If you believe in the serenity prayer, you’ll appreciate the insanity prayer:  God, grant me the insanity to try to change the things I cannot change; Let me leave alone the things I can change; And please never give me the wisdom to know the difference. And for the codependent, let me go the extra mile for people who don’t appreciate it.

Are you helping people or destroying them? In the book, The Codependent Christian, Dr. Craig Voorhees offers unique and original thoughts, concepts you won’t find anywhere else. Take the codependency test on page 6 to find out if you have codependent traits.

In this easy to read book, Voorhees defines codependency in simple terms:  A codependent rewards, saves, or supports another person when that person is exercising poor judgment that leads to destructive, dependent behavior. Common types of destructive dependent behaviors are such things as drugs and alcohol, gambling, refusing to work, refusing to go to school, abusive anger outbursts, and/or any behavior that leads to habit formation that causes future pain for the dependent person and that simultaneously wastes the time and resources of the codependent person.

Three types of love are defined in book:

Mature Love: In mature love, I care as much about your feelings as I do my own. I care as much, but I don’t care more about your feelings than I do my own. I protect myself and my feelings.

Immature Love: I may tell you that I love you, but rarely show it. I am immature and incapable of having empathy.

Codependent Love: I care about your feelings even when you don’t care about mine. I am overly empathetic. I feel I must be a role model for caring, even though you fail to follow my example. I put others above myself in unhealthy ways. Despite my best intentions, I essentially teach people to be immature.

This book is a must read for those who help others in their own self-destruction.