I want to share a few reasons why my sponsor is important in my recovery.  Hopefully this will inspire someone who has been dragging his/her feet to find a sponsor:

1.  My sponsor LISTENS to me.  Many other people in my life care so much about me that they feel they need to give an opinion immediately.  My sponsor knows her role is to care about me so much that she waits and just listens.  She hears the situation objectively and often helps me pull out insight that I might not have gotten on my own.

2.  My sponsor KNOWS me.  She has worked to get to know the real me; not the me I've tried to show others over the years.  She has made herself a safe place for me to share openly.  This has then made me comfortable sharing with others, too.

3.  My sponsor is HONEST with me.  She points out where I'm growing and where I am falling short.  As I said to her the other night.  "Thank you for letting me be me, and working with me to become the best me I can."

4.  My sponsor is THERE FOR ME.  She takes time every week for me to talk to her.  We meet monthly for breakfast.  Without that commitment of time, I would have fallen back into isolation many times.  I connect with her at those times even when I don't feel like it, and it is always worth it. 

5.  She TEACHES me.  For me, I needed someone to show me how to handle conflict and still care about the other person afterward.  I've run away from others too many times or held a grudge against them, or stuffed the situation and gone back to the same cycle again and again.  My sponsor and I have had disagreements, but she has helped me to learn how to deal with them.  I see that influencing all of my relationships.

6.  She PRAYS for me.  This is so important.  I don't always know what she is praying until after the fact, but she is a prayer warrior for me and my family.

If you don't have a sponsor, get one!  If you don't ask, he/she can't say yes.  If someone says no, ask someone else.  If you have a sponsor, use that relationship to help you grow.

I recommend setting specific times when you talk to your sponsor.  At first I thought that was important just because my schedule and hers fill up so fast, but now I see that it is probably important for everyone.  If you don't know when you'll talk, it is easy to put it off.  Call your sponsor when you need him/her.  It is part of the job they've agreed to do.

God is always with us in our recovery, but he wants us to have others to help us on this journey.