She Surrenders - The Podcast
She Surrenders is where we talk about faith, addiction, and women all in the same place. Sherry’s 10-year struggle with alcohol ended in surrender to God and a 1,000-mile bike trip. There is an easier way! Sherry started She Surrenders out of a place of needing to find other women of faith struggling with their secrets of addiction. Her heart is to share everything about recovery and what it looks like to surrender to God and the life He calls you to live. Whatever you struggle with, you are in the right place to find encouragement and comfort that you are not alone. We all have our stuff.
Its about time we learn from each other and share our stories of surrender and the joy that can be found in a life living in recovery as a woman who loves the Lord.
She Surrenders - The Podcast
Celebrating a Decade of Triumph Over Addiction: A Journey of Sobriety, Faith, and Transformation
A decade can drastically change a life – especially when it's a decade of triumph over addiction. Join me as I celebrate this significant milestone and share the transformation I've gone through these last ten years, from battling alcoholism to becoming a warrior in the Lord’s army. In this Joyful Surrender meeting, I commemorate the miracles, the challenges, and the triumphs that punctuate these past 10 years and give God the glory for every single one.
I share my testimony here with you and the ladies from JS follow it with some Q & A and discussion. It was a beautiful way to celebrate my ten year milestone and I am honored to share it with you.
Love, Sherry
About the She Surrenders Podcast:
On the She Surrenders podcast we are talking about women, faith and addiction all on the same platform. There are many podcasts for women and sobriety, but very few for women seeking information and stories from others about faith-based recovery.
Help us reach more listeners: like, subscribe, review, and share.
Find us on Instagram @shesurrenders_sherry, on Facebook @shesurrenderssherry, and online at www.shesurrenders.com.
Welcome back to the she Surrenders podcast. I'm your host, sherry, and on each episode we share with you what happens when you put down your addictions and pick up the promises that God has for you in a brand new life of recovery. I have another great episode for you today, so let's get started. This past week, on November 6th, I celebrated 10 years and I had no idea, leading up to the 10-year mark, how to celebrate that. In fact, as it got closer, I wasn't even sure I wanted to celebrate it, not because it wasn't we're celebrating that's not it at all. It was more of a how do you commemorate something like that? I kind of just wanted to be quiet about it, which wasn't where I thought I'd be with it, but when it came down to it, I wanted to be where I always was on Monday nights and November 6th happened to be on a Monday, so I got to be with my people. I had eight o'clock this past Monday night and share my testimony, but they're in light. Another challenge, because I wrote a book, so my story's already there. But the couple days before I was to do this, god was really speaking into me and he wanted to talk to me about who I was before November 6th, almost like who I was on November 5th 2013. So I did a lot of writing and a lot of soul searching and this is where it ended up. So I recorded the meeting and wasn't sure if I was going to use it here or not, but after listening to it, I decided that there's no better way to share what God's done, because it's not what I've done. It's definitely what God's done and I consider it nothing short of a miracle, a miracle that he has blessed me with and continues to. So thanks for being here. I have to tell you that it's not a formal speaking engagement, so there's some interruptions, there's a lot of ohms I might contradict myself in fact I do and there's some background noise here and there. When I compare it to some of the recordings I listened to of other live meetings, it's pretty good, but it's not the usual she Surrenders podcast.
Speaker 1:So if you've ever wondered what a joyful surrender meeting is like, this is pretty close and I hope you enjoy it and I hope you're inspired. And if you or someone you know is wrestling with that decision about whether or not to quit drinking and how to go about it, I pray that you pass it on Thanks and enjoy listening. So, first of all, thanks everybody for being here and giving me the opportunity. Like I said, this is where I wanted to be all day. As I always say to all of you, or to people that are thinking about joining Joyful Surrender, there is nothing better than being in the company of those that know exactly how you feel, and while it was kind of a day of not knowing exactly how I was supposed to feel, I do know a couple things. I do know that I'm in the company of others that are celebrating with me and are grateful with me, and that are praising God with me, and that means the most to me. So that's where I started.
