“…the group is more powerful than any of its individual members…”

– Life with Hope, first edition, page 7

God knows us in our loneliness. We know God better in our togetherness. Some say sobriety isn’t recovery, and that recovery is being in community. Fellow recovering addicts restore my faith so that I can stay sober. They help me, sometimes because I ask, and sometimes without my knowing it. To experience these things though, I must be with others. When using, I isolated. All I could see was myself and that was the last thing I wanted to look at. Today, when I’m with others, I have the chance to be of service and I give them the opportunity to be of service. When I listen, I swear I can hear God speaking, and when I’m hugged, I can feel God’s arms. When I share honestly and act with integrity, my shame and guilt continue to melt away. I don’t need to hide and I can see so much more than just myself.

Final thought: With sobriety, I have the ability to act like a polished lens, fully transparent, to magnify God’s love so that others may see it more clearly.