My Miraculous Healing from Addiction with Andrea Boring

Andrea Boring was just scrolling on Facebook.

She never expected that one post would lead her back to the Catholic Church. 

Andrea sensed the Holy Spirit and heard clearly:

“It’s time to come home.”

Andrea’s life was transformed in many ways. Yet, in God’s abundance, God had another gift in store for Andrea—miraculous healing.

Andrea was battling addiction, spending her evenings drinking, smoking, and binge-watching TV. 

On a night many years ago that Andrea will never forget, God healed her. She has stayed sober ever since. 

In this mini retreat in a podcast, learn how Andrea experienced how “the human and the divine work together in a beautiful dance to bring about healing.”

Discover how God has this in store for you, too!

Transcript:

Lindy Wynne (00:01.644)

Welcome to Mamas in Spirit, a podcast pointing you towards God in everything you are and everything you do. I'm Lindy Wynne and it's a blessing to be with you. Hello everyone and welcome to this mini retreat. Welcome to this mini retreat in a podcast. This time to hopefully settle our hearts and our minds so that we can rest and abide more fully by God's grace in Him. And...

I am really enchanted today and I know that's kind of a a word in a sense to be with our guest, but I really am enchanted and I think that I'm enchanted because I was so touched and moved by a post that she put up on social media and I asked her to come here today. So Andrea Boring, thank you for being with us.

Andrea Boring (00:52.446)

Thank you so much for having me today. It's an absolute delight and pleasure to be here.

Lindy Wynne (00:57.61)

Well, and I didn't know until just a few minutes ago when Andrea and I were chatting that Andrea has done radio and podcasting before. This is not totally new to you. Although I am going to imagine Andrea that every time one shares her heart and her story vulnerably, it sure does feel like the first time.

Andrea Boring (01:04.746)

Yeah.

Andrea Boring (01:14.89)

It does, it does. And it's great to be back behind the microphone. More earbuds today than actual mic, but it's great to be here. Thank you so much.

Lindy Wynne (01:23.458)

Well, thank you so much for your grace and your generosity and saying yes. And I just want to say before starting, just to start with the vulnerability of this all, because that's why we're here. This is really witness and testimony, like we would all hear if we went on a women's or a men's, because we have some brothers in Christ that listen to some papas in spirit. And so this is really like hearing a testimony on a retreat. And that's why I'm always so humbled too. And that's what I want to get to right now, is that people are so willing.

to honor God, to glorify God in their witness and testimony because of the way that God has poured out and God has transformed one's heart and one's own life. And I have experienced that too. And I just wanna say really quickly, we are going to be talking about addiction today. And because of my experience over the last seven years, seven seasons, we're nearing the end of season seven of Mamas in Spirit, there was something different.

in all of the witnesses that shared specifically about addiction, to alcohol, addiction to drugs, and even a precious friend who has been an Al-Anon for many years, which is for loved ones of those who struggle with alcoholism. And because of the humility, I'd never experienced humility in the same way as hearing those testimonies, like, is like next level. I mean, it's really hard to put my finger on.

And that was some of what planted the seed, including heart to hearts with all these people, when the cameras or the audio were not being recorded about my own journey and my own life, that I ended up going to Al-Anon. And I just came from an Al-Anon meeting. And so I felt like that's God's providence. And I let it, which almost never happens. That's like very rare in the sense of the number of meetings I've been to. And so I felt like, my gosh, that is like God's good providence today.

in this time of gathering because of where I just came from. So I just want to thank God and praise God for that. And Andrea, I would love for this time of mini retreat if you would open us in prayer.

Andrea Boring (03:30.762)

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Good and gracious God, we praise you and thank you for the gift of this day, for the gift of our lives, for the gift of Lindy and her beautiful mission that you have entrusted to her, Lord. I ask that all those who listen today, listen with a spirit of receptivity and love and open their hearts to the ways in which God

and Jesus desire to heal them today from whatever it is that needs to be healed. And Mother Mary, we entrust this time to you. As always, you are leading us closer to the heart of your son. As we pray, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God.

Lindy Wynne (04:23.598)

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Andrea Boring (04:29.788)

Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Lindy Wynne (04:34.27)

Andrea, I love your heart. hear your heart so much through that glorious prayer. And I would just love for you to start at the beginning of your story.

