Guiding Light Recovery is a professional, holistic and all-encompassing four-month substance abuse treatment program for men struggling with addiction and is offered for no financial cost. Men that come through our doors seeking help are often in an incredibly dark place and are spiritually, emotionally, and often physically broken. They are beaten down by years, if not decades, of lost time due to addiction and hopelessness. When they seek to be admitted into the Recovery program, they are initially placed on a three to five-day probationary period. This gives our staff time to observe and evaluate whether they are serious about getting sober.
Some of the prospective clients that come here do not make it past this stage. At Guiding Light, we have to be sure that men accepted into the Recovery program will be worth the investment of the substantial amount of resources we offer them here. While on probation you are encouraged to sit in quiet reflection and contemplation of why you are here, and what you are willing to do to live differently. Once you are accepted, you become part of the Guiding Light community and are following in the footsteps of countless others that have found a way to break the cycle of darkness, addiction, and hopelessness that brought them to our doors. After thirty days in the Recovery program, men are asked to write a commitment statement and are given the opportunity to put their picture on the wall.
Andrew, a Recovery client, recently had a chance to put his picture on the wall. At a community meeting he read his commitment statement out loud and reaffirmed to his peers why he is committed to living life in a new way. His statement reads as follows:
“I am committed to surrendering my life over to God’s will each and every day so that my life lived may be pleasing in his sight! Know God, Know Peace…No God, No Peace.”
Andrew also included the scripture from James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life God has promised to those who love him.” Writing your commitment statement and “getting on the wall” is an important first step for men in the early phases of our Recovery program. It is a way to put on record, for all your community members to see, what you are willing to do differently to change your life. The Chapel in our building at 255 Division Avenue is filled with the commitment statements and pictures of men that have come through Guiding Light Recovery over the years. Seeing the success of all the men that have come before them gives clients a glimmer of hope that it is possible to live a new way of life in sobriety and recovery. It is living proof that there is indeed a way out of the darkness and into the light. Men like Andrew are here today, right now, going through a powerful spiritual transformation at Guiding Light, and could not be doing so without the generous support of our donors, volunteers, and supporters. We cannot thank you enough for giving these men a new lease on life and a way to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
