Being able to express myself freely through the written word is the greatest gift borne out of my recovery.

If you had told me seven years ago that I’d be a full-time freelance writer living in Portland, Oregon, I would have said you were crazy. Back then I was circling my rock bottom, feeling like the world was about to end. I had nothing to live for and zero hope for the future.

When you have guilt, you reinforce the feelings of being not okay. You lose your confidence and self-respect. You feel undeserving and you hold yourself back.

The key to releasing guilt is to recognize that we all go through life doing the very best we can with the extremely limited skills and awareness that we have at the time.

Sobriety is a major pathway to good mental health, but it does not secure it. Instead, having your brain and body free and clear of addictive substances allows you to make the best choices necessary for mental health, and gives you the strength to do the necessary work. The trauma resulting from the pandemic and a year of social isolation have brought these issues into sharp focus, and this opens up important conversations by releasing the stigma around mental illness as a whole.

God calls each one of us to love sacrificially (Eph 5:2). Loving this way is hard. In our home, this call meant becoming foster parents. Being a foster parent is not easy or simple, and sometimes it is not even fulfilling (as you and I are tempted to define it). It is hard, it is costly, and it is often thankless, but we do it nonetheless. Here are three reasons why we, as a couple and now as a family, choose to do what is hard.