How Churches Can Provide “A Way Out” of Addiction

From an overhead view, a group of people sit in a circle on a grey rug, holding hands.

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”— 1 Corinthians 10:13 Few challenges facing today’s churches are as…

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Post-Traumatic Growth: Finding Your Tribe in Recovery

Post-Traumatic Growth in Recovery Finding Your Tribe

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit in at church—or even that you’re not really wanted there—you’re not alone. In my work in addiction, I hear this all the time. People tell me they grew up with some kind of religion, but when life got messy, they felt like the church didn’t want them…

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I’m Sober — Why Don’t People Trust Me? Rebuilding Trust After Addiction

Why Doesn’t Sobriety Automatically Restore Trust? You’ve stopped using. You’re going to meetings. You’re trying to rebuild your life. Maybe for the first time in years, you feel clear-headed and hopeful. So when the people closest to you still seem guarded, skeptical, or even cold, it stings. You want to say, “Can’t you see I’m…

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Teaching Lessons Used in the Recovery World

When people enter recovery, their brains often are not functioning well. Their thinking is so clouded that they are sometimes diagnosed as delusional. The truth is, we all get confused from time to time, and small phrases of truth can help us navigate stormy waters. Support groups rely heavily on these sayings to penetrate cloudy…

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Is Someone on Suboxone Really Sober?

As children, we knew a song about an old woman who swallowed a fly. She then swallowed a spider to catch the fly, a bird to catch the spider, and so on until she swallowed a horse and died – of course. This nonsensical song is a reminder that sometimes we mistakenly get caught in…

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Heal the Family…Heal the Person

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1 in 10 young adults has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and 1 in 7 is addicted to alcohol or some other drug. In a recent Kaiser Foundation survey, two-thirds of American young people said they had someone in their family who suffered from addiction. These numbers…

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‘Tis the Season…Sobriety and The Holidays

The holiday season, often stretching from Halloween to New Year’s Eve, poses a significant challenge to those newly embracing sobriety. This period, which may also encompass events like the Super Bowl and St. Patrick’s Day, is rife with parties where alcohol is prevalent if not the focal point. Coupled with the stress of family gatherings,…

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