Southern Sky

30/07/2025

20/05/2025

*Faith in Recovery*
I’m grateful today for the freedom I’ve found in recovery - a freedom that’s spiritual, not religious; open-hearted, not dogmatic.
When I first walked into the rooms, I carried deep wounds, some from addiction, some from religion. I was afraid of judgment. Afraid I wasn’t “good enough” for God. Afraid I’d be told who I had to be in order to heal.
But what I found instead was grace. A space where I could find a God of my own understanding. A fellowship where I wasn’t preached at, but listened to. A program that invited me to live by spiritual principles, honesty, service, humility; not just religious rules.
I’ve seen how some voices, even in the world of recovery, want to bring in a kind of spiritual fundamentalism; a rigid, black and white view of faith that says, “My way is the only way.” That’s not the message that saved me.
The miracle of recovery is that it meets us where we are. We don’t have to pass a religious test. We just have to be honest, willing, and open. I’ve seen atheists stay sober. I’ve seen Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, agnostics; all walking the same spiritual path of growth and surrender.
To me, God is not a doctrine; it’s a relationship. It’s love in action. And that’s something I can share with anyone, no matter what they believe.
So I honor every seeker, every struggler, every soul on this journey. And I protect the sacred space we share from anything that tries to control it or divide it. Recovery is too beautiful, too important, to be chained by fear or dogma.
Let’s keep the door open, for the next one still suffering. Just like it was open for me.
Kolbe C

06/04/2025

*Not a Doctrine, But a Door*

I came in lost, with trembling hands,
No holy book, no well-laid plan.
Just broken thoughts and weary eyes,
Too tired to fake, too raw for lies.

They said, “We love you, just as you are,
No need to kneel, no need to spar.
You don’t need faith that's wrapped in chains,
Just honesty, and shared pains.

Some preach a God of fire and fear,
Who only draws the righteous near.
But in these rooms, I met a grace
That holds no score, that makes no case.

Not rules, not wrath, not moral boasts,
But stories shared by broken souls,
Now shining clear, now walking free,
With faith that grows, not forced decree.

So let them thump their books and shout,
But I know what this path’s about:
It’s not a doctrine carved in stone,
It’s love that says, you’re not alone.

My Higher Power’s not confined
To dogma built to cage the mind.
It moves in steps, in tears, in peace,
In every humble heart’s release.

So if you’re aching, stained or sore,
This isn’t law it’s something more.
No need to bow. Just knock, implore,
This faith we walk...
is not a doctrine, but a door.

19/10/2024

Please consider donating to this worthwhile much needed and almost ignored cause.

In the heart of our community, a silent struggle unfolds every day. Many individuals battling addiction face not only the challenges of their conditi...

11/10/2024

BEING AT PEACE means that you no longer have the need to prove anything to anyone.

You don't need outside validation, you don't need to tell your side of the story anymore, even when you hear a dozen rumors that tell an untrue version.

You used to guard your heart, but now you guard your peace, because you know your peace is worth more than proving yourself to anyone.

✍Stephanie Bennett-Henry

07/10/2024

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer