Breathing Again: God’s Grace for Every Season of Recovery

“It’s like I’ve been dropped onto a different plant and I’m learning to breathe new air.”

A petite forty-something year-old woman sat across from me, her blue eyes earnest as she described her new life in recovery. We are in a bustling café with a gourmet menu. Debbie ordered a cheeseburger, maybe because she wanted it, or maybe because it was familiar and safe. She seems like a shy teenager, but that’s how old she was when her life went off the rails. That’s when years of childhood trauma caught up and she started a relationship with alcohol and then serious drugs, which led to a host of other transactional relationships so the addiction could be fed, which then let to a train wreck of broken relationships, and in the end a broken life.

Debbie spent long stretches of time homeless and missed learning life skills most of us take for granted. Skills like how to manage a daily schedule, going to bed and rising at set times, eating regular meals, and keeping appointments; practice of worship, prayer, study, not to mention the lack of attention on exercise, body, and health. The idea of setting goals and preparing for a future is totally foreign to her, but she is learning, day by day, and moment by moment.

Debbie lives in a residential community and credits God, her community, and writing as part of her healing journey. A book of poetry, reflections, photos and drawings is the result of her awakening. When someone reached out and asked if I would encourage her in her writing life, I knew already which of us would be the one encouraged.

Hearing Debbie’s story makes me think there are seasons in all our lives when we are trying to “learn to breathe new air.” It might not be drugs or alcohol, we can even have addictions to things the world applauds, like performance and achievements. Busyness and projects are my struggles, and I often fall off the wagon and then need to go back into my own recovery, learning again to breathe new air through leaning into my identify in Christ.

Beyond addictions, seasons of grief can also be times when you feel you can barely survive from one day to the next. Grief comes in so many forms. The loss of a child, parent, husband, wife, sister, brother, or close friend. The empty house and no longer being needed daily by your children. The loss of a job you love. A catastrophic illness or injury where a new normal is required. A betrayal by a friend, or some other deep disappointment.

Is there something in your life that is requiring you to learn to live in a new way, moment by moment? Are you in a season of learning to breathe new air? Take heart and be encouraged, because you are not alone. By God’s grace, we are all in some form of recovery.