A Word from Mentor…April

If you had told me 20, 10, or even 5 years ago that one day I would be volunteering as a mentor in an addiction recovery support group I would have laughed in your face.  You see, I’m a child of the 80’s, raised during the days of the “Just Say No” and “War on Drugs” campaigns.  All of my life I’ve shunned all things drug related i.e., movies, music, books, media, etc-you get the picture.  I just said no.

Then I made a friend who was really skilled at hiding her drug addiction.  We bonded over a common love for Jesus, our families, our struggles, our worries, doubts and fears.  She introduced me to a different world that many of us would like to turn a blind eye to and pretend doesn’t even exist.  We were friends for several years before I ever knew she had a problem with addiction.  Because of our friendship when she began going to Champion Recovery Community (CRC) for extra support the only thing I knew to do, the only thing I wanted to do, was support her in her effort.  Soon she was encouraging me to be a mentor in the program.  Being a mentor with CRC or with any drug recovery program was never on my radar, but God seems to frequently laugh at my plans.  I very reluctantly decided to give it a try.  What did I have to lose?  It turned out a lot:

•     I lost many preconceived ideas about what addiction 
•     I lost the self-righteous attitude I didn’t realize I had
•     I lost the ideas that the 80’s culture had implanted in my mind about addiction
•     I lost my us vs them thinking
•     I lost a hardened heart I didn’t know I had developed
•     I lost the idea that anyone is a lost cause that I didn’t know I even portrayed

I have learned instead the factors that most often lead to lives of addiction, how addiction affects the brain, and how the 80’s “war on drugs” campaign morphed into a war on addicts.  I’ve learned compassion, humility and understanding. I’ve learned that none of us is a lost cause and that we are ALL “the least of these” in desperate need of a Savior.  I’ve learned that my favorite phrase in scripture is, “But GOD…”

“And you were dead in the trespasses & sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:1-5)

I hope that you’ll join me each month as I share what I’ve learned along the way in mentoring with CRC.  If you, like I was, are someone reluctant to get involved, don’t be. You will be encouraged to learn more so that together as a community we can break the cycles of addiction in our town.  Mayor Jackson recently declared September to be “Recovery” month.  This is a step in the right direction, but there’s work to be done, and we would love to have you onboard in that endeavor. – April