Learning from Moms in Recovery

Twenty hours a week I work at SpiritWorks Foundation:  Center for Recovery of the Soul, a community recovery center in Williamsburg.  Our primary mission is in working with people who have been impacted by addiction - and truly that pretty much includes everyone.  I'd be curious to know if there are people out there who haven't struggled with some form of addiction or don't have any loved ones who have.  In a normal week visitors to our center include people in recovery from alcohol, drug, food and other addictions, codependents, people struggling with mental illness, people getting out of jail or prison, homeless people, parents, spouses, and children of addicted people, mentors and volunteers, and, most recently, moms in recovery.

It is our new "Moms in Recovery" program that has been teaching me so much about trust recently.  We work with the Southeastern Family Project (SEFP) located in Newport News.  This is a program for women who are pregnant and who would be having their babies in jail.  Instead they get to serve some of their time at SEFP where they live together in a house attending daily meetings and groups, parenting classes, and other activities designed to help them get back on their feet and begin a new life with their babies.  They are permitted to stay for 60 days after their babies are born.

Most of these moms will be released when they have completed the SEFP program.  Some will still have jail time to serve.  A few have families and friends to return to when they leave.  Many have nowhere to go.  They will be released to shelters with their infants. 

Every time I start to worry about something in my life, I think about these women, and it puts it all into perspective for me.  All of them have trauma in their backgrounds.  And they are all struggling with the disease of addiction, a nasty brain disease that has so much stigma attached to it.  And they all have new babies who have little chance of escaping the cycle into which they are born.  Many of these women are so determined to make a new life for themselves and their babies, and they reach out in trust that God's going to provide for them.  There are so many obstacles to their success. 

We have one mom in recovery who came to us before we started working with SEFP.  She came out of jail two years ago, and despite enormous difficulties to overcome, she has not looked back.  She has custody of her 5-year old son, a job and a home.  She has had many setbacks, including an on-the-job back injury that workman's comp refused to pay for and that took her out of work for months.  She has worked hard to get back on her feet, to pay off her fines, to be a good mom to her son, to become self-supporting, and to maintain her recovery.  She inspires me every day.  She has helped me to learn that God will provide.  It may not always be easy, but what we need will be provided.  We just have to surrender our need to control the outcome and let God work things out. 

I am grateful daily for this work that allows me to meet such people.  This Sunday's Gospel lesson is the parable of the prodigal son.  It has become one of my favorite stories.  I am so grateful for Jesus' witness that God welcomes us ALL back with open arms and loving heart and a party thrown on our behalf.  I wish for all of God's children to know the warmth of that embrace, the abundance of that love, and the joy of that celebration.