Spirit of Recovery

Here on Spirit of Recovery, we approach each week’s topic asking the same questions: What was it like? What happened? What is it like now? Today we want to share with you the answers to those questions for each of us in our own recovery journey. What’s our story? Well, today we aim to share our experience, strength, and hope on the experience of our own recovery. What we were like, what happened,...

When we take action in our lives, powerful and positive changes begin to happen. In fact, action is essential to addiction recovery and spiritual growth. In Scripture we read, “Faith without works is dead,” and many of us have experienced apathy and detachment when we don’t “move our feet” on the recovery path. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on l...

Am I alone in the universe? I’m supposed to pray, but how and for what, and to whom? I prayed as a child with seemingly no results. What’s different now? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on finding effective ways to make conscious contact with God as you understand God and seeing concrete, positive results in your life. Learn more about your ad cho...

It has been said that if we change our thoughts, we change our lives. And if we direct our thoughts with integrity, our lives come together beautifully. We can move from negativity to hope and joy by making just such a shift. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on learning how the power of our thoughts can lead us to hope and a new experience of joy i...

When we first get clean and sober, we may be overwhelmed by a sense of lost identity. Who am I if I don't drink, use, or fix others? The recovery journey offers an opportunity to heal this dismay and grow into an entirely new sense of ourselves. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on finding out who we really are and how our new identity can bring dee...

Early in recovery, many of us find ourselves confronted with “the God thing,” even if we felt we had settled that question for ourselves long ago! But sobriety can bring with it a nagging feeling that maybe there’s more to life than just flesh and circumstances. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on finding a power greater than ourselves that can hel...

There are so many questions in the world, and many times we have opinions on all of them! We may even find ourselves tied up in knots over conflicting ideas that really have very little to do with our daily lives. How do we regain our serenity? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on the value of maintaining a neutral stance. Learn more about your ad c...

One of the unique aspects of the way recovery communities operate is that there are no bosses. The group manages and serves the group. No one is any more or less important than anyone else. For recovery to work, the playing field must be genuinely level. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on being “one of the bunch” and learning to see all people as...

When we answer the call to assist another alcoholic or addict on their recovery path, we do so with generosity and gratitude. We do not pay our sponsors or expect payment. We give freely and receive freely in gratitude. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on giving and receiving freely, and the joys that accompany it. Learn more about your ad choices....

Nobody else is responsible for our sobriety. We are the ones who direct, live, and own our own sober experience. But in active addiction, we often try to put our responsibilities onto others: “If work weren’t so stressful, I wouldn’t drink so much.” Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on owning our sobriety, one day at a time. Learn more about your ad...

The lure of prestige has been the downfall of many on the recovery journey. Can we practice humility without feeling humiliated? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on staying in integrity on the recovery journey and avoiding the desire to look good doing it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nobody has ever stopped drinking or drugging if they didn’t want to. The motivation and commitment to get clean and sober is essential for success. Even though we know this alone is not enough, we also know it is foundational for living a life of freedom. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on finding and sustaining the motivation and commitment to so...

It has been said that nobody can do our inner work for us, but we cannot do it alone. We need the company of others on the recovery path in order to truly thrive. This can be challenging because we can be used to doing things our way! But if we are willing to become one of the bunch, we will discover the group to be a profound healing influence. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their...

In addiction recovery, we learn that we need to make “conscious contact” with a higher power, but we don’t stop there. We continue to 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 about...

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. 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 ‘em”...

When in early 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. We get to decide if it will work for us. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength,...

When we get into addiction recovery, we learn to be mindful of our actions. We hear the phrase, “Do the next right thing,” but 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 choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

Many gifts of addiction recovery come to us when we are willing to work for them. Part of that work is facing the wreckage of our past. To do so we must combine right intention with the guidance of a trusted advisor in order to get real results. We must “do the work”—but how do we go about doing this work? Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on findin...

As we grow through our addiction recovery journey, we often come face-to-face with old habits that are hard to break! Fortunately, once we are a few steps down the recovery path, we become willing to make new choices that support our new way of living. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, strength, and hope on letting go of old habits and opening the door to a whole new...

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....

Many of us in addiction recovery can affirm that we’ve never let go of anything that didn’t have claw marks on it! But we eventually find that when 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. Join Rev. Dan and Rev. Michelle as they share their experience, stren...

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? You can and you can start over at any time. 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 start. Learn more about your a...

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, yes, 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...