There are times I’ll go to a 12 step group meeting, take a call from someone in need, or lunch with a friend and we’ll often talk about what changes we’ve been going through lately. Are they good? Are they just another struggle? Why is change so hard? When will the change I want come to pass? These are all great questions. When we dig into the question there are all kinds of topics related to what the person is going through and that includes what I’m going through as well — I struggle with change along with everyone else. Where we land at the end of the conversation tends to be the same though. Change is normal. Change is healthy. Change can be hard, but we don’t have to do it alone. God, family, and friends are there to help us through the change. If we’ll just look back in time we’ll see all kinds of changes that have happened. And those things are all “good”. So yes, change is meant to be good.

In the past year or so I’ve really struggled at work. My boss and I just never could see eye to eye. I could tell he was running out of patience and prepared to make a big move if things didn’t change. I wanted to stay, I wanted to be successful, but I also knew that whatever was going to happen next would be in God’s hands, not mine. Fortunately, I’ve been in this place several times before. Previous times had to do with company closures and felt less personal than this latest struggle, but in each case I felt the same thing — God was with me, He had a plan for me, and all I had to do was trust Him, be patient, and the right opportunity would come along and lift me up from where I was. In the beginning it was hard to trust and hard to be patient. Over the years and many experiences I’ve found the trust is there completely but I still struggle with the patience part. Fortunately, time marches on and eventually what was already planned out, comes to pass. All I had to do was exercise faith, continue my prayers and service, and stay close to my God, my family, and my friends.

The outcome this time was no different than the times before — the Lord blessed me in ways I hadn’t even imagined! The results were better than I could have thought! I love my new situation and I’m grateful that I’m here today. It was hard but it was so worth it.

Why am I writing this and what does it have to do with addiction recovery? That actually is the point I’d like to make and will write up in my next post. It had nothing to do with addiction because over many years of constantly working to turn my life over to God and let Him heal me, He has done exactly that. He has healed me. I didn’t think about my addiction. I focused on serving and loving God. I prayed my heart out, I had fear, I had anger, I had frustration, impatience, and any other emotions. But I was able to process them using the tools and family and friends that my counselor and my 12 step group had been teaching me for years. It worked and I loved that it worked. I love it even now!

Healing is for everyone who is willing to turn their life over to God. It works and it’s wonderful.

My name is Mike