Since November of 2011, Celebrate Recovery meetings have been held here on Friday nights. We have moved through the 12 Steps and truth from Scripture many times during those seven years. There are some success stories being unfolded; there are also some heartbreaks. Recovery is not a one-time thing. It is life-change and that is a lifetime endeavor. Recovery will not happen alone either; it takes a loving, patient, informed, prepared, devoted, and Christ-centered family. That is why between now and Christmas we will be doing something new during Celebrate Recovery on Friday nights.
Beginning in September and continuing thru December, we will be preparing ourselves, and anyone who cares about someone struggling with addictions and resentments, to better understand and support those who are struggling. Along the way we may find some help for our own struggles.
If you are struggling with alcohol, drug, sex, pornography, greed, gambling, or any other addition or you care about someone who is, I hope you will join us on Friday's this fall
If you battle resentment, anger, relationship troubles, if you find yourself moving from relationship to relationship, job to job, church to church, house to house, state to state, or if you care about someone who does, I hope you will join us on Friday's this fall.
If you experience success in your war only to suddenly loose another battle and relapse back into the depths, or you care about someone does, I hope you will join us this fall.
We cannot fix someone else's struggles, but if we understand how addiction and resentment start and take over, if we learn how to compassionately come along side to support, if we correct our expectations of how recovery unfolds, then we will all be better prepared for our own battles and supporting others in theirs.
Celebrate Recovery happens every Friday at 7pm.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
August - September 2018
In August we take what God has taught us through the first 11 Steps and apply it all at the Big Knob Fair where we will go to pray and talk with anyone who needs it.
As you follow God through the 12 Steps, He takes you from the place where life is all about you to life being all about Him, and since He loves all people, your life in Him includes loving others. You go from the selfishness of addiction, anger and resentment to truly caring about other people because of God in you.
The Big Knob Fair gives us opportunity to meet people where they are and let them see the love God has for them, how He wants to free them from the addictions, heal them of the hurts, and love Him because He loved them first.
There will be no CR meeting on August 31 because we will be at the Fair. Regular weekly meetings will continue, restarting at Step 1 on Friday, September 7, 2018.
I hope to see you then,
Pastor Mark
As you follow God through the 12 Steps, He takes you from the place where life is all about you to life being all about Him, and since He loves all people, your life in Him includes loving others. You go from the selfishness of addiction, anger and resentment to truly caring about other people because of God in you.
The Big Knob Fair gives us opportunity to meet people where they are and let them see the love God has for them, how He wants to free them from the addictions, heal them of the hurts, and love Him because He loved them first.
There will be no CR meeting on August 31 because we will be at the Fair. Regular weekly meetings will continue, restarting at Step 1 on Friday, September 7, 2018.
I hope to see you then,
Pastor Mark
Friday, March 9, 2018
March-April 2018
There will be no Celebrate Recovery on Friday, April 13.
However, we will have a meeting on April 27 which had been a scheduled day off.
Having started again with Step 1 in January, we are now in Step 4.
I have found over the years that many who begin the 12 Steps, stop in Step 4. This is tragic, as their recovery also stops and addictive behaviors and desires renew their stranglehold. There are many reasons people stop at Step 4, and many of those relate back to a misunderstanding of that Step.
I have found Step 4 to be exciting and life-changing, not drudgery or discouraging. Around here we understand Step 4 to be an examination of truth, led by the Holy Spirit. I spent many years being deceived and deceiving myself so that over time much of what I understood was false and my actions were very much dependent upon my faulty understanding. Let me testify that all of that mess could not be unraveled by my faulty thinking. How can right actions, words, thoughts and desires come out of faulty thinking and beliefs? They cannot. Only the all-knowing, loving, and patient God and Creator of the Universe can untangle that kind of mess by revealing truth.