Andrea Boring (04:43.597)

The beginning, oh goodness. Well, the very beginning is that it begins with my journey to Catholicism. And that started when I was 14. Our family entered the church in 1993. My mother, my father, and my brother and I entered the church. Shortly thereafter, I, like many teens when they go to college, went away from the church, chose a different path.

was away for about 14 years. And then when I was 33, the Lord used Facebook to bring me back to him. My oldest children were, have twin, I have six children, time out, we'll give you a little backup here. I've got six children. I have two sets of twins, two sets of bookends. Hayden and Logan are 16. I've got Ryan who's 13, Olivia is 11, and then the little twins are nine.

And so my oldest were about three years old and I was scrolling Facebook and I came across a post that said, rest in peace, Robin Fugate Eberham. And she was a former law school classmate of mine and she had died of cancer at the age of 33 and I was 33. And I'd had a traumatic birth with Hayden and Logan and I nearly died. And I was away from the church. I believed in the church of the good person.

which for those of you who are not aware, that is the church in which if you're a good person, you're in good shape and you're going to go to heaven. And that's all we need. And that's what I believed at the time. But I was scrolling Facebook and my little boys were three. They were doing three year old little boy things, running cars, being perhaps a little destructive. And I came across this Facebook post and I immediately went to Google.

And I found that she had died the day before. And I found her blog. It was Caring Bridge site, which is similar to a blog back then. is, you know, 2011. Facebook was barely a thing at that time. And she chronicled her journey with cancer. And because of my own fear of death and my own fear of dying, because of what I experienced in childbirth, I went through this blog.

Andrea Boring (07:08.126)

with a little bit of disbelief because the words that I was reading were words of trust, words of hope, words of incredible love for our Lord, for Jesus, for God. And it was difficult for me to comprehend. And I read the entire thing and I got to the end of the blog and it said Mass of Christian Burial at a Catholic church in Louisville, Kentucky. And my...

At that moment, the Holy Spirit came over me because I couldn't believe what I was reading was something from a Catholic woman. Everything that I had ever read from blogs and from evangelicals or any other denominations, I mean, that's what I was expecting to see at the end of this blog and it wasn't. And it was at that moment that the Holy Spirit came over me and I heard the words clear as day in my heart and my mind, it's time to come home. And so the next week I came home to the church.

And that began my journey back into Catholicism. And it was a journey that was for about five years was fine. It was, went to Mass on Sunday. I got involved in ministry. I really wanted to share my story at the time and how this, I had had this profound conversion experience.

And so my heart was really focused on self. It wasn't as focused on God as it should have been. And I just went about life. My husband and I, after coming back to the church, became open to life. At the time we were not open to life, we were contracepting. And we became open to the church, church's teachings on birth control. And we became pregnant with my daughter in 2014. And she was born on my birthday.

And that was amazing. And she was born, and it was about three months later, my husband had been joining us at Mass to help with the kids. He wasn't Catholic at the time. And it was a few months later in July that he announced that he wanted to start our CIA. And so, praise be to God, that happened. And he was welcomed in the church in 2015.

Andrea Boring (09:30.876)

And then in 2016, we gave birth to our second set of twins. And that was a shock and overwhelming. But we made it. But they were also born prematurely. So both sets of my twins were born at 28 weeks gestation, which is crazy. And the beautiful God story of God Wink with the littles is that when I found out we were having another set of twins, I said to the Lord,

I'm bossy and so I do that. I said, Lord, just let me get to 28 weeks. I know I can do 28 weeks. I've done 28 weeks before. Just let's get there. And I delivered my twin boys one day later gestationally than their older brothers. And so they were also in the NICU for a considerable amount of time, less than their older brothers. They were only in for about 51 days. Hayden and Logan were in for 71 days.

And life went on. But it was, I didn't nurse them. And so I quit drinking with all of my pregnancies. And in 2016, after I had the boys, I wasn't nursing them for a variety of reasons. And so I kind of picked up that normal, you know, after the kids go to bed, glass of wine.

And it became very much an escape mechanism to me. And I began relying on that entirely too much in my life. in 2017, my husband and I started having considerable marriage problems. And that drove me to drink a lot more.

And that is when the addiction started, really. And it was every single night I would sit outside and I would smoke a pack of Marlboro Lights and drink a bottle of wine or a six pack of flavored beer. And that was what I did. I couldn't wait for my kids to get to bed. I couldn't wait to just have that alone time. I binged watched Grey's Anatomy.

