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

Your kids don’t need a perfect dad. They need a present one. That simple truth frames a candid conversation about fatherhood after addiction: how to carry responsibility without letting shame run the show, how to correct your children while you’re still healing, and how to rebuild trust with actions that match your words.

We dig into the moments that test every parent: the split second where guilt tempts you to avoid discipline, the surge of defensiveness when you’ve overreacted, and the awkward first steps toward a real apology. We break down what ownership sounds like, why “I was wrong” is a strength move, and how consistent, small follow-through restores credibility faster than big promises. You’ll hear practical examples for being present with your spouse and each child—putting the phone down, learning their love language, and choosing patience when they’re still figuring life out.

We also talk boundaries and grace: setting clear standards at home and actually keeping them, even when it’s hard. From honoring “let your yes be yes” to welcoming change when kids meet the conditions you set, we show how principled leadership creates safety. Along the way, we reflect on God’s example of fathering—steady, patient, and truthful—and how mirroring that kindness reshapes families over time. If you’ve ever felt unqualified to lead because of your past, this conversation will remind you that presence beats perfection and that growth can happen right where you stand.

If this resonated, subscribe for weekly conversations that equip you to lead at home, share this with a friend who needs the encouragement, and leave a review to help more dads find the show.

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

Exhaustion isn’t a virtue meter; it’s a warning light. When recovery starts to feel like spiritual probation—constant meetings, perfect prayers, spotless days—you might be trapped in a quiet negotiation to pay God back. We dig into the Prodigal Son with fresh eyes and discover why the father interrupts the apology. The son’s speech was theologically accurate but relationally insulting, and that’s the same trap many of us fall into: trying to downgrade ourselves to servants when the invitation is sonship.

We talk through the felt difference between a transactional framework and a covenantal one. Transaction says, I owe, let me work it off. Covenant says, You’re my child, welcome home. From there, practices shift: prayer stops being a report, Scripture stops being a checkbox, and service stops being rent. We share a simple morning declaration to retrain your heart toward reception rather than negotiation: I’m not a servant earning my keep. I’m a son receiving my inheritance. Today I will live from acceptance, not for acceptance.

You’ll also hear how justification moves from a concept to a comfort. Your standing isn’t pegged to your latest streak but to Christ’s finished work. The robe on your shoulders isn’t another chip; it’s righteousness you didn’t earn but get to enjoy. If grace feels unfair or even illegal, you’re closer than you think. Let the interruption stand, lay down the apology you keep rehearsing, and walk into a home where the lights are already on.

If this message hits home, tap follow, share it with someone stuck in payback mode, and leave a review with one line about what you’re done trying to earn. Your story may be the nudge someone else needs to come home.

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 most powerful gift you give your kids isn’t perfection, but honest hope? We open up about telling our children the truth about past addiction—where the line sits between healthy vulnerability and harmful oversharing—and why the goal is to serve their hearts, not our egos. This is a candid, faith-filled look at scars versus open wounds, how to protect innocence without hiding redemption, and the practical ways parents can model change at home.

We dig into the stigma that still shadows recovery and how wise transparency can guard opportunities while breaking shame. Instead of sensational “war stories,” we talk about age-appropriate truth: the younger the child, the lighter the detail, but the same steady message of responsibility, healing, and grace. You’ll hear simple, real-life practices for building trust—apologizing when we blow it, keeping the same standards for ourselves that we set for our kids, and letting consistency do the heavy lifting. We explore how daily habits become the loudest testimony: patience under pressure, integrity with money, kindness in conflict, and perseverance when life gets tight.

If you’ve wondered when not to share, we lay out clear checkpoints: don’t hand your child an open wound, don’t dump trauma to relieve your own pain, and don’t trade their innocence for a dramatic confession. Instead, aim for a redemptive arc that points to growth and makes your home a safe place for their questions and struggles. The past doesn’t vanish, but it can be transformed into wisdom that strengthens the next generation—hope, not horror; truth, not spectacle.

If this resonates, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review with one takeaway you’ll try at home. Your feedback helps the message reach more families ready to lead with honesty and hope.

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