Never Lost

Bible reading: Deuteronomy 8:1 – 18

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ care and control.

“Happy are the meek.” (Matthew 5:8)

The road that leads to recovery is often uncharted and dangerous. We may have been born into a family that was lost in a maze of dysfunction and we have had to look for the way out. There are times of need, times of fear, times when we wonder if there is a God out there who cares at all.

The Israelites who were born in the wilderness must have experienced similar feelings. Their parents had sinned and were left to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. The new generation had spent much of their lives going nowhere, and for no fault of their own. When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses showed how even there, God’s care with present. He said, “Beware that you don’t forget the God who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with the dangerous snakes and scorpions, where it was hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness… So that you would become humble and so that your trust in him would grow, and he could do you good” (Deuteronomy 8:4, 15 – 16).

Even when we seem lost, God is watching over us to protect our lives until we can get to a better place. He does take care of us in ways we may take for granted. Peter tells us, “Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you” (1 Peter 5:7). Just being alive and in recovery shows that God cares for our lives!

When lost interpersonal deserts, we can be sure God is never far away.

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Mysterious Paradoxes

Such is the paradox of Celebrate Recovery regeneration: strength arising out of complete defeat and weakness, the loss of one’s old life as a condition for finding a new one.

What glorious mysteries paradoxes are! They do not compute, yet when recognized and accepted, they reaffirm something in the universe beyond human logic. When I face of fear, I am given courage; when I support a brother or sister, my capacity to love myself is increased; when I accept pain as part of the growing experiences of life, I realize a greater happiness; when I look at my dark side, I am brought into new light; when I accept my vulnerabilities and surrender to Jesus Christ, my Higher Power, I am graced with unforeseen strength. I stumbled through the doors of Celebrate Recovery in disgrace, expecting nothing from life, and I have been given hope and dignity. Miraculously, the only way to keep the gifts of Celebrate Recovery is to pass them on.

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A Bright Future

Bible reading: Luke 23:32 – 43

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ care and control.

“Happy are the meek.” (Matthew 5:8)

Perhaps we become so disappointed that we have given up hope for the future altogether. We don’t know what the future holds, but when we give our lives to God, he can be trusted with our future. Regardless of how bad our lives might be at the moment, we can still trust him to bring about glorious good in our lives.

Here’s a story of a man who dared to trust God with his future. And he trusted God when it looked like he didn’t have a future to look forward to. “To others, criminals, were led out to be executed with him [Jesus] at a place called ‘The Skull’. They’re all 3 were crucified – Jesus on the center cross, and the 2 criminals on either side… One of the criminals hanging beside himself, ‘So, you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself – and us, too, while you’re at it!’ But the other criminal protested. ‘Don’t you even fear God when you are dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man has done one thing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your King.’ And Jesus replied, ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise. This is a solemn promise’”. (Luke 23:32 – 33, 39 – 43)

No matter what dire straits we may find ourselves in presently, we can give God our future and be assured that eternal life in Paradise will far outweigh the suffering of this present life he can also transform our lives right now, making our future down here as bright as the heavenly one!

Even when everything seems darkened hopeless, God promises us a bright, new future.

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Guidance

This means a belief in a Creator who is all power, justice, and love; a God who intends for me a purpose, a meaning, and a destiny to grow, however haltingly, toward His own likeness and image.

As I begin to understand my own powerlessness and my dependence on God, as I understand him, I began to see that there was a life which, if I could have it, I would have chosen for myself from the beginning. It is through the continuing work of Celebrate Recovery and the life in the fellowship where I’ve learned to see that there truly is a better way into which I am being guided. As I come to know more about God, I am able to trust His ways and His plans for the development of His character in me. Quickly or not so quickly, I grow toward His own image and likeness.

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The Deal Of A Lifetime

Bible reading: Philippians 3:4 – 11

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ care and control.

“Happy are the meek.” (Matthew 5:8)

When we think of turning our lives over to God, it’s not unusual to try to polish up our credentials as best we can before presenting them to him. We look at all the worthwhile things we’ve done, how we’ve tried to be good, whatever we feel we have to offer. It’s as if we think that God doesn’t know us at all. We present him with a good, and try to hide the bad. In reality, God knows is completely, the good and the bad. We don’t really need to sort out the good from the bad. God doesn’t care what’s in the mix, as long as we give him the whole package.

Before Paul became a Christian he kept careful count of his “good deeds” and took pride in his ancestry. When he finally decided to turn his life over to the care of God, this is what he said, “But all these things that I once thought were very worthwhile – now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with him” (Philippians 3:7 – 9).

When we made the decision to turn our will and our lives over to God, we need to give him our whole life with all its assets and liabilities. We can’t earn his love by the “good stuff” in our lives any more than we can discourages love by all the “bad stuff”. It’s a straight trade-in. We give him our whole life and being. He gives us complete forgiveness, love, redemption, and acceptance in the person of Jesus Christ. When we see what God is offering us in the little we have to offer him, it’s clear that were getting quite a deal!

God offers us far more than anyone could ever give in return.

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I'm Part of the Whole

At once I became a part – if only a tiny part – of the cosmos…

When I 1^st came to Celebrate Recovery, I decided that “they” were very nice people – perhaps a little naïve, a little too friendly, but basically decent earnest people (with whom I had nothing in common). I saw “them” at meetings – after all that was where “they” existed. I shook hands with “them” and, when I went out the door, I forgot about “them”.

Then one day, my Higher Power, Jesus Christ, whom I did not fully believe could help me, arranged to create a community project outside of Celebrate Recovery, but one which happened to involve many Celebrate Recovery members. We worked together, I got to know “them” as people. I came to admire “them”, even to the point to begin to like “them” and, in spite of myself, I began to enjoy “them”. “Their” practice of the program in their daily lives – not just in talk at meetings –attracted me and I wanted what they had. Suddenly, the “they” became “we”. I have not had a drink since.

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