Who Are We?

 Many Christians today struggle with be-setting sins and remain under the control of the world and all its vices and entrapments. Celebrate Recovery is a recovery ministry based on biblical principles with a goal to let God work through us in providing His healing power through a Christ-centered 12 Step program. This experience allows people to be “changed” spiritually by working through sound biblical principles.

Participants open the door by sharing their experiences, strengths, and hopes with one another. In addition, they become willing to accept God’s grace and forgiveness in solving life’s problems. Celebrate Recovery provides a safe place for individuals to begin their journey of breaking out from their bondage and into God’s grace (II Corinthians 12:9), by helping them to start dealing with their life’s hurts, hang-ups, and habits.

Celebrate Recovery is based on God’s Word, the Bible.

When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, He began by stating eight ways to be happy. Today we call them the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10). These 8 Principles are God’s road to recovery, wholeness, growth, and spiritual Christ-like maturity. Celebrate Recovery utilizes the biblical truth that we need each other in order to grow spiritually and emotionally. It is built around small group interaction and the fellowship of a caring community that is built on the New Testament principle that we don’t get well by ourselves. We need each other. Fellowship and accountability are two important components of spiritual growth.

Celebrate Recovery emphasizes personal responsibility.

Instead of playing the “accuse and excuse” game of victimization, this program helps people face up to their own poor choices and deal with what they can do something about. Rather than wallowing in the past or dredging up and rehearsing painful memories over and over, Celebrate Recovery focuses on the future. Regardless of what has already happened, the solution is to start making wise choices now and depend on Christ’s power to help make those changes.

We cannot control all that happens to us, but we can control how we respond to everything. That is a secret of happiness. When we stop wasting time fixing the blame, we have more energy to fix the problem. When we stop hiding our own faults and stop hurling accusations at others, then the healing power of Christ can begin working in our mind, will, and emotions.

Celebrate Recovery emphasizes spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ.

It calls for people to make a total surrender of their lives to Christ. Lasting recovery cannot happen without this step. Everybody needs Jesus. Celebrate Recovery addresses all types of habits, hurts, and hang-ups. Some recovery programs deal only with alcohol or drugs or another single problem. But Celebrate Recovery is a “large umbrella” program under which a limitless number of issues can be dealt with.

Some typical 12-Step recovery groups.

Worship is a major strength and difference between a Christ-centered and a secular recovery program.

Worship provides a time for everyone to put aside the busyness and hassles of the world and get in touch with the true Higher Power, Jesus Christ. It allows time for the power of the Holy Spirit to fill all those who attend with a peace and a safety that only He can provide. The main focus of every fellowship event is to help members develop healthy relationships that will grow into a support team of sponsors and accountability partners. Celebrate Recovery ministry hosts open meetings various evenings beginning at 6:00 for a time of worship, food, fellowship and small group sharing.

Focus on One Day

The hardest part about struggling with issues is how easy it is to become overwhelmed by them.  The overwhelming thoughts of what will happen if?…, What if I can’t?…, What if this happens?, What if that happens?  What if? What if? What if?  Fear invades your mind making it hard to think, it saps your energy and it’s hard to focus on the task at hand.   But what is fear?  Fear is a tool from the enemy that is really “smoke and mirrors”.  Fear is just an apprehension of something that hasn’t happened yet.  (How many times have we wasted time and energy worrying about something that hasn’t happed yet?)

There is a passage that identifies the scenario of fear; “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” Psalms 23:4.

It says, “Though I walk through the valley of the SHADOW of death…I fear no evil”….Why?  We are talking about the enemies shadow here…When is the last time a shadow hurt you? Shadows cannot hurt you, because they are merely shadows. Shadows can try to intimidate you, but the enemy can only intimidate you IF YOU LET HIM…The enemy pulls out shadows, guilt and unhealthy thoughts out of his bag of tricks to put fear in your heart to overwhelm you to paralyze you to stop you in your tracks, especially when you are on the right track.  The enemy is out to derail you! God does not instill fear, guilt or unhealthy thoughts. God instills peace.

The enemy is an expert at making us feel weak at times. If you are feeling weak, the Lord is certainly stronger than the enemy.  (Spoiler Alert! I have read the Holy Bible to the end, God Wins!  Jesus Christ 1, The enemy, 0.)

