A mother wrote to me: I’m afraid. Recovery was going well, I thought. Making meetings, new job he likes, nice girlfriend…I was beginning to trust and hope. In the last week, money taken from my purse, relapse, violation of probation. Now it’s back to court and maybe prison this time. I’ve given up hope. I can’t do this again.
My reflection: There were many times when I, too, felt like giving up on hope and giving into fear. When Jeff’s addiction rose up again and again, the pain was overwhelming and I felt suffocated. I didn’t know what to do.
Today’s Promise to consider: Hope can be fragile and fear can be powerful. But if we lose faith and hope, we lose our oxygen. Today, I’ll stay close to my loved one and allow him to fight his own battles. I’ll keep hope alive – for him and for me.
“We can’t be armor for our children. We can only be supporting troops.” Irwin Shaw
Thank you …I look forward to receiving your Thursday meditation each week. I needed this today as I was losing hope been such a long 11 years .
Thank you!
Hope can turn into a bitter pill that never dissolves.
Hope is transformed from its truth to a lie.
Hope becomes a pejorative term.
One can keep hope alive for the sole purpose pf becoming angry at hope, the hope that is not believed. the hope that has failed to materialize time after time. A hope that is seen as betrayal.
Hope is transformed into something it is not.
Hope becomes the focus of anger and resentment to the point that one believes that death is the most humane end to this journey.
This hope becomes a virus and is as deadly as Ebola in mind, body and spirit.
My parent support program and the recovery it promises to all who are willing provides a new lens to view hope and recovery. These lenses are foggy at first, but with each of the 12 Steps completed with a sponsor, the lenses are cleansed and a new vision appears.
In one lens we see truth and in the other, we see hope. This hope is the most pure sense of the word; our hope – a new life of serenity – a place of peace and understanding.
I have taken the suicide call.
I have been to the ER rooms.
I have seen my son’s mug shot.
I have witnessed him homeless.
I have heard his screams of desperation.
Hope turned its back on me and I despised it.
Through God and my support group, I was given a new set of lenses. I see clearly the promises of God. He restored my new vision of hope and guided me through the 12 Steps.
I started this blog named Hope and in the midst of my son’s worst time change my name to Joy. Because I found this place.
Never ever ever ever give up hope is what I was taught. Fight for joy when the darkness wants to swallow you whole. Yes, at times it is a battle. Fight with hope and love. Know you are not alone.
So many new chances, so many relapses, it kicks you in the gut. Don’t give up.
Jeremy said it too : keep hope alive.
One day you wake up and all that praying and all that hoping matters: lifts the weight off your chest and you know what you must do. No matter what : no matter how much you love that child, no matter what happens next : save your own life first.
Miracles might happen after.
I am here because of a God I chose to love and a husband who won’t let me get swallowed and Barbara & Libby. And you too Pat and Jane and Susan and others.
MY son today– whose real sobriety date is only his to know– called. So filled with gratitude and love and in a place I never ever would have believed. We all know it is fragile .We do. Which is all the more reason we cherish each day by day by day.
No one who has addiction in their family takes anything for granted.
We are a tribe of realists and hopefuls. We know about loving when it is hard to love. We have much to share. Yes! Hope and faith.
I
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without words and never stops – at all. by Emily Dickinson
Thank you for your words of hope, I wear a ring on my finger with the word HOPE engraved in it, which I look at repeatedly during the day to remind myself never to give up on Hope.