For the past fourteen years Jenny has been a nurse at a urban hospital. Moreover, she has also been teaching Sunday school at the local Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Although she lived in a medium size countryside community where it appeared like every person knew everyone’s business, relatively little was known about Jenny. For sure virtually everyone knew that she had worked many years as a registered nurse and that she taught Sunday school for as long as she lived in their small town. Besides that, then again, it almost seemed as if Jenny was simply a visitor in their town.
You can imagine the fervor that was created when it was discovered that one Sunday morning Jenny had lost consciousness due to intoxication. If truth be told, the article in the community weekly newspaper articulated that Jenny not only passed out, but that she also was arrested for drunk driving due to the fact that her blood alcohol content was considerably more than the legal limit for drunk driving. This is evidently one of the alcohol effects on the body that no Sunday school teacher wants to have broadcasted to the entire town. But this is precisely what took place, much to the consternation of Jenny.
Jenny Gets Quite Troubled About Her Drunk Driving Arrest
Clearly, Jenny was very disturbed about her drunk driving arrest. Not only should she have known better about driving while intoxicated because of her nursing profession, but she also should have held herself accountable to a more elevated standard because of the simple fact that she taught Sunday school.
After her arrest, Jenny was tempted to move out of town so that she would not have to feel embarrassed about her arrest and also so she wouldn’t have to give details about her actions for the thousandth time to the other members of her town. After discussing things with her preacher, nonetheless, she decided that she would get alcohol therapy at a local alcohol rehab hospital. She did this for two basic reasons. First, it was relatively easy for her to drive to a local treatment facility. And second, she genuinely wanted the message to get out among all the individuals in town that she was genuinely addressing her unhealthy and excessive drinking.
Jenny Goes Through Alcohol Detoxification and Gets an Extensive Physical Exam
After Jenny went through detoxification, she got completely examined by a physician at the drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospital. She then underwent a few lab tests where it was determined that she was not alcohol dependent but instead was involving herself in hazardous and abusive drinking. In short Jenny was engaging in long term alcohol abuse.
Jenny was given the alternative of getting alcohol counseling as an in-patient or getting alcohol treatment as an outpatient. Jenny, however, believed that she could still work as a registered nurse and maintain her Sunday school teaching position if she were to be admitted as an out-patient and this is specifically what she did.
According to her rehab action plan, Jenny went to two counseling sessions every three weeks, she learned a lot about alcohol info, she worked on her homework “assignments,” and she learned how to do things in life that did not have anything to do with drinking.
After eight weeks, Jenny felt like her excessive and careless drinking was under control and so she got discharged from the drug and alcohol rehab hospital under the provision that she would return for a refresher course once per month for the next twelve months. Jenny agreed and followed through on her “word.”
Jenny Finally Determines to Abstain From All Drinking Situations and Finds Out That Her Self Worth Grows
After she finished her rehabilitation Jenny thought that she would be able to drink in moderation. After reflecting on things more completely, however, she decided that she would totally refrain from all drinking situations.
When Jenny made this decision, she learned that her self-confidence increased the more she took control over her life. And as her self-worth became more enhanced, it appeared that she became more gregarious and began going to more community functions such as carnivals, music festivals, local high school football and basketball games, strawberry festivals, rib roasts, Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, and flower festivals.
Jenny Faces Her Hazardous Drinking, Comes to a Decision To Do Something Positive About It, and Rediscovers Her Faith
As the years passed, the residents in the community demonstrated more fondness for Jenny because she was interacting with them more frequently and also because she faced her abusive and hazardous drinking and decided to do something beneficial about it. It may have been her imagination, but it also appeared that her Sunday school pupils demonstrated more respect and affection for her.
Jenny is a living illustration of an individual who faced a precarious predicament and who did something beneficial about it. She is also an individual who found out that her religious faith is not only something that is intrinsic, but that it is also something that affects the way in which an individual relates to other individuals.