Addiction and alcoholism can devastate the lives of the ones afflicted and those who love them. I’ve heard the diseases described as “soul stealing.” When drugs and alcohol stole my child away, I was beside myself.
I woke every day into a life I had not planned, nor could have imagined. My body rose from bed carrying my crushed soul like a rag doll thrown over my shoulder. I managed to do the things I was supposed to do as a mother, wife and keeper of the household, but it was a mystery force that kept my feet on the ground and my frame in motion. Though my ears heard and my mouth formed words, I wasn’t really there. I was beside myself. I was the one hanging limp, like an uprooted weed thrown aside and dying.
People in this situation usually think If only my loved one could get well, maybe I could get well too. But the opposite is closer to the truth. When I exhausted my vain efforts I carried my boy to the feet of God and asked Him to take over. I couldn’t see what God was doing in him, but God had something special waiting for me —a 12 step program of hope for people who are negatively effected by someone else’s drinking. It was there my roots began to take in nourishment.
In this place I learned to love and care for myself. I carried her in, lifted her from my shoulder and laid her at the feet of the group and my “Higher Power.” And she began to heal. In fact, I healed and continue to heal there with the others and my God in ways far beyond the person I was before I was uprooted. God does not leave me uprooted and hurt. When I turn to Him, He transplants me to a better place.
Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17
Meeting God at the Park 
Beautifully described. I think he is refining us in the furnace of affliction. I have had a few moments like that in my life too. They have made me better, even though they were extremely hard.
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