Thirty-two years ago, I began a journey that would change my life. It started when my oldest son had been suspended from school for drug and alcohol use on school property. One of the conditions of his reentering school was that he would attend drug and alcohol classes. One of the stipulations of the class was that the whole family was required to attend. At the time, I must tell you, I was not happy with him or the stipulations of the class. I truly believed that this was his problem and his alone, and I was upset that I was being dragged into it. 

So, reluctantly, I went to the class, and sat and listened to the instructor describe what it was to be an addict or have an addiction. When I left the class that night I turned to my wife and confessed, “I think I might be an alcoholic.” My wife, in her most loving and gentle way, told me that she had been trying to tell me this for years. That night my journey in recovery began. There is something incredible that happens when we become honest with ourselves and others and ask our family or community for help with an addiction that has had a grip on us.

Since then, I’ve learned that there was one other with whom I had to become honest, and that was God. One year after I started my journey into recovery, I soon learned that the dynamics of addiction are difficult, even impossible, to navigate on our own. We need help if we are to find the healing and strength that it takes to overcome and grow. This ultimately opened the door for me to come to know God in a personal and intimate way through His son Jesus Christ.  He became the source of power that I needed to begin the journey to recovery, and to become honest with myself, others and God. Once there, I began to seek His help, only to discover that often His path to recovery comes through community. When I say community, I mean people that God has touched in their own lives. Some are aware of His work in their lives, others have found that there is a driving force at work in their lives that brings just the right answers at just the right times, and usually it comes in and through the community that surrounds and engages their lives. 

It’s really quite incredible when God works in our lives through the lives of others. 

The other day I had the privilege of working with a group of like-minded volunteers as we painted and cleaned a house that will become Green County’s first sober living house for women. I’m excited to see it come to be, but I’m even more excited to see our community embrace this need. The community here is made up of churches all across Green County; a special thanks to Grace Lutheran Church for allowing us to use the former Family Promise Day Center as our first location, as well as others in our community  such as Green County Human Services, the Public Defender’s office, the Drug Court program, SWCAP, local drug Peer Counselors, AA and other recovery groups, Thrivent, Habitat for Humanity and many others who have a heart and passion to fight against the devastation of addiction. 

Thank you Green County and Monroe, for your incredible support! I’m proud to be part of a community willing to take on this monumental task, but I know from experience that it truly does take a community!

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Paul Watkins is pastor of Church of the Nazarene, Monroe.