I didn’t drink shots when I was drinking alcohol.  I thought of myself as a lady like drinker – champagne flutes and crystal glasses. I did though down quite a few drinks quickly when I needed to try to change a mood or try to forget something or drown a feeling. I guess they really were ‘shots’ of alcohol.

When I got into recovery, I heard the term God Shot and thought about how liquor shots were the opposite of a God shot. Drowning sorrows, covering pain, avoiding life and love and work and so many other things – that’s what shots of alcohol could do for me and so many others dealing with addiction. Or maybe it was one more cookie after 20, one more person to sleep with, one more, one more, one more and never enough to hide or deal with the pain inside.

Serenity Oaks Wellness Center has as good as any definition of a God shot: “A God shot refers to an unexpected favor or a sign. The phrase attributes to a profound happening that cannot be explained, but not quite as remarkable as a miracle. It is something that gives an addict a warm feeling inside that indicates to them another reason to why they should stay sober.”

Unexpected favor or sign – a passing word of encouragement, a smile just when I am feeling sad or lost, the crazy stellar jays that come to my yard to say hello every morning, each one of these is a god shot for me. They reset my heart and mind. They help me to see things is new and different ways, they are not always profound and often are mundane but the way that they connect with me cannot quite be explained. They are messages that tell me I am not alone and that even though I am powerless over most everything, I need not be hopeless or helpless. There is help and hope if I but receive it.