Andrea Boring (11:52.308)

to deal with the pain that I was experiencing within the context of my marriage. And at this time, coincidentally, I started working for the church. And so it was like living this double life, right? And my coworkers, my former coworkers now, they all know my story, but at the time it was a challenge. it was one of those, it really did feel like I was living a double life.

I would come into work and I mean just the how I would feel and you know how I'd even look. I look back at pictures of myself at that time and just the puffiness and it was definitely a very, very dark period of my life. And it was in December of 2017 when I got the flu and I'd wanted to quit drinking. I just felt like I couldn't. I'd wanted to quit smoking. I'd wanted to quit all of it.

I knew I could do it. I've done it before with every pregnancy, praise God, right? The Lord gave me the strength to not drink or smoke during pregnancy. But it felt insurmountable. The thought of facing the pain that I was experiencing within the context of my marriage and just the stress of these small children, I just didn't know how I could do this.

And it was December 1st, December 3rd, 2017. I got the flu. I came home early from work and I was miserable. I mean, my temperature was about 102. I collapsed into bed as soon as I got home and I woke up about nine o'clock at night and I...

I just laid there in bed and I was going through withdrawal, right? Because I hadn't had anything to drink. hadn't had any nicotine for at least 24 hours. And so I was just, and I had the fever, I was shivering. was just, it was terrible. And I just laid there and I just, the tears started and I just said, God, I can't do this anymore. I cannot do this. Please, please help me. And

Andrea Boring (14:10.57)

At that moment, again, similar to what had happened to me in 2011, I heard the voice of God in my heart and in my mind. And he said, your pity party is over. We have work to do. And I laid there and I just, I slowly kind of went back to sleep. And then I woke up, it was about midnight and I felt

great, my fever had broken and I made my way to the kitchen and I poured out all of the alcohol in the house and threw away broken half all the cigarettes. And I had not had a drink since, nor a cigarette since that day in 2017. And so that is, that's my story in a nutshell.

It's a lot in a short period of time, but yeah, so please ask away.

Lindy Wynne (15:17.652)

Andrea, thank you so much for sharing all that. And I want to first start with, I have this vision now in my heart and my mind and my head of you sitting on the front porch drinking either a bottle of wine or a six pack of flavored beer and smoking cigarettes. And I so appreciate and feel such gratitude for you sharing that because I imagine that there are people listening who relate to that.

to that very moment of you sitting on the porch. And I've shared this quote many, many times in Mamas in Spirit because someone shared it on Mamas a long time ago that we're only as sick as our secrets. And that's actually from Alcoholics Anonymous, that saying. And I only know that because someone shared it with me, that saying. But we all have secrets. And that's the thing about people's testimony and people's stories is that at some point in our lives, at least, before maybe this healing from the Lord,

is that whenever there's something that we are trying to keep hidden, I think oftentimes our sin is often caught up in that because of a sense of shame or guilt or embarrassment or whatever else, and we can all relate to that. And there are, I'm sure, many, many of us who can relate to that moment on the front porch, even if it looks a little different, even if it's...

Maybe it's in front of the TV instead, or maybe it's going out with people, maybe it's drinking and driving, maybe it's waking up and drinking in the morning. We've had lots of stories about addiction on Mamas in Spirit, and they all are different, but yet those core, those core movements in a sense.

are the same and actually it's not really movement, it's closure. It's closing off, it's closeting and it's hiding from the Lord and from others and from connection and healing and all the things. And that's what we want for all of us here in Momma's in Spirit. And so first of all, I just wanna thank you for sharing that because I believe that takes great courage and that's what touched me about your social media post was that courage to be honest. And for all of us gathered, the courage to be honest doesn't need to happen on a podcast.

Lindy Wynne (17:32.335)

It doesn't need to happen in a public sharing. Not everybody's called to that. It doesn't even need to be shared in a witness talk on a retreat or even in a small group, but it does need to happen somewhere. And it definitely needs to happen with the Lord, that authenticity. So that kind of moves us forward to that moment on the bed when here you have a fever of 102, you're sick, you didn't drink, you didn't smoke, you're experiencing withdrawals, and there you are with the Lord. And the Lord speaks into your heart and speaks into your life.

Andrea Boring (17:33.331)

No.