Speaker 1:So, on November 6, 2013, I chose to surrender, and in my surrender, I was no longer in the presence of my enemies. My weapons were no longer a numbing cocoon that shuts out the entire world and shielded me from realities I didn't want to endure. That was the day I learned a new battle cry. Yes, I had gone from one war to another, but now I was in the Lord's army. My shout of hallelujah was a declaration that he has already won the fight, but I must continue to defend it and that the evil one will never bring me back across those enemy lines and in this army of angels.
Speaker 1:I look around and I look for familiar faces. I'm looking around, I'm looking for those who are fighting with me. They must be there somewhere, these Christian women going through the same thing that I did, and I was hoping to see many who are familiar with this fight. Surely they would know how to defend life without alcohol and they're going to show me the way. Where are they, lord, I asked, because I didn't see them. Then I remembered he had told me the story about how armies need to grow and that we will need each other and that when women of God fall, we fall hard, but when we get back up, we are forced to be reckoned with that. We will encourage each other when the lies of the enemy whisper in someone's weakening or we will surround them with the truth that will set them free.
Speaker 1:The fight is new. It is no longer against something, it is now for something, and that is where the beauty lies. What have I done to deserve a love like this? When I write those words, I cry harder than I have in a very long time. I feel like I'm pouring out my soul on the pages and while it's not new information, I feel it's important to repeat. It feels amazing to sing his praises of rescue and put beauty onto this page of what he's done. I just can't describe it, but yet it's so important. This 10-year milestone is to glorify him and not me. It reminds me of the song by Tasha Layton Look what you've done. There's a verse in it that says suddenly all the shame is gone. I thought I was too broken and now I see you were breaking new ground inside of me.
Speaker 1:Reflecting back on 10 years, did it really go fast? I mean, life goes fast and it did, but when I break it down, I do see how it ebbed and flowed. These past 10 years brought the most change in our lives as a family Many milestones, many changes and the beauty of it, as I remember every single one. So variety is brought sober holidays, milestone birthdays. My youngest turned 21. I turned 50. There were vacations, graduations and we became empty nesters. My biggest joys will definitely be celebrating to milestone anniversaries of our 30th and our 35th Sober my youngest daughter's wedding Sober. I became a grandma three times Sober.
Speaker 1:There's also been heartbreak and devastating loss and I thank God that the temptation to drink was not in my thoughts, instead replaced with the unselfish desire to be there for my family. I have done more, sober, than I could ever imagine. Challenge me on anything that I thought that I could not do as a sober person and I will have an answer for you. There were endless business trips, happy hours, all inclusive vacations, but yet I found the sparkle in all of them that exists when you are sober and feeling amazing and beautiful places. I survived and made it to this place because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me. So why? What brought me to that place, where I actually needed to surrender?
Speaker 1:Thinking back, when I was a child, I knew that the moment I heard the words in the song Jesus loves me, jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me. So I knew it was true and I believed it. But somewhere along the way I began to doubt what that love encompassed. Maybe I was too deep of a thinker growing up, but who says that? You know, like I'm too deep of a thinker for a 10 year old? You just think everybody is that way, but I don't believe that's true. All kids are different.
Speaker 1:I do know a couple things. I do know that I always craved more attention than I was getting. Whether I was getting it or not, I always wanted more. I always wanted to be the pretty one, the smart one, the funny one. I always felt like these things were just out of my reach. Growing up, I hung out with people that I thought had these attributes, so they would either rub off on me or others would just assume I had them too, and that didn't work. Well, it never does when you put your worth on someone or something else in this world.
Speaker 1:So when I got married, I decided I would create it the perfect family, and for a long time it worked. What that really did was set me up for the perfect storm of addiction. On the outside I screamed success at the world, but on the inside I was dying a slow death. The discovery that alcohol revived me more than prayer ever did is a harsh reality that's hard to even say out loud. I'd built my life on sand and not on the rock, just like the parable in Matthew 7, which says Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And that was Matthew 7, 24 through 27.
