What if the first year after quitting isn’t about grit, but grace? We sit down with Matt to unpack the overlooked stretch between an altar moment and a polished testimony, and what actually turns survival into freedom. His story exposes the trap of white-knuckle sobriety, the pride that creeps in at six months clean, and the lie that God holds His nose when you slip. Then comes the pivot: Jesus didn’t only die for our sins; He lives as our righteousness right now. That truth moved from head to heart and ended the relapse-probation spiral.

Together we trace how identity shifts from slave to son when Scripture becomes an on-ramp to a Person rather than an end in itself. Matt explains how stillness, slow reading, and honest prayer transformed discipline into delight. He contrasts the “public touch” of a meeting with the “private kiss” of daily intimacy, showing why hype fades but presence sustains. Along the way we address opioid bondage, imputed righteousness, and the myth of “once an addict, always an addict,” grounding each insight in concrete practices and anchors like Psalm 139 and Isaiah 41:10.

We also speak directly to listeners battling mental illness after quitting substances. Matt offers a compassionate framework for soul wounds and the Savior who fills the holes we try to stuff with habits. Expect practical encouragement—short scriptures savored, quick repentance without self-condemnation, and a steady return to the One who says, come to me. If you’re tired of self-help, this conversation invites self-abandonment and the kind of sonship that steadies tomorrow before it arrives.

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with the line that hit you hardest. Your story is still being written—let grace hold the pen.

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich

A single moment can open a door you never meant to walk through. For one of us, it started at age seven with a neighbor’s video and grew into years of replayed images, false hope, and a mind trained to spiral. The story we share isn’t neat or sanitized; it’s a ground-level tour of addiction’s mechanics and the way faith, fasting, and Scripture can turn the tide. We dig into the spiritual side of lust, the brain’s craving for novelty, and why “it’s not hurting anyone” blinds us to the end we can’t see at the start.

As the conversation unfolds, we unpack the shift from unbelief to authority—how internalizing truth changes the inner script, and how cutting off subtle triggers creates room for renewal. You’ll hear about the night a taunt of “you’ll never be free” met a bold, Scripture-shaped reply, and how that moment cemented lasting change. We trace a practical path for young men navigating a hypersexual culture: guard the eyes, starve the loops, and build a diet of God’s Word that makes taking thoughts captive a reflex rather than a scramble. Along the way, we explore the fallout of lust on intimacy and marriage, and we cast a richer vision: gentle, exclusive, secure love that grows when we honor God’s design.

We also talk identity and abiding. When worth is anchored in Christ instead of performance, shame loosens its grip, and daily time with God shifts what the heart craves. Testimonies matter, too; hearing credible stories of freedom raises the ceiling of hope for all of us. If you’re tired of white-knuckling, this conversation offers a different way forward—discipline that feels like lifeline, community that fuels courage, and a renewed mind that redirects destiny. If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with one step you’re taking this week. Your story could be the testimony someone else needs.

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich

Ever notice how “peace” feels great until life gets loud? We go straight at the counterfeit calm that fades with circumstances and unpack the kind of peace that guards your heart and mind when the storm won’t quit. Drawing from Philippians 4, we walk through the surprising order—rejoice, refuse anxiety, pray with gratitude—and why thanking God before the answer reframes your outlook in recovery and beyond.

We get honest about early sobriety: slow progress, old labels that still sting, and the tug to numb instead of pray. You’ll hear how we learned to trade self-seeking, short-term relief for a deeper peace that restores identity in Jesus. We talk about subtraction before addition—laying down shame, past names, and chaotic environments so grace has room to work. We revisit the disciples’ storm to show that obedience can invite waves, and still, Jesus is in the boat. James 1 helps us see trials as formation, not failure, shaping patience and wholeness. Around the holidays, we remember peace announced in the middle of darkness, proof that true peace steps into mess and brings light.

