Singing A New Song

In recovery, it is easy to be brought down by the weight of our failures. When I began to sober up, I started seeing just how foolish I had been before. Any slip or mistake I made now also carried a new kind of grief. The kind that says I REALLY know better. Even if you are a day into recovery or sobriety, you know that being in a program such as WFR holds us to a higher level of accountability. Our yes should become a little stronger, our no even stronger yet. But knowing this just seems to add to the weight of another failure.

We may begin to shy away from the idea of recovery because we do start to feel that uncomfortable feeling of letting someone else down, or ourselves yet again. It may seem harmful to us at first, but if we get past these initial thoughts and feelings, we begin to see the truth about it. The truth of that matter is that those feelings MEAN we are doing something right. We should have more stock and weight in our choices, we SHOULD mean what we say. Yes, a fall can make these feelings heavy, but rising back up is what packs them full of power. In the fighting world, an uppercut is a solid punch; in the recovery world, it does the same thing. What better way to land one on addiction, than to launch up from our pit with our fist raised right at its jaw.

The enemy doesn’t expect you to come back up stronger. When we hold more responsibility, we are expected to stay down, because we know better, and although we do know better, we also know the God who goes before us. Throughout my life all the bad I have ever experienced has been a foundation for wonderful blessings. Every fall or slip I’ve had in recovery has been fuel to try harder the next time, to fight harder. I could choose to sit and sing the blues about every mistake I make. Every failure I have or am. But that, I have realized, does absolutely nothing for me. What helps me is singing a new song. Instead of a “Weeping Cry” I have learned to develop a “War Cry”.

This must come from a place deep within us that understands we are human, that we are prone to sin repeatedly, but that God’s grace is also there to make us realize we are loved above all else.

Don’t let a mistake hold you back. Let it be the launching pad the propels you to an even higher commitment to your recovery. To your accountability. To you and your loved ones.

Gaven F.

A grateful believer in Jesus Christ.