Speaker 1:So when the rains came, I had no idea how to stay strong through any of it, other than to drink and numb it. I admit I did know what I was doing, but I had a false belief that I could stop. When things got better, I didn't intentionally say, well, I guess I'm going to be an alcoholic, but I did know it was a dangerous game I was playing, and I played it for about 12 years. I lost this game every time, and no matter how many times I lost, it was like a gambling addiction. I went back for more every time, thinking this time I will win. It will end differently this time, but, as we all know, it did not, whether you have been in the situation or not. I want you to do something with me. So everybody, close your eyes and picture yourself standing on a beach at the edge of the water and I mean big water, like the ocean where the waves are crashing over your feet. You're not moving, you're not picking up your feet, but as you stand there, you know what's happening. Right, your feet are sinking as the water washes over, and not only that you're getting sucked in deeper and deeper, and with every fresh wave, it gets harder and harder to get out, and that is addiction. It gets harder and harder to free yourself from the sinking sand you have built your life on, because you're getting sucked in more and more every time you go back.
Speaker 1:When he saved me on that day, november 6, 2013, I did not know the how or the why, but this time, my suffering, repentance and also rescue felt different. My surrender felt different too. This was real, and I knew without a doubt I was never going back. However, my fears about what day, four or five and beyond, and my usual ramblings of Lord how will that be different? What will happen then? What does forever look like? I didn't ask any of those questions. There was nothing to figure out, because the only question was asked by him and it was a simple question, and he said do you trust me? And I said yes, lord. And from that moment on I said yes to everything he asked of me. And it wasn't long before I realized he was asking for more than what I had thought about. But instead of becoming fearful, I became determined. Has everything been a win? I can honestly say mostly say yes, even when it's hard, and I say when, because that just doesn't mean it turned out the way I thought it should, but it was still a win.
Speaker 1:So when I'm challenged for what I say or do, when I have to defend my integrity and my choices, those are really dark days and they can go on if I let them be. So I try really hard not to, and I come here for support. But the good days are so powerful to. Whether someone reading a blog, a post on social media, hearing me speak or listening to a podcast, I've been affirmed every single time by someone said that they heard something that they needed to hear From my voice, from God's words through me, and that means more to me than I could have ever imagined. That's God and only God, and I learned very early on that what I said was not always going to be what people would respond to, but they were still listening.
Speaker 1:Comments and likes are sparse, and I'm okay with that because I know if something helps just one woman from feeling like I did for over 12 years, for just one more day, I'm doing exactly what God is asking me to. Your pain will be your purpose, and I have found mine by taking that path. Think of the moment. Then I sent my manuscript to the publisher for the last time and said God, as long as one person has led to you from these words, that's worth it. That has happened more than once and my words have been an impact over and over. And when I hear from a reader, I cry every time and again. I think of the song by Tasha Layton Look what You've Done.
Speaker 1:And I was going to end here, but when I decided that I wanted to make my testimony lasting and again not sure where I'm going to share it I wrote more, and I wrote this to the woman I was on November 5, 2013. And I started writing this a few mornings ago, pretty much just being obedient, as this is not my usual journaling routine. But God right, and I'm struck by how much more I'm willing to listen rather than needing to be heard or asked questions. So my prayers used to be whiny please have saved me, helped me, rescue me. But over the last 10 years, my prayers have changed from more selfish demands that my addiction be fixed for me and have turned into show me, lord, show me how this addiction, and now recovery, fits into your plan, because surely there's a plan, lord. I'm gradually accepting that I will not see the entire plan laid out in front of me, but I will see the steps to see it fulfilled. So I write this to encourage, not to say look what I did, or if I did it, so can you? I wrote this to give hope that if you believe he can, he will, that the same God who delivered me will deliver you. Let the woman listening to this that is thinking and I know this line of thinking because this was me on November 5, 2013.
