--- title: "Share Hope & Let It Simmer" date: 2026-04-28 author: "Laurie Stroud" featured_image: "https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Walt-in-Mexico-City-2.jpeg" categories: - name: "Spiritual" url: "/category/news/spiritual.md" tags: - name: "Featured" url: "/tag/featured.md" --- # Share Hope & Let It Simmer **Special Feature** Sometimes you just have to let things simmer a while… Not too many years back, I had the opportunity to travel with a few other men to Mexico City on a very specific mission trip. We ‘gringos’ were all heavily invested in the mission work of addiction recovery. Experts, some might say, in one capacity or another. A District Attorney, an Executive Director, a Colonel in the military, a convicted felon, a medical doctor… we all had a special skill set focused on Christ-centered addiction recovery. And as it happened, a group of Mexican pastors, including the Director of Missions for all of Mexico City, requested we meet with them about addiction recovery. It was truly a God thing for those Mexican pastors to find us Alabama recovery ministers. There are 28 million people in Mexico City. Geographically, it’s a little less than 600 square miles or about the same size as Shelby County. Poverty is rampant. Transportation is problematic. Police presence is almost non-existent on the backstreets. The cartel is everywhere in certain neighborhoods. And addiction is a real and present danger to the people. [![Walt in Mexico City 1](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Walt-in-Mexico-City-1-225x300.jpeg "Walt in Mexico City 1")](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Walt-in-Mexico-City-1.jpeg)Walt Merrell during his mission trip to Mexico City.Every morning, we’d canvas neighborhoods, inviting people to a local civic center or arena. At the end of the school day, our group assembled at the civic center and invited passersby to join us for worship and conversation. We simply wanted people to know there was help for the addiction in their lives. On one occasion, Dr. Ken Crow was talking to the crowd about how Jesu de Christe is medicine for the soul, and that those troubled with addiction can find healing in His presence. Looking to my right, I saw a young woman sitting in the audience. She was intently listening. You could tell she, or someone she loved, had been traumatized by addiction. She was skinny- almost malnourished- and a bit unkempt, and she carried a large, slightly tattered, pastel colored bag on her shoulder. As Ken spoke about Celebrate Recovery, the young lady reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of glue. She poured a dose into a rag, cupped the rag in her hand, and inconspicuously covered her nose with her hand. She was getting high. My heart was broken. She came to hear about how to break the chains but brought the chains with her. When the rally was over, we agreed that someone would go talk with her. Ken seemed the most suitable candidate because of his calming demeanor. After a short conversation through a translator, Ken learned that she was homeless and had been in the streets for several months and confirmed what we already knew. She was an addict. Unsure of how we could help her, he thought it best to simply invite her to join us for our next meeting later that evening. I didn’t think she would show up. A while later, I saw her ambling down the street, reluctantly approaching our meeting location right as we were about to begin. Slowly, she made her way up to the outdoor center and waded through the crowd. Over the next two hours, she ate a full meal, and one of the local Christian ladies who was part of our host team agreed to take her into her home, provided that she stay clean. The young woman agreed, and she agreed to stay for the Celebrate Recovery meeting that we were about to host. Pastor Isidro Rodriguez, our lead for the night, sat down next to her and talked to her as if he were her father. Slowly, she began to cry. He embraced her struggles as if they were his own, and he made sure she knew she was not alone in her fight. [![Walt in Mexico City 2](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Walt-in-Mexico-City-2-300x225.jpeg "Walt in Mexico City 2")](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Walt-in-Mexico-City-2.jpeg)During the mission trip, Walt and fellow recovery ministers shared the Hope of Christ and information about addiction recovery.Several months after we left, one of our team members reached back out to Pastor Rodriguez. He was excited to report that the young lady, Maria, was faithful to attend the newly formed Celebrate Recovery meetings he hosted and his Sunday worship services. She volunteers at the church and still lives with the older woman who agreed to take her in. Unfortunately, though, that doesn’t mean she is sober. It doesn’t mean she is in genuine recovery either. You see, getting her to the table was the largest part of the battle. Addicts rarely acknowledge they need help. Usually, they are exceptional at justifying their continued demise. The hope is to offer them a seat at the table and ‘let it simmer.’ Perhaps they will show up, and when they do, we simply offer them the remedy for what ails them. First in the form of Hope through Christ, and second in the form of education, instruction, and discipleship. All these things promote good fruit. But often, addicts are still reluctant. Just keep offering the remedy and let it simmer. When their heart is ready, they will embrace recovery, even if only gradually. And consider it joy to have small gains, for recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. I look forward to going back in a few years, praying that the young lady will be mature in her recovery by then, and that she will have begun to offer the same sort of Hope to others as well. *“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning…”* Lamentations 3:22-23 *-Walt Merrell is a Christian Outdoorsman who writes of his adventures with his family, with the hope that others might be inspired and encouraged to embrace God’s tapestry, otherwise known as the great outdoors, as a means of finding Common Ground. You can follow him at Shepherding Outdoors on FB, YT and IG and at [shepherdingoutdoors.com](http://shepherdingoutdoors.com).*