REDEEM: A Journey of Healing Through Divorce and AddictionSample

This year, God gave me one word: Redeem. At the time, I had no idea how much I would need it.

After 24 years of marriage, I find myself walking through separation and divorce — a marriage marked not only by deep love and shared memories, but also by the painful and relentless grip of addiction.

We have four children together. We built a life, a family, and at one point, we were both committed to recovery — his sobriety, my healing. After he went to treatment, I threw myself into my own recovery. I gave everything I had to healing, to our home, and to holding onto hope, finding the strength to keep trying through the Finding Hope support group meetings I was attending. I believed that with enough faith, effort, and grace, our marriage could make it.

I’ve wept over the person I loved, watching addiction take more and more from him… and from us. I stayed, I prayed, I fought — until I had no choice but to surrender the outcome and protect my heart.

Even in the pain, even in the ashes, I see God moving. He’s close. He’s near. He’s redeeming.

I see Him in the strength He gives me to parent my four kids. I see Him in the community He’s surrounded me with through Finding Hope, where women walk with me in the same battles. I see Him in the healing I feel as I run, worship, and spend time in His Word. I see Him in the peace that steadies my heart on nights when the grief feels unbearable. I see Him in the opportunities He’s opening — giving me a voice to share hope and healing with others who feel alone in this journey.

Piece by piece, God is redeeming what I thought was lost. My identity. My peace. My voice. My future.

Reflection: Where have you seen addiction leave scars in your story? Ask God to begin redeeming those painful places.