Speaker 1:You have no idea how bad my drinking is. I cannot fathom life without it, but yet the thought of staying here causes me so much grief. I've talked to God before, but it doesn't help. That grace that you got is not for me, and I said you know, there is nothing too big for God. There is nothing that will ever make him stop loving you. If you believe that he can take this cup from you, he will. So just ask him who am I in you, lord? And then you must believe what he tells you, because you are not the exception to any rule. You're not that special, but you're special to him. You're worth your identity, who you really are, who he created you to be, is only found in him.
Speaker 1:Take your sin, your addiction, lay it at his feet and then look up, feel the wetness on your face from his tears. For you. He's been loving you through the self-imposed prison you have locked yourself in, and at your feet lies the key. It's always been there, but you thought it had been thrown away in every hopeless situation resulting from your drinking. So you pick it up. You're desperate to accept the freedom that unlocking the door will bring you. And there's no fumbling. The key slides in the lock easily and with a quiet click the door is opened wide enough for you to step through.
Speaker 1:You've come this far before you've stood in the threshold. You've talked it over and said I mean, I can do this, but did you step all the way through the door? That would be a new step. Why do you hover on the threshold every time? What will it take to walk through the other side, where a new life, free of alcohol and drugs, awaits you?
Speaker 1:You look around and realize that God has sent in reinforcements. There's angels everywhere with the weapons of beautiful voices singing his praises and proclaiming victory over sin, your sin. Then he offers his hand and it awaits you just through the door. And you see, written all over that hand is your redemption story. And then you know he has a plan and it's not what you've been living. And you know, without a doubt, you cannot win this fight on your own and you never will. You have to walk all the way through the door, grasp his hand and shut it behind you, and when you do, you feel safe and love. Safe enough to throw the key far into the fire behind you and leave the old life behind this community. Here you are, my army of angels that God has surrounded me with each other, and you are there for me, you are there for each other and we will be there for anyone else as well. It truly is beautiful to be in the company of women that love the Lord and know exactly what you are feeling, and that the struggle to overcome the pain of addiction is real, and we can show you the way.
Speaker 1:Whether you reach out here to someone else you trust, do not wait, because life won't. All the things in life you've missed out or numbed will continue to exist for you that way, and sadly, it does not get better. It doesn't just go away. It might be controlled for a while, maybe even go quiet for a while, but the angry line will come back with the mighty roar of destruction of your life, destroying the ones you love with greater force every time. You don't have to hit the infamous rock bottom to quit. Life will not suck, I promise. Don't wait, stop drinking and start living. If there's one thing that I wish that I would have done differently on November 6, 2013 was maybe had a 10 year anniversary then, but that's not the way it was supposed to work out. That was my day one, and I just went forward from there. So, whatever day you're on or whatever day you're contemplating, or whoever listens to this, don't wait. Like I said, start living. Life is waiting and it doesn't involve drinking.
Speaker 3:I kind of have a question, sherry. It's a question and an observation. Yes, hopefully, I'm just kind of thinking out loud here but so many people have to go through a formal program or a rehab, or maybe they'll find themselves in AA, right, and work through their way to sobriety, hopefully. But you didn't, you didn't. No, I didn't. Your story is really a testimony to you know, god works differently in each path. So for some it's AA, for others it's an outpatient or inpatient, maybe several times. You know. Look at Matthew Perry. I mean, I mean, your story is just such a beautiful way that God is glorifying himself. He's glorifying himself through your life and your books and I think you know in AA they constantly are encouraging you to get out of yourself and do acts of service right, and you're writing as that act of service. And then what you're getting back from all these women that read your books and through this group, I think is really the key to your sobriety.