Lindy Wynne (18:01.494)

And Andrea, that touches on another thing that I think is really important is I like to not judge other people's healing journeys or pilgrimages and just stay in my own. Maybe everybody's learned like the idea of staying in my own lane of my own life and staying fixed on the cross myself and how Jesus is drawing me and speaking into me and speaking into my heart and my life, whispering to me, drawing me closer to him. And so this is part of your recovery story and everybody's looks different.

And so everyone's looks different and I just love that. And I love honoring that and that vision of the merciful Lord, our good shepherd that spoke to you and went to you when you were lost to bring you to him, to draw you to him, to the good shepherd. And so Andrea, I would love, because I have a feeling that maybe that was part of your healing journey, like maybe a start of your healing journey because

Andrea Boring (18:31.016)

Everyone looks different.

Lindy Wynne (19:00.91)

You talk about this happening when you were 33 and may your blessed friend rest in peace. Louisville is not far from here. It's a very special place. You know, she was 33, you were 33. That's when we believe that Jesus died was 33, a very holy year and a very holy year in your life. Can you speak to how that started transforming you and changing you?

Andrea Boring (19:25.332)

Sure. My conversion to the church, really, or my reversion back in many, many, many moons ago, this would have been, how old am I now? This would have been 14 years ago that this happened with reading Robin's story. It really, was just, it was that moment again of just certainty of that the Lord needed me to do something. And this was back when I, I mean, I was living, you know, again,

at that time in my life, I was living in a state of sin. was, my husband and I were not open to life. We had not been married in the church. We, you know, had all of these things that needed to be fixed. And the Lord in His most infinite mercy came in and He spoke to me in a way that I needed to be spoke to. And He provided opportunities of grace in that journey back then. And then also in the

in the time in 2017 to really join with him on this mission that he was calling me to. A mission, my vocation is wife and mother. And so to open my heart up again to more children, I mean, it's astounding to me to think of if Robin, if I had not read those stories at that moment, then I have four children.

that would not be here. And that is astounding to think about. And I haven't mentioned, I mentioned the pregnancies. We do have a daughter, Ryan, who we adopted. The adoption was final last November. So that's how I have six. I have three pregnancies, six kids. And Ryan, we adopted when she was, she just turned 12 when the adoption was final. But, and she's part of this too. I mean, you know, how the Lord started that journey in 2011.

to bring me home to the church, to bring my husband into the church, and to open our hearts to life so that we were able to bring new life to this world, to be able to open our hearts to adoption. That was a direct result of the cross that I experienced from my alcohol addiction and my healing from that. I mean, certainly the path that we took on

Andrea Boring (21:49.128)

the road to where we currently are would never have included Ryan, would never have included our beautiful 13 year old girl who the Lord opened our hearts up to several years ago. And so it's just, it's so much grace, so much grace. And it's beautiful to be able to have the eyes to see the past and to see the moments that happened in order to bring us where we are today, to even have this conversation with you.

And so it's just, I'm so grateful to God for all of His mercy and love.

Lindy Wynne (22:26.038)

Yes, and what I'm hearing from you Andrea is now you look back and you can see that reversion when you saw that post on Facebook, to me that's so fortifying because God works through all things. And I think we can think very black and white about social media and other things. Yet the light outshines the darkness and the light can be shined in all circumstances and in all places.

things truly are possible, all goodness, all resurrection, even in our own hearts and lives, small are resurrections in every circumstances and through all mediums, including through social media like you experienced. And when you shared about getting pregnant and having your child, was it in 2014?

Andrea Boring (23:14.186)

We got pregnant in 2013, she was born in 2014, yeah.

Lindy Wynne (23:16.876)

Yes. Okay. When you talked about that, I actually teared up because that came to heart for me was that new life and that blessing that came from your sobriety and from this conversion of heart and this, well, I guess it wasn't sobriety yet, but from this conversion of heart. And the other thing that came to me was thinking about you looking at

Andrea Boring (23:34.047)

Yeah.

Lindy Wynne (23:41.933)

your baby's faces, all of them, like you're saying and Ryan too, because even though Ryan's older, and I don't know if you know, Andrea, we are a family through the gift of adoption. And so to think about you looking into all of their little faces, and it sounds like being astounded by the goodness and the generosity of the Lord.

Andrea Boring (23:51.05)

I love that.

