Resurrection from Addiction – A Father’s Perspective

For over 3 1/2 years, my wife and I were on an emotional roller coaster, from living with our son and his addictive behavior. We desperately sought answers and friends who could shed light on where we went wrong and what our son was actually dealing with,

The pattern persisted of dramatic lows for him (& us!), followed by cries for help, then off to rehab or hospitalization, which led to some new level of education and knowledge. We learned that his addiction was actually a disease, and chronic.

This revelation completely started a change in us, from constant anger over our son’s “bad decisions”, to wanting to learn more about how the disease could overpower his judgement, regardless of his intentions.

We learned at his first rehab, this was a family disease, and I began to seek my own recovery, through an Al-Anon program for parents of addicts. This led me to believe I had to begin to detach from control, to let my son be in control of his life and his addiction, knowing his sickness could get much worse, and he could even die.

After my son had several very dark episodes, brief recoveries and subsequent relapses, I began to pray for a different recovery option, in case his addiction took him one more time, to the basement of hopefulness & despair, enough so, to cause him to reach out to us or others for help.

When that moment came this past July, I was able to just pass along a referral number to my son to try, and then let him go. He had reached his “bottom”, not wanting to go on with his unmanageable life course, and desperate & ready to go away to somewhere he could get help to start a new life.

He took the number, made the call to the founder for some questions with answers, and made the decision, “his decision”, to go that very day, to The Last Resort!

He was checked in by nightfall, and from that first weekend, his life began to change dramatically. When asked if he was sure he wanted to stay on that Sunday, he said “I am exactly where I am supposed to be, and want to be!”

Right away, with the help of a very willing attitude, and a staff of passionate, caring case managers, especially Frank, they began inspiring my son by sharing their own experiences of personal recovery and spiritual awakening.

My son became very serious about his recovery plans, from that day forward. They took him and his fellow brothers through a rigorous daily routine of healthy habits, humility, gratefulness, accountability, and the 12 Steps of recovery from addiction.

His life was reborn during his 90 day stay at The Last Resort, and my wife and I are forever grateful for the transformation he acquired!

Since leaving TLR, he moved into a sober living home in our hometown, and has continued his active, healthy recovery habits through each day. He, and the friends he has made in recovery, help each other in honest accountability, and aid their health by seeking community service to reach back and help others.

His life has changed so much in the last 6 months, through his daily prayer and meditation, activities with TLR alumni, and his growing adherence to his healthy habits and structure, begun at The Last Resort, that are allowing the roots of recovery to grow deeper and stronger in him every day.

My wife and I are reminded of how often the darkest times of his addiction, always led to a new light and revelation in his life, and ours, and we are thankfully humbled by the goodness and grace of God!

—–Tim W.