A Sober Christmas
“This Christmas, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with more friends and family, building deeper sober connections.”
James, pictured, remembers a Christmas spent alone in a bar in Texas, a stark reminder of how low his life had sunk. “I was unhappy,” he says. “I had run far from God and thought He was done with me. I had to work the night before, so I would not be with family and friends. I remember the booth, the music and the loneliness. I was ashamed. I did not have anyone to reach out to.” Jobless, carless and on the edge of homelessness, James was struggling with alcohol and a decades-long dependence on prescription drugs that began with debilitating anxiety.
“I first heard about Helping Up Mission while looking at shelter programs in Texas. My cousin Martha, who worked at Helping Up Mission, recognized my struggles and asked me to look at it because she thought it would work. She never told me what to do—she just supported me and prayed I’d get help. One text she sent me said, ‘Put faith over fear and fight.’ At that time, I was trying to detox on my own from Xanax and alcohol while fasting. I felt like I could die. My brother drove me to Helping Up Mission, and I felt safe for the first time in a long while.”
“A couple of months later, I celebrated my first sober Christmas in a long time. I never knew how to get help before this, and even though I was disconnected from my old life, I didn’t feel alone. I felt safe. I wasn’t worried. I told my family I was alive. Martha even came by to serve during the holidays, and I got to spend Christmas with my family, sober, for the first time in decades. After a year of working hard on myself, one day at a time, I graduated from the Spiritual Recovery Program. My brother, my sister-in-law and Martha and her husband were all there.”
“Recently, I was hired as the Spiritual Life Coordinator. I had been wondering how I was going to give back—I was a client, and now I get to be someone who can empathize, listen and walk with men through their recovery one day at a time. I want to help them build their lives patiently, just as I am continuing to do. This Christmas, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with more friends and family, building deeper sober connections. I’m finally James again. I know I’m not done on my journey, but I look forward to becoming a better man, one day at a time. To the donors who make this all possible—thank you. Because of you, hope is real, and lives are being restored.”