Andrea Boring (24:02.942)

Yeah, absolutely. mean, it's, it's, and just to see them grow. mean, they're older now, so I'm out of the trenches, right, of, baby, babydom. And to be able to see the people that they're becoming and just to know that, I mean, it was all so precarious, right? Like one decision away from, from a different direction. It's just, when you think about how God works and the still

small invitations that he offers to every single person and even the big ones. And again, not everyone, I hear this a lot and you kind of touched on it when you said, you know, judging journeys. What I experienced is not what a lot of people experience. And I wrestled with that for a long time because I know a lot of very, very incredible, fully people who struggle with addiction. And I...

took a long time for me, for lack of a better term, to own what happened to me, to own what the Lord did for me, and to really come to peace with that. Because there's so much suffering in this world, we see it all over the place. And it's almost like an imposter syndrome, sort of. It's like, why me, Lord? Why? But then I look at those children, and that actually is what grounds me and brings me back, because it's like, that's

That's why. And even with, you know, I speak to women all the time. One of my ministries at church is leading small groups and people are, cause I'm like the church lady now, right? Like people at my current church, they have no idea who Andrea was years and years and years ago. And so what they see, I mean, I have my church lady dress on. It's a long plural maxi dress.

And I usually don't wear makeup. You're lucky I put a little bit of makeup on today and I have my hair down. But normally like, it's just different. And so the perception that people have is of perfection of this, know, of this pious religious church lady. And then I'll share bits and pieces of my story. And it's like, whoa, I had no idea.

Andrea Boring (26:25.674)

But it's just, it's a testament to God's grace. It's not a testament to me or anything that I've done. I mean, God literally had to like yell in my heart and yell in my ear in order to get my attention. But the story is powerful and I'm at peace with that. And I share it now very carefully and usually in sacred situations. And there are some parts that will only be shared, you know.

person to person and heart to heart. And that's okay too, because the Lord is always working.

Lindy Wynne (27:02.932)

Yes, the Lord is always working. And there's a couple of things that really come to heart for me from what you're sharing. the first is, Andrea, you probably don't know this. And actually, many people listening might not know this. And it's probably providential that I was sharing with someone about this just a couple of days ago. Momma's in spirit, one of the reasons it was born, other than really just being like a tiny little miraculous mustard seed that God whispered and planted in my heart one day, literally in a moment, like you're talking about, Andrea.

that God can work in a tiny moment and do just amazing things. And that is mind boggling. And one of the reasons also that Mamas in Spirit came to be is because I was in a small group with these women that I like to refer to as the Fab Five. And these women are all older than me, wiser than me.

Andrea Boring (27:52.712)

Okay.

Lindy Wynne (27:58.199)

just loving and merciful and pastoral and they were so present to me and prayed for the deepest intentions of my heart during a time in my life that was most difficult. And what they really prayed for most importantly during that time was our son that was living with us at the time, Henry, who we adopted at age six. And it was so vulnerable.

for me as his mom and he was so vulnerable because everything that he experienced in early life and all the ways that he'd been formed and shaped in ways that came really, I'm sorry to say, but like from like terror and trauma and difficulty and all the things that you wouldn't want for children. And these women prayed for Henry and they prayed for me and great miracles have come from that. And my experience that was so safe and so loving like you're speaking to Andrea,

in small group with these ladies. We would pray together for our children. We would do a sharing of the heart. All the things of the sort. My experience with them was, this is hilarious, I've got a fly on me. Life is very imperfect. But this fly has been following me for like three days. I've never wanted to get a fly swatter until now. But anyways, this experience with these women.

Andrea Boring (29:08.618)

You

Lindy Wynne (29:20.052)

was so sacred and met such a deep longing in my life and everybody shared honestly and authentically every time. Like it was such a safe place that we could reveal these things that were truly unfolding in our hearts and our lives which is different but I don't think that's of God's design. I think that's God's good plan. Like that's what God wants for us and that's why we're here Andrea and that's why I asked you to be on Mamas in Spirit is because

That is the sharing we all long for because all of our lives are real and we all carry things and live through things that are very, very difficult and especially things within ourselves. I've said so many times, one of the podcasts that have struck me most, it's from a few years ago, is Sister Gianna Junker, a Nashville Dominican, and the title is something like, My Greatest Cross is Me. And I have found that to be so true in my life. Like, Andrea, when you're sharing your story,

so many things that you were struggling with were you, were choices that you were making in ways that you didn't know how to cope with life and how to navigate and things of the sort. And by the grace of God, your heart was open, just like mine. And we all need constantly use the word reverse. And we all need that reverse and all that time, the return to God with all of our hearts all the time. So that is one thing that just strikes me so deeply from what you're sharing. And then the other thing, Andrea, that I'd love for you to speak to more is

You talked about the focus from self to that God and mission driven focus. Can you speak more to that?