God already knows you will win when you take the Lord as your Victor…“You are from God, and have overcome them; because greater is He that is in you (The Holy Spirit) than he who is in the world. (The enemy of God.) 1John 4:4

When you are feeling overwhelmed, call on the Name of Jesus. Focus on Jesus and Focus on  ONE day at a time. Only that day, and praise the Lord throughout the day, then you will get through that day.

Know The Lord is walking beside you whispering, “You can do this”.  You can stay focused because of Him.

Depend on Jesus Christ today and always. Not only will your journey to recovery become easier with each day, you will never ever walk alone again.

God is a God of “Do-Overs”

Happy New Year everyone!

Is time to reset, renew or reboot.?  In other words, is it time for a “do-over”?  Remember when you were a kid and when a game got tough, you shouted for a “do-over”? Sometimes it was granted, sometimes it wasn’t. It was up to the kid in charge of the game.  As an adult, do you wish you could be granted that “do-over” every time you made a bad decision?

Do you look back on your life and see nothing but a string of “bad decisions” that led you into an unhappy, unsatisfying life? Do you try to run from it and try to escape it somehow, but it keeps following you?

Then STOP. Instead of trying to run from this life of “bad decisions” try running to it. Meet it head on. Own it. Admit it’s yours. Because after all, it is.

Stepping out of Denial and Admiting your issue is the first step towards the road to recovery.

You see, the real issue is NOT how you may have mishandled your life in the past, what is important is how you will conduct yourself, your decisions and  your life in the future from this moment on.  God is a God of “do-overs”. He knows we are not perfect.  He loved us FIRST while our lives were ugly and messy. He has been there all along to pick up the pieces.  However, He is too much of a gentleman to barge into someone’s life and just take over and change it. He waits until He is asked.  He waits until YOU are ready to call upon Him and ask Him into your life for help and salvation. And when you ask, He will come. He will create a new you. He will work in you gradually helping you to make good decisions which will create a new and healthy lifestyle.

Some people think that the quote, “God helps those who help themselves.” is part of scripture, but it is not. Benjamin Franklin said that.  Mr. Franklin implies that in order to get help from God, you need to help yourself first. This couldn’t be further from the truth.  Holy Bible says, in John 4:10,  “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” And,  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.  In other words, Trust in God first and he will give you a “do-over.” He knows you are not able to break certain hurts, habits or hang-ups without Him.  Seek The Lord first, then everything else will fall into place.

All They Want For Christmas Is You

All They Want For Christmas is You

Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people, but to most people it means spending time with each other in worship and celebration.

It DOES NOT mean making an expensive fuss over people however.  Long ago I worked in retail as a manager for many years.  I LOVED the Christmas season and everything that came with it…except the Scrooges.  Every season I would hear women tell me while they shopped, how much they hated Christmas. One Christmas, after hearing a patron tell me how much she despised Christmas, I asked her why.  “Well”, she said, “I hate running around from store to store having to buy presents for everyone! It’s a waste of money AND a waste of my time!”  “ Then don’t.”, I said.  She looked at me surprised to hear a store manager telling her this.  “What did you say?” she asked.  At the risk of being reported to my superiors, I repeated myself. “Then don’t. Don’t run all over the place, don’t waste your time. Christmas is no fun if you think you need to participate when you don’t really want to. If you don’t want to spend the money, then make your gifts.  Homemade gifts mean more to people than store bought gifts.” “It’s True!” One of my assistants chimed in, “I made most of my gifts last year and my family still talks about it, in a good way.”  “And please don’t forget the true meaning of Christmas”.  I added, “It’s about celebrating that Jesus is Lord. Christmas celebrations are not what you buy, but what you make it. So make it a good one.” I said, as I smiled. The lady left with a quizzical look on her face, and I went back to work. I was sad to know that some people had lost the entire point of Christmas altogether. I wanted to make sure I did not.

There have been many years where I had to go cheap on Christmas because the money was scarce.  With three kids and so few dollars, I had to be clever. I remember having to buy some toys at the discount grocery and mix them with the goodwill clothes.  When they were little, they did not know the difference whether our Christmases were big or small, they just knew they were loved, they got a few presents and we celebrated Jesus.  For a few of the Christmases, I made all the gifts. Don’t you know those were the Christmases my children actually remembered?  To my surprise they loved all the handmade gifts. I asked them what made them so special. They said, “Because they were made with love.” And those Christmases were not about the gifts, but instead, it was about us celebrating as a family. It was about us going to church to worship together, celebrating as a family, opening a few gifts, sharing a meal and playing a few family games.

