Spirit of Recovery

Many of us in addiction recovery can affirm that we've never let go of anything that didn't have claw marks on it! Even when we were, in essence, clinging to a sinking ship! But we eventually find that we become willing to try a new way, our lives begin to change. When we can truly “Let Go” and allow a higher power to provide guidance and direction, our lives begin to become amazing. Today we want...

Early on in our recovery journey, the idea of a life of peace and joy might seem impossible. The good news is that we can live such a life! But first we must learn to trust a Higher Power so we can start to move away from the disarray of an undirected life, opening the door to sanity and hope. The program of recovery gives us tools we can take up and use in our daily lives that assist us as we fin...

At any point on our recovery journey we have the option to begin again. We can call, “time out” and get a “do over!” Go back to basics! Our Higher Power gives us the ability to leave behind that which no longer serves us and move ahead with a clean slate. And as we do, it can be helpful to refocus ourselves on recovery Step 1. It’s been said Step 1 is the only step we need to get 100% right. What...

Has your trust ever been shattered? Have you ever felt betrayed by an authority figure? Many of us in recovery will say yes to those questions, but do we want to spend the rest of our lives in distrust and fear? No, so how do we regain trust if we have lost confidence in another? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on regaining trust in our higher pow...

In addiction recovery, we learn that we need to make “conscious contact” with a higher power, but we don’t stop there. We continue and learn how to be of service to others by carrying the message of recovery to any who seek it. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on learning to be of service as a natural outcome of spiritual awakening. Learn more abou...

As the old song tells us, sometimes we need to hold on to things and sometimes we need to let go. Fortunately for us in addiction recovery, we make a spiritual practice of taking personal inventory as a way of life. If we find we are wrong, we promptly admit it, and if we persevere in this practice, we find a meaningful purpose in life. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share “when to hold ‘...

Early in addiction recovery, many of us are not inclined to trust others or other people’s ideas of how things should be done. But once we make the commitment to clean and sober living, we have an opportunity to learn and trust a recovery process that has worked for many others. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on learning to trust the process of r...

When we get into addiction recovery, we learn to be mindful of our actions. “Do the next right thing” sounds like a great idea, but what does that actually mean? How are we supposed to know what the next right thing is? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on moving from aimlessness to freedom by doing the next right thing. Learn more about your ad cho...

One thing we need in order to grow in our recovery is to walk our path with principled honesty. This can be more challenging than it sounds at first! But if we are willing to show up and do the work, we can drop the heavy load we have been carrying and enjoy a lightness of being that will transform our lives. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on lig...

It takes courage and integrity to walk an addiction recovery path. If we persist, we will come to know ourselves as the spiritual beings we truly are, but first we must trek through the wreckage of our past. In order to move into the light, we must face our shadow. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on finding a path through the shadow to the light....

When we are in early recovery, the idea of a life of peace and joy seems very far away. The good news is that we can get there! But first we must extricate ourselves from the disarray of an undirected life. We can then learn to trust a higher power, thus opening the door to sanity and hope. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on moving from disarray t...

Did you ever feel like life would be so much better if you could just have a do-over? Well, you can do just that! In fact you can start over anytime you decide. Our higher power gives us the ability to leave behind that which no longer serves us and move ahead with a clean slate. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on energizing your life with a fresh...

Many of us enter addiction recovery with an excess of energy, not always knowing what to do with it. We can exhaust ourselves overcommitting, trying to make up for lost time, or just generally running ourselves ragged. This has been called “frantic sobriety.” Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on using our recovery energy to create a life of purpose,...

For many of us in addiction recovery, life can seem hopeless, especially in the beginning. After all, we chose to deal with our life difficulties with a behavior or substance meant to numb the pain. Take that away and life can certainly feel hopeless. But we hold a vision of hope, and we find a wonderful new life on the other side of addiction—one that we would not trade for anything. Join Rev. Da...

When we first get into addiction recovery, it can be hard to imagine a life without a drink or a drug. It may seem like our life is over and we’ll never have fun again. But nothing could be further from the truth! We soon begin to learn that there is a new way of being in the world that is far better than our old habits. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and...

How many times have we found ourselves doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results? We enter recovery and learn a new way of thinking and being in the world—and yet the same old thought habits can still drive us crazy. What’s going on? How do we change this? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on breaking old patterns of...

“If you want what we have, you have to do what we did.” 12-step addiction recovery is a program of action based on spiritual principles. The ideas are nice, and anyone can read the steps and see that perhaps they make sense, but nothing happens if we don’t take action. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on putting spiritual principles to work through...

For some of us new to recovery, the whole “God thing” can be a real barrier. We may be carrying old ideas of God that don’t make sense to us. We may not realize that we don’t need to accept someone else’s understanding of God; we can find our own. In fact, we don’t even have to use the word “God” if we don't want to! Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hop...

Many of us in active addiction were not looking for a way out of our way of living. But then things got really bad, and we became willing to find a new path forward. We moved from complacently accepting our addiction to actively seeking to move beyond it. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on forging a new path forward with hope, commitment, and focu...

Many of us in addiction recovery are all too familiar with the feeling of fear. Fear of the future, fear of change, fear of pain—you can probably add to the list. The good news is that in recovery, we can learn to manage and transform our fear, moving instead into a life rooted in faith. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on moving from fear to faith...

When we first get clean and sober, it is not unusual to feel like the whole world has been turned upside down. It can feel like chaos has taken over our lives! Fortunately, if we are willing to do the work, the recovery journey includes the gift of balance and peace. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on moving from chaos to peace using the power of...

Murphy’s Law seems operable in the life of many addicts and alcoholics: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. Beaten into submission by the school of hard knocks, we wonder, “Do we have to learn everything the hard way? I don’t understand why this always happens!” Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on learning to unlock a new way of experiencing life...

Twelve-step wisdom teaches that we are powerless—powerless over our addiction. But does that mean we are powerless over everything? Certainly over the behavior or substance that brought us into recovery, but what about the rest of life? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on practical ways you can move from powerlessness to balanced living through the...

The “Serenity Prayer” tells us to be open to Wisdom so we can discern what is ours to do—and what is not. Many of us in recovery have experienced the results of questionable decisions we have made—sometimes repeatedly! Fortunately, we grew tired of living that way. But how do we move away from bad decisions, bad relationships, and bad situations? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their...

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!” This sounds like great advice though many of us begin the recovery journey feeling quite the opposite: stuck and limited. Sometimes even after years of being clean and sober, we can find ourselves feeling aimless. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on practical ways you can find your true purpose in l...