Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭7

Despite the difficulty of addiction, the arduous path to recovery and the precarious healing afterwards, it’s a joy to be alive.

Sure, it would be advisable to avoid the heartache and despair that are requisite parts of addiction. But if you’re going to afflict yourself with the full experience, take solace in the fact that hope remains despite our propensity to screw things up.

In fact, the largest portions of hope radiate from the most desperate of circumstances. Those who have gone before us and survived the pitfalls of addiction can testify to us their way out.

The first bonds of friendship are forged from peril, and they are lit by the threads of hope we can clearly spot in the light of the eyes of the recovered.

When the disaster of addiction is followed by the disaster of sobriety, we are up the creek on our own. The only hope we have is brought from others who have shared this same despair.

Often, we doubt their sincerity. There may be some embellishment, but for the most part it is on our end. Our disease lives in our mind and deeply desires us to remain unique.

As we concede to actually listen, to actually test what we are told, and to actually look for proof of its merit, we cannot help but be surprised.

Recovery is right in front of us, waiting. It’s not a moment. It’s a choice. It doesn’t overtake us. It invites us.

We become malleable and willing to walk forward. And to the extent we move away from our former misgivings, we begin to change.

Comfort comes with our action. It too is slow to develop, coming in swells. We realize how empty we were when the first waves of relief subside. We try to rest in ourselves again but are shocked by the emptiness.

Scanning the horizon in hope of permanent relief, we are comforted again by the assurance of our new friends. This is life on life’s terms. Everything passes. But hope remains.

God, thank you for the hope that remains in desperate times.