Step 5: Admit it! God wants it… Restoration awaits!

Step 5: Admit it! God wants it… Restoration awaits!

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation on GOD TALK UNCENSORED leans into that question by pairing Step 5 of recovery with one of the most famous stories Jesus told: the parable of the prodigal son.

Host Zach Rogers and co-host Ronald Fremont chat through what it really looks like to “admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” Using the prodigal son as a picture, they talk about how chasing "wild living" and getting what you want "when you want it now" eventually collapses into emptiness, guilt and shame.

Zach shares openly about his own desperation in active addiction, including being so strung out on crystal meth and cocaine that he skipped a family Thanksgiving and went days without eating. That raw honesty helps ground the biblical story in real-life addiction, whether it’s lust, drugs, stealing, or lying to the people you love. The heart of the episode sits in the picture of the father running to his broken son.

As Zach puts it, "I've got a God who's looking over the horizon, waiting for me to return to him. Not to shake his finger at... but rather to embrace me and bring me back in." They unpack the meaning of the robe, ring and sandals as symbols of being fully welcomed back, not as a second-class servant but as a restored child with dignity and purpose.

Ronald also touches on the link between grace and pity in the original language of the Bible, challenging the idea that pity is always negative and pointing to a God who has deep compassion for those who have blown it. If you’re working Step 5, wrestling with shame, or wondering whether God really wants you back, this episode points straight at restoration and asks a simple question: are you ready to come home?