Speaker 1:I would agree and I've never looked at it that way before. So that's a really good observation and I've always been really careful or at least I look at it differently, I think, especially this past year is, you know, is we're opening a rehab facility? But I had, I didn't really have an option. I knew about rehab but there was not a rehab within reach for me that was going to do something for me, that I knew that that was going to do this something for me that God could not do. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:I felt very, very convicted many times before that final drink that God was after me. I was almost scared, like freaked out, and I think that that last day, the surrender and, like I said, it's different for everybody, but it was almost like he made the decision instead of me Obviously mutual, but it's rare that you hear and there's some of you here that have had that that it's just gone. Is it still? Is it struggle to learn how to live differently? It's just there's challenges that go along with learning to live without your coping mechanism, but it was never a challenge to that. I was being tempted and I feel like that was as much. Him saying it's time to get busy. I got plans and I had no idea that any of this was in his plan none. I mean, I just wanted to get my house cleaned, I just wanted to get organized. I just wanted my kids to like me again. I mean, my list was so simple compared to what he had going.
Speaker 1:And am I grateful for it? Yes, I mean, this is my life. This is a life that I haven't really chosen, but I'm so glad. I love my life, I love what I do. It's yeah, but in that same vein.
Speaker 1:That is why our Salah House recovery is not a normal. It's not a normal recovery and I mean would you expect anything else from me? And nothing's normal. So I mean it's different and I look forward to sharing a lot more of that with you. But it's kind of the idea of the firm belief that fall in love with Jesus and everything else falls into place and everybody that comes there does know Jesus. I mean they can come if they don't. Even if they don't but it's probably not gonna have the same effect for them but to fall back in love with your faith and what God can do. And when you believe that, I believe that things start to happen and combine that with a community like this one, because you come in with a community, there's 12 women that you come with and there's the same 12 women that you leave with, and that's one of the unique aspects of our program. So, yeah, like I said, I look forward to sharing more of you, but thank you, karen. That was a great observation. You're welcome Anybody else, Michelle.
Speaker 4:Well, sherry, you are.
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 4:you are such an inspiration to all of us in terms of in terms of when you can fully surrender and be obedient and trust God, not knowing what his plans are. I just it's remarkable how God has used you in the past 10 years. It's amazing. So, with that being said, I also have a question. I don't know if you're able to answer it or not, but on November 5th 2013, did you, deep down in your soul, know that God had been working in you and through you throughout all of those years with the struggles? Did you kind of sort of know that you were going to surrender? Did you have that feeling in your gut that I'm done? I'm done, I'm gonna really I'm gonna give this to God. I'm done.
Speaker 1:I can answer that and it's probably not the beautiful God girl answer I would like to give, but I was still in the place the day before I quit of. I've got to quit or Craig is going to leave me, okay.
Speaker 4:That's where I was Okay.
Speaker 1:And I've got to figure this out. And I did want to quit. I wanted to quit for good. I was still walking around going God help me, god save me. I promise it'll be different this time. I was, I was repeating the same thing. I had done that whole time.
Speaker 1:I was also mad because, if you, if you read my story, I was attempting to drink and it wasn't working Right, almost like I, like my throat was close to it, hmm, I mean, I, I was pissed and I was like I get to do this on my terms one last time and it wasn't working. I had no. That's why I was so angry, I was so angry, I was so angry, I was so angry, I was so angry, I had no. That's why, being that out of of still controlling the situation and but still knowing it had to end, I was still all in sherry's, in control. So when it happened the way it did, I remember waking up that morning with an incredible sadness, like grieving, and I know now that came from knowing I was going to lose, I wasn't going to win this one on my own, and I did talk to God about it that morning and if I read my journal, it really is all the same.
Speaker 1:Help me God, help me God, help me God. And it was that moment on the floor that I was like whoa, like something's really really different. And I mean Ben Fuller sings the song God, god, hold me, and it gives, it sends a chill down my spine every single time because I know what he's singing about and you know, as I relive some of those moments just through your questions, it's so evident what he was doing. I had no idea he was going to do anything more than you know.
