Those of us who are alcoholics and addicts have a lot of wasted time in our past. Gone missing are all the years when we were trapped in our addictions. We can learn from them and vow to never repeat those mistakes, assuming we’ve learned from them, but there is still the nagging sense of loss over those years.

No matter how we have turned our recovery into gain and made the most of our second chance (or third, or fourth), we wonder “What might have been?”

Shadowlands has a nice prayer in her sidebar. I’ve blogged about it before, but I searched for the link and it is no longer found at the original site (“Spirit Daily”, if you must know.) I’m glad I’ve found it now on her blog. It is a “Prayer to Redeem Lost Time”, and saying it is comforting:

“Prayer to Redeem Lost Time”O MY GOD! Source of all mercy! I acknowledge Thy sovereign power. While recalling the wasted years that are past, I believe that Thou, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain. Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that Thou can do all things. Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Thy grace, both now and the future, that I may appear before Thee in “wedding garments.” Amen.

(Via Living in the Shadowlands.)

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)