Andrea Boring (30:56.202)

It's still a constant struggle. After I was delivered in 2017, the Lord placed into my heart through a variety of different people and websites, prayer and the necessity to have a really deep and intimate personal prayer life with the Lord through mental prayer.

And I came across spiritualdirection.com. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that website or not. And started just consuming all of their resources on prayer. I, during the radio show that I used to host, Claire Dwyer, who's the editor of spiritualdirection.com ended up in our studio and she and I became great friends and she is a very wise woman and taught me so much about prayer.

and just the interior life. And so as I started that journey to deeper intimacy with the Lord, really, the focus turned away from all of wanting to draw attention to myself to only wanting to focus on Him and to only want to focus on my love for Him. And I actually during that time period, I can't remember the exact time, I

I came to discover that my root sin was vanity. And so I did not post on, I felt very convicted not to post or share anything on social media for well over a year. I would still consume and scroll because that's just hard not to. But I wouldn't post anything like drawing attention to myself. I wouldn't do anything of that nature.

I stopped wearing makeup, so I just stopped coloring my hair. And it was just things that I felt, just small steps that needed to be done to really start to purify my life and to really rightly order everything to God. And so during that time, was very good, it was very holy.

Andrea Boring (33:23.274)

I also did a holy hour every day in our adoration shop with the Lord gave me the grace to do that for a period of time, well over about a year and a half. And so that was incredible. it's all a result of just of his love, of my relationship with him, of knowing that he is my beloved father and I am his beloved daughter.

His desire for every single one of us is union with him, not just in heaven, but here on earth. Union with God here on earth. We don't have to be a Teresa of Avila whose feast day we celebrated yesterday. We don't have to be a St. Tres of Lesue. We can be a future St. Lindy and a future St. Andrea. And how that looks is different for every single person, that path there. But the end game is detachment from the world.

and attachment to only God and things of him. And so it's, that journey has been, and it's still something I struggle with. It's still something that is, it's always a temptation that I battle. I still get temptations to drink, especially when I experience any kind of like old wounds or anything that comes up. Like, it's just like, I just want to go drown at all. I don't want to remember. I want to numb it. I don't want to.

deal with it. And I haven't yet, praise be to God, but it's definitely a temptation. But the temptation to other disordered things like just, you know, vanity. And I am very discerning whenever I receive invitations to speak on, on podcasts, even the radio show, the whole reason I ended up on co-hosting the radio show is because of COVID. And it's because there were budget cuts in the diocese. And we got to a point where, you know, nobody was coming into the office and

My colleague Jennifer and I are like, we couldn't have our co-host come in any longer. He was ready to retire, or not co-host, but the host of the show was ready to retire. And Jennifer and I were like, oh, guess, she's like, you want to do this thing? I was like, I guess so, let's do it. But it was very, like it was ordered rightly. Whereas if this had been, if it had been 10 years prior, it would have been different because my, my, my motives would have been different. But it's, the Lord really purified my heart and he purified my motives to, to answer any calls.

Andrea Boring (35:46.676)

from him to share my life, my story in ways that will bring glory to him and that in ways that might help others. And that's why I'm very discerning whenever I share anything about my past and it's beautiful to have responses like yours. And I had responses even from women in my small group who I had no idea were in the process of living sober.

intentionally, whether they were doing so as a result of maybe too much of a reliance or just they've decided they don't want to, they just don't want to drink anymore. You know, it's kind of becoming a thing, which is great. anyhow, that was a little hope that answered your question.