There are many today who question there is any real truth or say that truth is determined by each individual. Such beliefs prove themselves to be false as those definitions of truth lead to an anything-goes chaos. God is the only One who can reveal to you the truth of who He is (He tells us much about who He is through His Word, the Bible). He is the only One who can reveal to you the truth of you and your situation, and He is very patient and loving in doing so. Thus, God is the only One who can lead you out of addictive thoughts, actions,words, and desires into freedom from those things. He is the only One who can heal the hurts you have suffered and replace the pain with peace and even joy from knowing Him.
All of that can only begin once we realize we cannot fix the addictions and resentments that haunt and control us, realize only God the Father, Son, and Spirit can heal through truth that is taught and applied in care and love, and decide to submit to the care of Jesus Christ and yield our life and will to His. Then He will begin the process of your recovery into a new life as a new creation in Him.
That is the exciting truth of Step 4!
Hope to see you at Celebrate Recovery.
However, we will have a meeting on April 27 which had been a scheduled day off.
Having started again with Step 1 in January, we are now in Step 4.
I have found over the years that many who begin the 12 Steps, stop in Step 4. This is tragic, as their recovery also stops and addictive behaviors and desires renew their stranglehold. There are many reasons people stop at Step 4, and many of those relate back to a misunderstanding of that Step.
I have found Step 4 to be exciting and life-changing, not drudgery or discouraging. Around here we understand Step 4 to be an examination of truth, led by the Holy Spirit. I spent many years being deceived and deceiving myself so that over time much of what I understood was false and my actions were very much dependent upon my faulty understanding. Let me testify that all of that mess could not be unraveled by my faulty thinking. How can right actions, words, thoughts and desires come out of faulty thinking and beliefs? They cannot. Only the all-knowing, loving, and patient God and Creator of the Universe can untangle that kind of mess by revealing truth.
There are many today who question there is any real truth or say that truth is determined by each individual. Such beliefs prove themselves to be false as those definitions of truth lead to an anything-goes chaos. God is the only One who can reveal to you the truth of who He is (He tells us much about who He is through His Word, the Bible). He is the only One who can reveal to you the truth of you and your situation, and He is very patient and loving in doing so. Thus, God is the only One who can lead you out of addictive thoughts, actions,words, and desires into freedom from those things. He is the only One who can heal the hurts you have suffered and replace the pain with peace and even joy from knowing Him.
All of that can only begin once we realize we cannot fix the addictions and resentments that haunt and control us, realize only God the Father, Son, and Spirit can heal through truth that is taught and applied in care and love, and decide to submit to the care of Jesus Christ and yield our life and will to His. Then He will begin the process of your recovery into a new life as a new creation in Him.
That is the exciting truth of Step 4!
Hope to see you at Celebrate Recovery.
Friday, January 12, 2018
January 2018
It is the start of another new year and we are starting again with Step 1 in January.
As we move through the 12 Steps this winter and spring we will consider the timeless struggles in life through the eyes of a man searching for peace, contentment, satisfaction, excitment, and purpose. Searching through all the world has to offer, all the promises of fulfillment and happiness that end up in empty disappointment, we'll see that one generation after another searches, experiments, and finds that all the world's promises do not satisfy and usually leave us hurting and in bondage. The more things change, the more they stay the same on that road well traveled.
There is hope, however. Many have found hope and purpose here at Celebrate Recovery. I hope you will join us and become an important part of something meaningful for all of us.
As we move through the 12 Steps this winter and spring we will consider the timeless struggles in life through the eyes of a man searching for peace, contentment, satisfaction, excitment, and purpose. Searching through all the world has to offer, all the promises of fulfillment and happiness that end up in empty disappointment, we'll see that one generation after another searches, experiments, and finds that all the world's promises do not satisfy and usually leave us hurting and in bondage. The more things change, the more they stay the same on that road well traveled.
There is hope, however. Many have found hope and purpose here at Celebrate Recovery. I hope you will join us and become an important part of something meaningful for all of us.
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