The Heart of Recovery: How Compassion and Community Offer Hope in the Wake of Addiction

The United States is the most medicated country in the world. More than 1.7 million Americans are struggling with addiction to prescription painkillers, fueling the opioid crisis that claims more than 140 lives every day. The trouble isn't just the drugs--it's that we don't know what to do with the people addicted to them. Not as a country, not as the church. Is tough love called for? Or would Christ have us take a different approach to addiction recovery?

Drawn from the personal experience of the authors and current research, The Heart of Recovery calls us to set aside judgment and mend recovering addicts and their families with the stuff God uses to heal: compassion and community. It's a call to serve the ones who cannot repay, to forgive 70 times 7, to fling the door wide-open to the prodigal, and to remember the purpose of grace. A supportive community--family, friends, the church, and more--encourages and sustains long-term recovery. Through compassion, we bring hope for healing.

Deborah Beddoe has been a writer for numerous nonprofit recovery ministries including rescue missions and Prison Fellowship. David Beddoe, now a pastor, has worked in recovery ministry for nearly a decade following his own fifteen-year battle with prescription drug addiction. Their story has been featured in Guideposts and Christianity Today. The Beddoes have four grown and nearly grown children and live in Poulsbo, Washington, across the Puget Sound from Seattle.

David Beddoe, now a pastor, has worked in recovery ministry for nearly a decade following his own fifteen-year battle with prescription drug addiction. Deborah Beddoe has been a writer for numerous nonprofit recovery ministries including rescue missions and Prison Fellowship. Their story has been featured in Guideposts and Christianity Today. The Beddoes have four grown and nearly grown children and live in Poulsbo, Washington, across the Puget Sound from Seattle.