Lindy Wynne (36:34.326)

Honestly, the thought that's coming through my mind is praise God. Thank you, Lord, that I asked that question. I mean, what you just shared is so rich and for me and I imagine for maybe all of us even listening or many of us, like it touches on the longing of my own heart. And if I can try to articulate that is that it's St. Augustine, our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord. Like you just painted your own blueprint of how

you have been drawn by grace, that's in scripture, drawn by grace to that intimacy with the Lord, because that's what we all so deeply long for. And I imagine that's why we're all here. And even though we're all on our own paths and God works in different ways on all of our paths and we're called, I believe, to just focus on our own. I am just called, I am not the judge. We have a judge. That is not me. And so I am called to just

keep my gaze, and that's what you talked about too, Andrea, which I just love, like keeping our hearts, keeping our gazes fixed on Christ, but we are all on the same pilgrimage in a sense, in the hope of that uniting with Christ. And like you said, detaching here on this earth while we are here to hopefully attach ourselves most deeply by God's grace and most profoundly to Him. And so I love how you shared that, and I think that that is a

beautiful invitation from this podcast to detach from the things of this world and to detach from all of the ways that we either cope or are pulled rather than drawn. That's the words that I feel moved to use right now, like pulled away from God, all the ways that we could each spend time in prayer and in reflection and even in greater awareness every day of like,

God, how am I being pulled away from you and how am I choosing things myself that are pulling me away from you rather than saying yes to that draw to intimacy and closeness with you? And I would like to ask you a little bit more about that, Andrea, because you talked in the beginning about the pity party is over and that struck me because I know for myself,

Lindy Wynne (38:55.838)

and I realize from my own intimacy and prayer with the Lord, there are ways still that I have victim mentality at times, the way that I pity myself that are not helpful to my intimacy with others or with God. And so I'm wondering if you can speak to that as well as in your marriage, if there are ways that you've experienced healing because of the ways that the Lord has healed and continues to heal you.

Andrea Boring (39:23.888)

sure. You did break up a little bit in there, so I think I'm going to answer the best that I can. I got a notification that my internet connection was unstable. Of course it was. so the pity party, and if I don't answer this, please redirect. But I found that, and I shied away from those words for a long time, again, because of the connotation, right? But the Lord was very, when I look at it, like that's what I needed to hear at that moment.

was that I was too much turned in on myself. I was too much turned in on my own suffering and my own issues that I needed, that I had to come and look outward and look at him and to really look at the cross and to really unite myself to him on the cross. And I think that many of us

I still, I wrestle with that word, but it was so clear and I have no doubt that that's what it was because it does have a, it's not the most positive of connotations, but it's exactly what I needed to hear at that particular time in my journey. And it needed to be forceful and it needed to be something that was going to like move me to do what needed to be done and give me the strength and the courage to do what needed to be done in order to move forward.

And the healing that I experienced that my husband and I, there were significant struggles. And if we were in the world, then every single one of my secular friends would have probably told us that we should have been divorced. But it was never an option for me. And that was another very powerful moment in our lives and our struggle is

No matter what had happened, divorce was never on the table. It was never a word that I was willing to utter. I was able to offer forgiveness through God's grace and only through God's grace. There was a moment in February of 2018 where I woke up at three o'clock in the morning and the words to the Divine Mercy Chaplet came into my mind, only I didn't know that that's what they were.

Andrea Boring (41:48.232)

I woke up with the words, the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. And I remember looking up and I was like, what is this? And so I got up and I got my phone and I typed it in and there's the Divine Mercy Chaplet. And that led me on a journey with Faustina and reading her diary and reading her words on suffering and the cross and really coming to terms with that it is through the cross

that we find the greatest love. And that is the biggest lesson that I have learned in my entire life so far. And I've experienced a lot of suffering in different ways. All of our suffering is different and all of our crosses are tailor-made and permitted by God in order to bring about the most greatest resurrection of our own souls here in this life. And

And so the healing that my husband and I experienced was miraculous. And that's another moment where, I mean, I thank God every day for the gift of healing within our marriage, for the gift of good therapists. I mean, it's not like that wasn't a, I mean, it took hard work. wasn't, it wasn't a, you know, my heart was healed, but there was still the human element of.

all the gunk and all the junk and all the years of, you know, just marriage that, that, that we go through that really, that, that needs professionals to help with. Even if you do have supernatural components to the healing as well. I mean, you just have to hide like Al-Anon, right? I mean, just like you mentioned, it's, you have the human, the human component and the divine work together in a beautiful dance in order to bring about healing.

Lindy Wynne (43:42.799)

Yes, thank you so much for sharing that. And a couple weeks ago, we had a mini retreat and a podcast with Mary Jo Thayer. And one of the pearls of wisdom that her mom shared with her is that it's not weak to get help. That's a strength. And that's what I'm hearing from you, Andrea. And it takes so much humility to share that still, it seems, even though, I mean, most people do.

