When he joined our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program 30 days ago, Alan was really broken over an incident between him and his youngest daughter.
The day before coming here, his 1-year old daughter didn’t want to come to him. When her mother handed her to Alan, she squirmed until he let her go.
At that point in his life, nothing could have hurt him more. Alan knew he wasn’t living right and realized his addiction was unmanageable.
He’d been here before — 2011 — staying less than a month. He went back home to help his wife manage financial pressures and their two kids.
But this night Alan decided he’d come back to Helping Up Mission…and arrived here at 4:30 the next morning! The brother had a moment of clarity and didn’t want to wait.
He told this story in class that first week. Now, a month later, he was adding a postscript.
The weekend before, his wife brought the kids to HUM to see Alan. His daughter acted shy toward him, but when he reached for her, she opened her arms and went to daddy. He held her during most of their visit.
This weekend, as soon as she saw him after entering the front door, she made a bee-line to him! It was like old times for father and daughter…and Alan was still feeling it Monday morning.
In class Alan shared how he thought he’d done a pretty good job of hiding his addiction. But even his 1-year old could pick up the vibes that something wasn’t right.
We know we have to do recovery for ourselves — but our kids certainly can remind us why that’s important!
One Dad at a Time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Deputy Director