Yesterday was a beautiful day serving with a diversion and recovery program that the Power of Peace Project is partnered with in North Georgia. Every two months I have the opportunity to go and teach the participants and it is one of the highlights of my work. We laugh, we cheer, we cry and we rejoice in recovery and restitution. To see these courageous souls successfully complete a very intensive two year program, as they get back many of the things they have lost, is a blessing to me in more ways than they even realize. I often believe that I am receiving much more from them than I am giving (although they argue with me on that!).
This week’s experience was especially fulfilling. A beautiful sister walked up to me with her daughter. On this particular occasion the courts allowed the participants to bring their families to hear and join in on the two hour class and there we a number of children present in this room at the courthouse. She walked up to me to introduce her little girl and her niece and she look especially grateful, and she was shining. She joyfully told me that the week before the courts had awarded her custody of her beautiful little daughter and that she was beyond words for getting her back. That is one of the toughest things that addicts often deal with is the loss of their families– especially their children. My heart was filled with gratitude that I was able to witness this miracle. Many of these people are heroes to me, as they overcome incredible odds and turn their curses into blessings and their mess into messages of hope. I am so proud of her, and I believe that she and her little girl will continue on this journey of recovery together.
These are my brothers and sisters in this good fight and I will continue to join in this righteous battle side by side with them. We will continue to search for miracles together and see what God does next. I for one am continually blown away that I am fortunate enough to be “front row at a miracle.” The Power of Peace.