Speaker 1:The first time I spoke to a small group of women In 2013, I didn't know what a blog was. Okay, I don't even know if it was around. I think my daughter would. So she was in college like 2006 to 2010. And somebody told me my daughter had a blog and I'm like, oh what. I honestly had no idea and no intention of starting one Like people might read it.
Speaker 1:You know, first time I hit publish I was like, and please God, let no one read it. But yeah, so that's where I was, not with any different expectation. Is that hoping it would work this time? Right? But the minute it did, I knew it was different, 100%. And that's why I use the analogy of walking through the door. I feel like I was on my knees on the threshold every single time and you know, I feel like you know. I used the analogy of you know, when he held out his hand and my redemption story was written on his hand. But how much are you going to see that quickly? If I would have seen everything that was going to happen written on his hand, I probably would have backed off. I mean, in all honesty, that's scary, but I saw enough to know that he was going to take care of me, and that's all we need. I mean, there's so much truth to one day at a time, we don't need to know the big plan.
Speaker 6:Anybody else? Quick question, jerry when did you know that it was actually time to write the book, like what led up to that?
Speaker 1:There was a series of events. So I always wanted to write, just didn't know what to write about. Blogging. I never thought about writing a book. Blogging definitely started getting me hungry to write more. But I was asked. I started.
Speaker 1:I went the place where we bought our cottage it's like a conference center on the grounds and they had a writers conference. And that was the first year. The second year I was sober and I was there like you should go, and I'm like no, I should. And I just went and I just lurked. You would not believe how quiet I was. Like I didn't even talk to anybody, except for one person that I started a conversation with and I'm really good friends with to this day.
Speaker 1:And so, what's your story? I said I don't really have one, I'm just here to just. He says everybody here is a story, it's Christian Writers Conference, everything's tragic, everything's got to read. It ends beautifully you know what's your moment? I said, well, I was. I was an alcoholic. I still am, I always will be, but now I'm not.
Speaker 1:And he goes that's boring. Did you do anything in there to anything different? And I said, well, I was a Christian. He said that's still boring, anything else? I said, I rode my bike from Michigan to Texas. Now we've got a story and I said, oh, he says work on that, come back next year. So that got me thinking and two years later I had a book contract just by going and learning every year. But two years later I also became the director of that Writers Conference and I did not want that job. I said yes to be nice, because I don't know how to say no, but I did not want that job. But I'm so glad I said yes because that has created connections beyond you know, and friends across the nation. Just it's been incredible. So again, god's plan, not mine. So that's pretty much how the book came about.
Speaker 2:I thought the visual of walking through the door and throwing the key behind you into the fire is just really powerful. And when you really close the door on it. And my question is how did being vulnerable and honest change your life when you cross that line of how has being vulnerable and honest changed my life?
Speaker 1:Regarding your drinking? And yeah, at times it's inconvenient because I feel like ever since I I heard Joyce Meyer say once If you have integrity, put the freaking card away in the parking lot. Ever since I heard that I always put the grocery card away, or I'm like who's watching right now that I should be doing the right thing Because I'm vulnerable, because I'm a wide open book. I think people are quicker to judge if you don't do. Everything. I mean things that you do or say can be quickly interpreted in the wrong direction. But what it's also done is when they are misinterpreted your actions or your deeds it hurts twice as much Because it's like can't you see me for who I am? No, that's not who I am, and it hurts. It hurts a lot. So I think that living in a more vulnerable and wide open lifestyle it does set you up for the perfect storm to get hurt a lot more.
Speaker 2:But at the end of the day, I don't have any regrets.
Speaker 1:I don't have any regret Because I know what really matters, and I think that's been the biggest shift. I no longer worry about pleasing people, I worry about pleasing God, and I don't always do it perfectly, but I try a lot harder than I used to.
