About Recovery | Ringgold Recovery Meeting

Recovery Is About Making Positive Changes

Recovery is a multifaceted process of healing, growth, and transformation, whether it involves physical, emotional, or psychological challenges. It’s not always linear; it often involves setbacks, relapses, and periods of intense struggle. But at its core, recovery is about regaining a productive, positive approach to living. It’s about finding strength in vulnerability and learning to navigate life’s difficulties with resilience.

The road to recovery can look different for everyone, as each individual has unique circumstances, needs, and resources. It involves both internal and external work: cultivating mental and emotional strength, rebuilding relationships, and often redefining one’s sense of self. Ultimately, recovery is about progress, not perfection. It’s about embracing imperfection, being gentle with oneself, and acknowledging that healing is a process—one step at a time. And sometimes, the most significant recovery is the recovery of hope.

Three Requirements
For A Successful Recovery

Back in the 1930’s, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, founders of AA, determined that there were three basic ingredients necessary for a successful recovery. They are: fellowship, a power greater than human power, and a simple course of action. The AA formula for recovery has been the only long-term approach offering some level of success.

Today, those three ingredients are translated into:

Attend meetings with others who are in recovery

Belief in a “higher power” helping (Jesus Christ in our case)

Working the 12 Steps of Recovery

You can find all three of these ingredients at the Ringgold Recovery Meeting.

Recovery Is Work That Requires The Right Tools

There is an old saying that goes like this, “God can move mountains, but you’d better bring a shovel.” Recovery isn’t easy, it’s hard work. A person who wants to turn his/her life around must be willing to make the investment of time and energy that’s necessary. Recovery is a process, it takes time. It’s also the kind of thing that can’t be done on one’s own. We need the help of others who have learned how the process works. And, with their guidance we must follow a proven process, a program, in order to succeed.The typical “program” includes things like attending as many recovery meetings as possible, working the Steps, following the guidance of a sponsor, developing a close relationship with God and service work. Other recovery tools include Bible study, journaling, reading recovery literature, and developing accountability relationships with others in recovery.

The History Of This Program

This recovery program began in October of 2013. We have been operating for over 12 years. We are a
501(c)3 non-profit corporation. We incorporated under the name of “Recovery At Ringgold,” and operated with that name until January of 2025. We are now “doing business as” Ringgold Recovery Meeting. We are a member of the Recovery At Cokesbury Network which is headquartered in Knoxvillle, Tennessee. Recovery At Cokesbury opened its doors in April of 2003 and began adding satellite locations in 2010. The network has a number of these satellite locations in the Southeastern states. We are grateful to be hosted by Ringgold United Methodist Church which allows us the use of their excellent facilities for our meetings and other functions. The church’s staff and membership have always been very supportive of our program.

Recovery At Cokesbury began as Celebrate Recovery program. We have followed their basic design since the beginning and still use the same sharing group guidelines. The Recovery At Cokesbury Network is no longer associated with Celebrate Recovery because of their limitations on the literature used in their program. The Recovery At Cokesbury Network makes extensive use of several AA publications like The Big Book – Alcoholics Anonymous, and The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. We also incorporate a wide variety of other recovery literature in order to provide as many resources as possible.

The Ringgold Recovery Meeting continues be guided by the same recovery principles that have helped so many over the past three decades. We are modeled after the fundamental AA recovery program that has help countless people achieve and maintain sobriety for almost a century. The only, but significant difference, is that we identify our “higher power” as Jesus Christ.