Price: $2.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Package Count: One

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

Inscribed with "Jesus is the Light," this keychain is a daily reminder that Jesus is our guide to the shore no matter how harsh the storm.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

Other Titles By the Author
A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness        9781933660226      $21.95
A Mended Life - Recovery Journal        9781933660271    $16.95
A Mended Life - Student Workbook         9781933660233    $16.95

Other Products From Broken Chains Ministry:
12 Step Recovery Cards                                          GWMS-BCM-1007    $2.95
CD - Recovering the Pieces of a Broken Life            GWMS-BCM-1001 $18.95
CD - Scripture & Prayer for Recovery                      GWMS-BCM-1000 $12.95
Embossed Spiral Devotional Journal                          GWMS-BCM-1003    $8.95
Mended Life, A - Recovery Journal Refill                  GWMS-BCM-1002    $8.95
Pewtertone Lighthouse Keychain                               GWMS-BCM-1008    $2.95
Pocket Reminder Coin - Mark 10:27                         GWMS-BCM-1010    $2.95
Pocket Reminder Coin - Psalm 43:3                          GWMS-BCM-1009    $2.95
Poster - 12 Step Prayers                                           GWMS-BCM-1005    $3.95
Poster - Isaiah 42: 15 - 17                                         GWMS-BCM-1006    $3.95
Step 8 Apology Cards                                               GWMS-BCM-1004    $8.95

Pocket Reminder Coin - Mark 10:27

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1010

Retail Price: $2.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Package Count: One

Pub Date: In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This coin is a great daily reminder that the Lord has a plan for each of us and that with His strength and guidance we can do anything.

Inscribed with Mark 10:27 "With God all things are Possible."

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

Pocket Reminder Coin - Psalm 43:3

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1009

Retail Price: $2.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Package Count: One

Pub Date: In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This coin is a great daily reminder that the Lord has a plan for each of us and that He is there to guide us through trials, all we need do is ask.

Inscribed with Psalm 43:3 "Send forth Your Light and Your Truth."

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

Poster - Isaiah 42: 15 - 17

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1006

Retail Price: $3.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This Poster is a daily reminder of God's guidance in our lives, even when we are feeling forgotten. Printed on this 12"x 25" poster is Isaiah 42:15-17.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

Poster - 12 Step Prayers

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1005

Retail Price: $3.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

This Poster is to be used in conjunction with the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness by Annette Brockman and it's companion book, A Mended Life - Student Workbook.

This 12"x 25" poster is designed to encourage the student to read and work on their steps towards their recovery.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography

Step 8 Apology Cards

SKU: GWMS-BCM-1004

Retail Price: $8.95

Author: Annette Brockman

Audience: Recovery

Package Count: set of six

In Stock

Book Synopsis:

These Apology Cards are to be used in conjunction with the book A Mended Life - Finding Christ in the Darkness by Annette Brockman and it's companion book, A Mended Life - Student Workbook.

These 4"x 7" Cards come in a pack of six and are designed to help the student to be able to send a card to apologize to each person whom they have hurt. This is a big step in a students recovery.

See Annette Brockman's Complete Biography