Celebrating recovery at the White House

In 2015, Beverly Aikins was at rock bottom. Homeless and living out of her car, she had no contact with her children and had squandered a promising nursing career. Little did she know that a decade later her journey from recovery would be celebrated in the most powerful rooms in the world, as her son, the vice president of the United States, honored her.

It's been quite a ride for Mrs. Aikins, the mother of J.D. Vance, whose improbable life story of growing up in a dysfunctional home and raised by his grandmother “Mamaw” is told in the bestselling Hillbilly Elegy, made into a movie by director Ron Howard.

Central to his rise from a difficult childhood was the abandonment of his father and the addiction struggles of his mother. It’s a story he’s highlighted in his political career, including his well-received address at the 2024 Republican National Convention, where he honored his mother’s long journey to sobriety while the entire arena stood up and cheered her.

It’s a beautiful story, from despair to hope. Given a pain-killer at work one day, the nurse immediately knew she’d have a craving for more drugs and soon spiraled into abusing both narcotics and alcohol, even selling substances in the hospital and losing her Ohio nursing license. In his book, Vance chronicled the trauma he suffered with an unstable mother, remembering vividly the time she was arrested.

Though their relationship was understandably rocky during his formative years, Vice President Vance and his mother have since grown close, and he has celebrated her remarkable recovery. It was a promise he made to her in his 2024 convention speech, that if President Trump won the election, Vance would honor the ten-year mark of her sobriety in the White House.

In emotional words, with the presidential seal and the White House seal behind him, the vice president said, “Well, here we are. And you made it, and we made it. And most importantly, you’re celebrating a very, very big milestone. And I’m just very proud of you. I’m, I’m gonna try not to cry here.”

You couldn’t blame him if he did cry. This was not only an important moment for this improbable occupant of one of the most powerful positions in the world, but an important moment for many Americans who, like Beverly Aikins, struggle with drug and alcohol addictions. Forty-eight million Americans struggle with substance abuse addictions, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That represents, like the Vance family, a lot of heartache, misery, and despair. Drug problems in our communities have faces.

Many families weep and pray over sons or daughters, mothers or fathers, who can’t seem to overcome the grip of addiction.

The vice presidency is a powerful platform. By highlighting his mother’s story, Vice President Vance can point many other Americans to find help and hope. It might remind us of the powerful way in which Betty Ford, wife to the 38th president of the United States, shared her own struggles with addiction. Many thousands of people have been helped by the Fords’ establishment of treatment centers across the country.

For Christians, Beverly Aikins’s story should be a reminder that many like her exist in our communities, precious souls who struggle with serious addictions. The church can offer help and hope for those who struggle under the weight of the fall, in a gospel that offers forgiveness of sin, redemption, and the possibility of change through the power of the Spirit. Even for those who know the Lord, the path away from addiction isn’t easy or quick. In a fallen world, until the Lord returns, sanctification comes in fits and starts.

This is why God’s people must come alongside those who have found themselves on the margins of society. Jesus often found Himself among those who had come to the end of themselves. He offered to them, and He offers to all who come to him, the promise, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).