If you’re rebuilding life after addiction, this conversation offers practical steps: Scripture meditation that plants “I am” truths, boundaries that invite old friends into your new rhythms (not the other way around), and habits that evict chaos from your schedule and screen. We share how to guard your heart and mind, choose relationships that protect your future, and develop gratitude that outlasts outcomes. Peace isn’t passive. It’s a daily alignment with God’s presence and promises, the steady assurance that he can calm you before he calms the wind.

If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with someone who needs hope, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Your support helps more people find freedom and the peace that lasts.

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich

Most men don’t fall back because they’re weak; they fall back because stepping into a new identity feels risky. We sat down with Rob Reynolds to trace the real reasons progress turns into self-sabotage: the lie of “I’ve got this,” the pull of old labels, and the quiet fear that responsibility will crush you. Rob shares raw stories from recovery homes and his own 15-year journey, showing how control, comfort, and the need to be liked can drag us back right when life starts working.

Watch Episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/fQRN-csxtqk

We go deep on the transition from old circles to new community and why that “new kid” feeling makes relapse look safer than growth. Rob breaks down early warning signs—drifting from Scripture and prayer, isolation from fellowship, algorithms training your desires—and offers a simple but demanding antidote: surrender that requires a response. Word, prayer, worship, fellowship, and witness aren’t checkboxes; they’re daily guardrails that keep freedom sturdy when stress hits. We talk through step three’s surrender of control, why success can feel as scary as failure, and how to stop the spiral before it becomes a slide.

You’ll hear practical accountability you can start today: choose three steady people, grant access and permission, call before decisions, share passwords where lust hides, and refuse secrecy. Rob’s story of owning consequences, working multiple jobs, and trusting God in courtrooms brings identity in Christ from theory to street level. If you’re tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop, this conversation offers a way to put off the old, put on the new, and take one honest step that you can repeat tomorrow.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a quick review so others can find the show. Your story isn’t over—build the guardrails and keep going.

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich

If you’ve ever stared at the mess of your life and wondered whether anything good could grow from it, Justin’s story will meet you there. From a church-going kid to a fifteen-year-old meth addict hiding track marks under long sleeves, he walks us through the spiral—identity confusion, bad company, cocaine to crystal meth, dropping out, and a brief clean streak during Army training that collapsed the moment he got home. The freefall accelerates until a surprise intervention at his grandmother’s house finally holds a boundary: get help or go. In the backyard with an eight ball in his pocket and nowhere to sleep, he hits the kind of clarity only rock bottom can give.

What changes everything isn’t a complicated plan. It’s a sentence. After his family drives him seven hours to a Long Island rehab, a staff member looks him in the eyes and says, “God has a plan for your life.” He had heard it before, but not like this. That simple line becomes a compass. Recovery doesn’t turn into a highlight reel—he tries to leave the program again and again—but the words keep pulling him toward a future bigger than sobriety. He learns that getting clean is not the finish line; it’s day one of building identity, purpose, and relationships that can hold the weight of real life.

Two decades later, Justin has led in ministry, helped run a Teen Challenge program, married, and built a family—all anchored by the belief that purpose is not reserved for the unbroken. We talk honestly about relapse, the power of boundaries in family systems, how faith reframes identity, and why a clear, simple truth can cut through the fog when sophisticated advice can’t. If you or someone you love is fighting addiction, depression, or the ache of unfulfilled potential, this story offers both compassion and a roadmap: ask for help, accept structure, stay when it’s hard, and repeat the truth until it becomes yours.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find these stories. Your words might become someone else’s turning point.

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich

Boundaries don’t have to feel like a trap. They can be a bridge back to trust, dignity, and peace when a loved one returns home from a recovery program. We get honest about how to welcome someone back without sliding into control, enabling, or constant conflict—and we offer a practical framework you can put on paper tonight.

