May 22 - Not Alone

You can be surrounded by people and still be completely isolated inside. Cristi and Pastor Mike explore what it actually takes to let people in — and why the quality of your circle matters as much as having one.

Isolation strengthens struggle. Healing begins when I step out of self-focus and recognize that I was never meant to do life alone.

Cristi opens as a self-identified introvert — isolation is where she naturally gravitates, where she feels safest, where she thinks she thrives. And she knows exactly where it leads. She makes the distinction between community that pulls you upward and community that just keeps you company in the valley. Building a circle isn't enough. The question is what you're coming to agreement on.

Mike connects it to the rooms — early on, he had no idea whether the person next to him was a CEO or homeless. Didn't matter. They made it to the same meeting. That leveling is something recovery taught him and he's carried into everything since, including a marriage across racial lines that works because of shared love, not shared demographics.

Genesis 2:18 anchors the theology — the very first "not good" in all of creation wasn't suffering or sin. It was aloneness.

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Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.