Alcoholics Victorious

Tonight I led my first meeting of Alcoholics Victorious.

AV is a Christ-centered addiction support group that I go to every Monday night. It's a lot like AA, I suppose, but instead of being just another "anonymous" struggler you actually learn that you are worthy of love and deserving of redemption and wholeness. I don't support the notion that "once addicted, always addicted", I don't stand up and say "My name is Colin and I'm an alcoholic" because that goes against II Corinthians 5:17 that states "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." I say "My name is Colin and I'm Victorious over Alcohol!". Ok, honestly I don't say either because there's usually only four of us and we all know each other fairly well. Plus it's just cheesy.

I love this meeting because I've really gotten to know the other people that go and when they hurt, I hurt, and we can pray for each other, we can lift each other up. There's really nothing like the feeling you get when someone remembers something you said and you realize that someone actually listened to you and cared enough to remember it. We all go through tough times and it's nice to know someone else knows what you're going through because so often with addiction, you feel like no one could possibly understand. In fact whenever I come across something, whether it's something I read or something I heard, and it describes something I'm feeling, or have felt, I feel better, I feel less alone.

My goal is to start a meeting at my home church for those inflicted by addiction. Rules are though, that you have to have one continuous year of sobriety before they'll let you. I think that's smart, so I've got 3 and a half months left till I can do that. My leader knows my intentions and asked if I'd like to lead tonight's meeting. I did, it was amazing to say the least and the feeling I had when I left was almost indescribable. I mentioned tonight that had you told me a year ago that tonight I would be sitting in a room leading a group on addiction recovery I would have laughed in your face! I think God LOVES to do things like that! And I'm glad to love a God that does!

It is SO important that you have a support group when you take the frightening leap into the unknown world of sobriety. It really is. I'll tell you why and it's probably not the reason you thought it was... You have to care about other people. You have to get to know other people who have gone through or are going through the same things you did and be there for them, even if you only have 2 days of sobriety. Take two hours out of your struggle-filled week and focus on someone else, immerse yourself in someone else's life. Minister to them and you'll notice that going out and getting blazed is the very LAST thing on your mind! I'm not lying. Try it and see.

So this was my attempt at blogging under a ten page minimum and I don't think I quite did it but I'm working on it!