Speaker 7:I was just going to say congratulations and I love the imagery of standing on the sand looking out into the ocean when you close your eyes and you see that division. I think it's a great comparison, because you're looking at the beautiful effects of drinking at first right, how it makes you feel and how it's just so romantic, like the ocean is too but before you know it, you're being overtaken by the power of the waves and the depth that it has taken you deeper than you ever thought it could before. It was not too powerful or too much, so I just think that that was a great visual to put the two together.
Speaker 1:Great, thank you, and I was just thinking when you were saying it. They give a little kid at the beach where it's. First it's like, oh my gosh, you know, and they love it. And then all of a sudden the waves come faster and faster to them and they're just like panicking all of a sudden because they can't get them to stop Right. No, Tricky. But thank you, tara so.
Speaker 6:Kristen, congratulations, thank you. My question was did you, during the 10 years, did you ever go through like a difficult time where you were wishing you could drink or you were like, how am I going to get through this without drinking?
Speaker 1:No, we did go through. Well, we went through Stephanie's addiction, which I didn't want to drink because I wanted to take care of my grandsons, because that was my place, and it never, ever occurred to me to drink. It occurred to me. I just, every day, I just said thank you, god that I can, that I can be helpful, thank you that my son trusts me and the other. The first one, though, that we went through was when our grants. So that was six and a half, it'll be seven this July.
Speaker 1:Our grandson, otto, was born with a severe heart defect, and I've never been through that much pain in my life and watching my daughter go through that much pain and sick with worry for almost three months of touch and go, and I didn't want to drink, but I did want. I remember thinking I want to check out. So bad it didn't occur and drinking wasn't the option. But I remember thinking I wish I had ambience or something like I just wanted to sleep, I wanted to check out, but yet then I would panic because I needed to be available. What if they call? What if? What if the, the alarms go off? You know so it was always that, but I would have these moments where I was like I just want to check out.
Speaker 1:Part of me thinks that's normal. Yeah, it's not always. You know the addiction part it's dangerous to as an as an addict, you do have to keep an extra special eye on it, I think. But I mean because I remember my husband saying to you I just, I just want the heavy to just be gone for just a little bit, because you would wake up and you go what's wrong? You knew immediately something was wrong and living like that was really hard. But I think what was really hard was figuring out how to live with that, for me at least, because I always made it go away before it got uncomfortable. But there's no way I could have been the mom that I was through that for my daughter even and after he was born and came home that first year, if I was drinking, because, make no mistake, I would have drank. Thank you, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 5:I wasn't so much a question. I just wanted to say congratulations and a big thank you, because you put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into making sure this group's active and getting together every week and it's really wonderful and they're just really really aren't spaces like this. And thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. That encourages me, so, and I want to encourage every one of you to use your story or to use your recovery, even if it's just here, even if it's where we talk to each other in the forum or in a meeting or something's on your heart, share it, make it a topic, because there's so much power in sharing our stories. God can do anything, and I'm glad that. I mean, it's always that thing of if you knew me then, but I'm really glad you did it, because we probably, yeah, always that thing of, yeah, we didn't need to know each other before. So that's good. But all right, I'm going to close the prayer.
Speaker 1:Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you so much. Thank you so much for this time together tonight celebrating what you do, because you do it so well. I'm full of gratitude and I'm thankful for every year that brought me closer to you. I'm further away from the old life, and every face on the screen and every other one that couldn't be here tonight, lord, the gifts that just keep coming, I'm so grateful. Bless us on our way, lord, and I just pray, lord, that wherever these women are, in the same way that I said, where are they, lord, that you'll bring them here and we will welcome them and do whatever you say In your precious name. We pray Amen. All right, love you guys. Have a great night Welcome to the YouTube sharing.
Speaker 1:Thank you. God bless you. Thank you, and we will see you here next week on the she Surrenders podcast. And if you could take a moment to leave a positive review, no negative ones, please. That is how we get the word out of what's happening in faith needs recovery, and feel free to subscribe when you're there too. See you next week.