n a voice that shook with emotion, A.S.* tried to explain how addiction had affected her life. Loss and dependence were woven through her life. Her father had died while she was a toddler and her sister was an infant. Later her mother remarried.

As the sisters grew, an older relative began taking them to Sabbath school and Vacation Bible School, though neither the sisters nor their mother were Adventists. Their mother and stepfather rarely attended church.

Following eighth grade A.S. worried about getting involved with the wrong type of students in high school. An Adventist teacher visited her and urged her to attend the Adventist boarding academy. Though she regularly read the academy newspaper, she didn't think she could attend, because she wasn't an Adventist. She was thrilled to find that that wasn't true.

Baptized during her freshman year, A.S. devoted herself to study and worked long hours to pay her academy expenses. After graduation she enrolled in the nursing program of an Adventist college. Tragically, her mother developed cancer. Dependent on public transportation, A.S. could visit her mother only occasionally. After her mother's death A.S. quietly immersed herself in her education.

After graduation she focused on work and then earned a master's degree in nursing. A young Adventist man she'd known at academy came back into her life. She foolishly believed him when he said that marriage would change his need for alcohol to relax him. Following a whirlwind courtship, they married, and she moved several hundred miles to the city where he was employed. By the second Sabbath addiction issues began to affect their lives. Humiliated about the situation at home, she avoided developing relationships at church. Not even her sister, her only relative, knew about the depth of her despair.

Years later, in desperation, she turned to a woman who as an Adventist pastor worked intensely with her. Eventually both A.S. and her husband began to attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) support groups. Her voice faltered as she described the love that she experienced in these meetings. After years of shame, her feelings of worthlessness began to fade as they told her, "We will love you until you can love yourself." This acceptance plus the weekly arrival of the Adventist Review sustained her during this painful time.

But while she began to recover, her husband didn't seem to progress. Finally, divorce was the only solution. Embarrassed about the failure of her addiction-wrecked marriage, she avoided church until she read about the annual "Celebration of Recovery" in the Adventist Review. A whole new dimension in her faith experience opened up as a result of these annual celebrations, her participation in a 12-step Sabbath school class, and involvement in the Christ-centered regeneration fellowship.

A.S. states, "Being in recovery has helped me become a better person, and it's helped me reach out to others. God gave me the strength to cope, and I wish that more Adventist churches would open their facilities to groups like AA and Al-Anon, which are supporting people through very painful struggles."

*Initials used to respect her request for anonymity.

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Norma Sahlin is communication director for the Center for Creative Ministry. (Check out their Web site at www.creativeministry.org.)