Most people do praise God, but that's a beautiful invitation for all of us. And I love how you said that you had this miraculous healing with the Lord and that you had conversion and you have had reversion and you've also gone to therapy. I love that so much because it just goes to show that God works his goodness through all things and draws us through all things to work on

Andrea Boring (44:25.509)

Amen. Still am.

Lindy Wynne (44:40.138)

mind body spirit, which are really one and we are embodied souls. so, and healthy minds, I do often believe are holy minds, like healthy minds, healthy thinking, healthy ways of engaging and relating with one another. And Elanon has helped me so much with that. And so Andrea, I am so thankful for you and for the blessing of your sharing. Before we close, is there anything else that's just on your heart that you want to share?

Andrea Boring (44:44.873)

Mm-hmm.

Andrea Boring (45:08.103)

I just want to encourage anyone listening to, if you're feeling a nudge that you might need deeper healing to seek it out. Seek it out from good holy friendships. Read St. Ignatius Rules of Discernment of Spirits. There's a fantastic book by Dan Berg. It's called Discernment of Spirits and Spiritual Warfare.

And that has been tremendously helpful to me on my own healing journey. Books on prayer, personal prayer by Father Boniface Hicks is an incredible reference tool that was so helpful to me over the years and developing that deep and intimate relationship with the Lord. But I just encourage all the women listening and men just to follow the nudgings of your heart. If you're feeling that the Lord is drawing you closer, don't ignore it.

and just have that conversation with him to see how he wants to heal you and trust that he will bring about that healing in his most perfect time and in his most perfect way.

Lindy Wynne (46:14.282)

Yes, Andrea, thank you so much for sharing that. And Andrea and I were talking before we started too that Dan Burke and Dr. Mary Ruth Hackett also have a new book coming out and it's Discerminant for Beginners. And I think it's for teens as well. Yet that could be a very beautiful place to start too. If feeling intimidated, which I feel very understanding towards by like maybe

Andrea Boring (46:28.965)

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Lindy Wynne (46:44.288)

If it's new to you, the idea of discernment, that could be a really wonderful and blessed place to start. And so I think by the time this podcast is out, you can already pre-order it, if not order it. And that could be very helpful. And Dr. Mary Ruth Hackett's gonna come back on in Advent and also share really from her heart. Yeah, and I know you two are dear friends, so that's just super, super precious. Well, we're all dear friends here gathered, and I wanna thank and praise God for that, for that sisterhood in spirit and.

Andrea Boring (46:54.6)

I know.

Andrea Boring (47:01.564)

Yay!

Andrea Boring (47:08.861)

Amen.

Lindy Wynne (47:12.68)

And Andrea, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your beautiful heart and story.

Andrea Boring (47:18.109)

Thank you so much for having me, Lindy. It's been amazing, and I'm grateful to be here. And I hope that you have a beautiful rest of your day.

Lindy Wynne (47:25.738)

I'm grateful for you and let us close in prayer in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Dearest Lord, I want to thank you and praise you for the time to gather our hearts together as sisters and brothers in Christ. Our time to be together in you to hopefully by your grace be fortified in our own pilgrimages and walks when we're not here together in mamas and spirit. And Lord, I pray that in the spirit, your spirit that Andrea shared of us being drawn to you and you

You speaking into us and whispering for us to each come near that we say yes to that. That we say yes to and take the time to be in personal prayer with you and silence with you, to seek out resources, to go to adoration, to mass, to daily mass, wherever you're drawing each one of us, Lord. I pray that we say yes to that so that you can fill us, you can love us, and you can heal us. In your name we pray, amen.

In the of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Thank you everyone so much for gathering and you can go to mamasinspirit, M-A-M-A, M-A-M-A-S, I gotta think about it, .com. No, it's M-A-M-A-S, inspirit.com, seven years later. You can scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and there's all these different categories of podcasts and there is one on addiction as well.

Andrea Boring (48:22.537)

Bye bye.

Lindy Wynne (48:43.363)

but many, categories and you can see where you feel most drawn and what you need right now in your life or maybe a loved one needs to share a mini retreat and a podcast so that hopefully by God's grace, we are drawn to his healing and his goodness. Can't wait to be together again next time. This is Lindy Wynne with Mamas in Spirit. May God bless you and yours always.