An awesome recognition ceremony

I went down to Tucson yesterday. The main purpose of my visit was to attend a graduation ceremony from a program that my aunt went through. I got to spend the evening with my parents last night and they took me out to a nice Chinese Buffet dinner.

This morning I headed to the location where the graduation took place. What an awesome experience it was. I was so proud of my aunt. She has been sober a bit longer than me by about 6 months I think. I celebrate 6 years of sobriety on the 28th of this month! THANK YOU LORD! Anyhow, my aunt has been attending these classes and she is now a Certified Recovery Support Specialist. There were about 40 graduates at the ceremony this morning and they each had 2 minutes to say whatever it was they wanted to say. I really enjoyed listening to their stories of where they were, and where they are at now. What better people to counsel and mentor other addicts than those that have been through it themselves. Congratualtions to my Aunt Lynn. She has come a long way and I am so proud of her.

I talked to my friend a bit earlier today. He was released from detox and has gone through the withdrawal process. This is not fun folks, I tell you this from my own experience. Each time you go back to using whatever substance it is that you abuse, the withdrawal is ALWAYS worse than the time before. His wife picked him up and they went to a 12 step meeting and they are spending some time with their grandson. I will talk to him this evening and will set up some times to meet with him and to follow up on his aftercare. Pray for him. He is going to have to be held accountable and the first few weeks out of detox are not easy. Pray for the Lord to comfort him, and to give me the words to speak to him. Pray that I don't get "pissed" off at him. Sometimes it is easy for me to tell the addict that "It's easy! I did it why can't you?" It has to be a God thing and the addict has to want to be clean and sober. Until next time...Be Moved by Love!