The Best Year Ever

One of the great things about New Years is that it is a new year. A chance to start fresh. A chance to erase the misgivings and mistakes of our past. I love a verse in the Bible, 1 John 1:9 were it says that God is willing to forgive us and help us when we are honest with ourselves and with Him (that’s my paraphrase). That’s encouraging to me but its not always easy to fess up and be honest with myself.

The New Year offers yet one more reason for us to do that. In this month’s Stories of Hope a young girl named Kate shares how she took that step in her life. You can read Kates story here.

Kate and LaLa met when they were in a residential treatment program in Massachusetts called Walden Behavioral Health.  They were extremely close due to their shared pain. I believe they helped one another.

I remember so clearly how we were hoping for a fresh start for Lauren in September of 2016. Lauren had enrolled in a special co-operative program between St. Vincents College and Housatonic Community College . Lauren had worked most of her career in retail and fashion. Her mom and I felt it was not a great environment for her. The hours were demanding, pay minimal, and it could be a career where drugs are prevalent. Although in todays world that can probably be said of most industries. You can read about the last time Lauren and I talked about this in “Brighter Days”.

Lauren agreed that a change might do her well and she was excited about moving forward with her life.

People with an addiction can often develop a sense of uselessness. It is no surprise when we consider the constant pursuit of their preferred drug to appease an insatiable appetite and the constant upheaval it brings in every relationship around them. In “I want to but I won’t” you can read as one long term heroin addict shares their perspective on the weight of guilt and shame centered around people that loved her.

Due to this feeling it is important to be heading toward a fresh start, and a plan for accomplishment. The thing to remember is to start small so a foundation of success will be accomplished.

The other vitally important element in recovery is relationships. Lauren found this in Kate and others, but she simply ran out of time. I wish I could change that but its not possible.

In her story Kate mentions a counselor that had an incredible impact in Kate and LaLa’s life. I am not sure why but the counselor moved on just before Lauren completed the program. It made me think of another time when Lauren was in detox. She connected incredibly quickly to a young gal that had worked there. You can read more about it in, “I’m Sorry Honey” . I felt Lauren saw in her story hope like we talked about last week in “Brighter Days”. Sadly, the girl was written up because she had spent too much time with Lauren. Of course, there may be other details I am not aware of, but I thought, “How strange that in a place where people desperately need to connect with other human beings for true healing, this girl gets written up for providing that connection.” As a result the girl never connected with Lauren again, I believe if she had the chance to, it may have been a help to LaLa.

This connection is also beneficial if some of these relationships are not associated with a person’s addiction or mental health issue. In other words, people fighting a substance use disorder need some relationships with people that aren’t fighting an addiction or providing them treatment or care.

In my opinion one of the great places for this to happen is the church. Imagine how much impact we can have in 2019 if we have a heart to just be a friend to someone that is hurting. The post “Why can’t we be friends” talks more about the importance of this.

If you yourself are fighting an addiction or mental health issues, make the decision to find a friend outside the world of recovery or addiction. Someone to just be friends with.

Most of all, please don’t give up.

This week’s featured image is called “Limitless” by Brooke Shaden.  It reminds me that with Gods help, we can do more than we think we can.

I beg you for 2019 to please, find your motivation and reasons for getting well. That is one of the things Kate mentions in her story, take the time to read it to discover hope in the face of how powerful mental health and addiction issues can be. You will be uplifted by how Kate found her own motivation to win her battle.

We hope that 2019 is your best year ever. The year everything changes for you and your family. The year you learn that life can be different than it is now. Happy New year.