Regarding families, all they want for Christmas is you. You are the best gift of all. Everyone has families whether they are children, parents, your C.R. family, or church family. The most important thing about Christmas besides worshiping our Lord, is being part of your family no matter which kind of family it is.  Again, It’s NOT what you buy that makes Christmas, it’s what you make it, so make it a good one, remembering that Jesus is the reason for the season.

 

Where Is The Manual?

Where Is The Manual?

There is a manual for almost everything you buy today. If you bought a new computer or phone, you read the manual so you know exactly how to operate it to get the most out of it. If you bought a new printer, appliance or lawn mower you would want to know how to benefit from its newest features and if you bought a new stereo or television you would probably want to understand how to set it up properly and then read the troubleshooting  chapter if you ran into a small problem with sound or display.  Every creator of goods usually provides a manual for understanding everything you need to know about how to use the product and to troubleshoot any problems.

What about for our lives? Is there a manual for that?  The answer is “Yes!” We are a product of our creator, The Almighty God. He not only gave us a manual, he gave us an instructor to that manual.  This life manual is called, “The Holy Bible” and the “instructor” is Jesus Christ. He came to earth personally to teach us not only about how to live to get more out of our lives, but he told us all about our creator as well. Jesus also added a guarantee; that if we believe in Him with all our heart and confess with our mouth that He is Lord, that we will be saved.

However, though most have a life manual available to consult for every part of their lives, this manual is rarely opened.  I am willing to bet that if you are reading this, you have access to one of these manuals. If you don’t, the Holy Word of God is easier to find than most product manuals!  Unfortunately more often than not, God’s manual is ignored or dismissed by some bent on going through life just existing, guessing what they should do, being miserable and doubting their life is even working…like a broken appliance. I can never understand why. I mean, what happens when we neglect to read a manual for an appliance?  What is the result if we force a product to work the way we want it to rather than how it was designed to work? We risk breaking the item or screwing it up so bad we won’t be able to use it.  So why do some risk breaking relationships of every kind when they have a life manual to give them clear and wonderful instructions to live a peace filled life? Why do some neglect themselves with doubts and unbelief?  Why do some continue to poison themselves with negative influences from toxic drugs to toxic relationships when there is exciting and healthy examples of how they should conduct their lives?  Some say they have read the manual when they have just merely skimmed over a few chapters and paragraphs here and there thinking they have a “general grasp” of the book.  What if we did that with our cars? If we just read how to start our car and how to drive it, but skipped over the part that tells us the importance of car maintenance and how to take care of it, the car would last only as long as the oil would hold out, then the engine would seize up and stop.  A car that runs out of oil becomes a very expensive paperweight.  So what do we become if we never crack open our life manual? Lost?, confused?, bitter?, unforgiving? These are just some of the poisons that corrode us from the inside out as a result of neglecting our manual and our creator. These poisons can stop us from really living, and would not just hurt us, but the people around us as well. (Like bad exhaust from a car tailpipe.)  Just as a mishandled appliance or car could break by ignoring the manual, so could going through life ignoring the manual leave us broken from life.  So what is the answer?  Read the manual.

“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. Isaiah 51:4

(My recommendation would be this; Start in the Chapter of John in the New Testament to the end of the book. Then continue with Genesis and back to John. This way you dive right in and if you devote just one half hour a day to your readings you could finish in just 4 months. This is longer than your usual novel but far more interesting with drama, mystery, excitement and history, giving you a wealth of information about your God and good instruction on how to live your life with abundance.)

“Home Run” The Movie, Is a Home Run!

“Home Run” the movie is now on Amazon TV for viewing!  I have Roku and was able to access from there.  It is a story about a pro ball player with a substance abuse problem that is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, (in a C.R. group) and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team. His life is a hot mess.  Will he be able to somehow turn it all around?

As a leader of a Celebrate Recovery group for five years, I can tell you they absolutely nailed the struggles that people face, even while attending the groups. (Plus the acting was great.)  It is hard to finally cross that threshold stepping out of denial, but once they do, the weight is lifted and not only do their lives begin to change, but they affect change in the lives of the people who surround them.

This movie stars, Scott Elrod as the struggling baseball player, Dorian Brown as his former love and Vivica A. Fox (Independence Day) as his agent.  I highly recommend this movie.  It is now available also on BlueRay and on DVD online and at most local movie stores.