We start with a mindset shift: treat the returning son or daughter as an adult with agency and responsibility, not as a child to rescue. From there, we map a simple reentry plan that covers curfews, employment timelines, finances, church or community rhythms, and clear consequences if lines are crossed. You’ll hear why overcommunicating details is a strength, how to time tough conversations about restitution, and the difference between rules that push people away and boundaries that keep relationships safe. We also talk about protecting your own heart and home—avoiding toxic empathy while still leading with grace.

Along the way, we share real stories, practical scripts, and the small cues that build trust fast: asking for their expectations, meeting in the middle, and enforcing what you agree on every time. We explore why consistency lowers anxiety, how to let the “new creation” identity lead, and when to wait before tackling old debts or hurts. If you’re navigating reentry after Teen Challenge or any recovery center, this is a roadmap for both sides to move from survival mode to a steady, hopeful path forward.

If this conversation helped, follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a quick review with one takeaway you’re trying this week. Your feedback shapes future episodes.

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich

Some days, recovery feels like it’s breaking you. We’ve been there—staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m., rattled by drug dreams, angry at ourselves, and wondering whether God had stepped away. This conversation goes right into that tension and traces how the hurt of early sobriety became the doorway to real healing. We talk about the shock of losing the life that addiction built around us—friends who fade, routines that vanish, and a personality that suddenly feels unfamiliar—and how grief for a harmful past can coexist with hope for a better future.

We also pull back the curtain on the deeper work that came after the substances stopped. Stopping behavior wasn’t the finish line. God started addressing shame, the lies we believed, unforgiveness we carried, and the pride and self-pity that kept us stuck. That inner surgery hurt, but it revealed something crucial: recovery wasn’t punishment. It was a rescue plan. With Scripture anchoring our steps and honest voices from people a bit farther down the road, we learned to see every painful layer as purposeful, not pointless.

You’ll hear three truths that kept us from quitting when it felt unbearable: pain isn’t proof God left; progress matters but grace holds us; and recovery is bigger than you, stretching into family, future children, and a legacy the enemy would rather steal. We close with a simple prayer of surrender, a reminder that you don’t need to have it all together to ask for help, and an invitation to keep going even when you feel worn out. If this story strengthens you or someone you love, share it with a friend, subscribe for more conversations on faith and recovery, and leave a review to help others find hope. What part of your healing needs fresh strength today?

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich

What if the real battle in the Prodigal story isn’t the wild run away from home, but the quiet resentment that grows in the one who stayed? We open up the parable through the lens of addiction and recovery, exploring how parents, siblings, and leaders can carry hidden anger while doing “all the right things.” This conversation gets honest about transactional faith—when love is treated like wages—and why the Father’s response refuses our ledgers and chooses celebration instead.

We talk about what it means to “hold the home down” without enabling, how to keep a spiritual house in order so repentance has a place to land, and why older siblings—literal or figurative—need the same grace as the prodigal. If you’ve ever felt overlooked while cleaning up messes, this one hits home. We dig into the helper’s trap: defining identity by crisis, chasing fires, and drifting from leader to arsonist without noticing. The solution isn’t apathy; it’s rootedness. Boundaries, prayer, rest, and community form the base from which we serve without becoming saviors.

Along the way, we translate big ideas into lived practice: telling the truth about addiction in age-appropriate ways, celebrating growth without enabling it, and speaking life to the child who stayed while keeping the door open for the one returning. We name bitterness, comparison, and fatigue, then replace them with sonship and daughterhood—identity that doesn’t require applause to breathe. If you’re navigating family addiction, church leadership, foster care, or just weary from constant crisis, this conversation offers language, tools, and hope.

If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs a reminder that grace isn’t earned—it’s received.

Welcome to Rebuilding Life After Addiction. I’m Justin Franich — I’ve led recovery programs, pastored churches, and walked hundreds of men into real transformation. This podcast gives you the tools, truth, and straight talk to rebuild your life through Jesus. Let’s jump in.

Support the mission → https://giving.svtc.info/page/RebuildingHope

Share this episode and leave a review to help more families find hope.

Watch & subscribe on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@justinfranich