Celebrate Recovery Connection – May 5, 2016

Men’s Step Study starting!!!!!!!  See below for more details.

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Thank you, Derrick, for our lesson on MORAL last week, where we learned that we need not beat ourselves up over past sins, but instead we are to allow God’s conviction to lead us to confess those things to Him and trust Him to forgive us and help us move past them.

Thursday May 5th – Bekah will be giving her Testimony

“He handed me a brochure that was given to him by another client. It was for a group called Celebrate Recovery. He said he did not know anything about it, but noticed that it was a 12 Step recovery group that met at a church. Since I had mentioned wanting to try church again, he suggested I give it a shot. That very Sunday, I decided to pay a visit to the church service to see if this was a place I could possibly incorporate into my life. The idea of church was still a little traumatizing, so I was nervous. Back then, it was Davis Islands Baptist Church located on Davis Island, and the pastor preached a sermon on freedom from un-forgiveness. I knew right then that’s the main reason I continually drank myself into oblivion. I couldn’t forgive myself, nor the people who had hurt me. They also announced the new meeting night and time for Celebrate Recovery to start that week. I knew I was meant to be there.

I attended Celebrate Recovery that Thursday night. The drive to that meeting took every ounce of energy and courage I could muster. I came in right on time and took a seat in the back so maybe no one would talk to me. I noticed people seemed kind of happy to be there. I shared for the first time in Newcomer’s 101 that I was an alcoholic, and I took a blue chip to symbolize my surrender of my addiction. I was making the next right choice. I reluctantly kept coming back every Thursday night. I was also attending a weekly AA meeting near my home. I joined a step study at Celebrate Recovery and finally began to uncover a dirty, rotten collection of hurts, habits, and hang-ups.  One by one, I uncovered and dusted off my coping skills that were buried so deep into my childhood.

At some point in my recovery, someone gave me a copy of this poem written by
an unknown author. I keep it on my desk.

“I took one step… began to moan
I can’t do this on my own.
I took two steps… began to pray
God, please restore me today.
I took three steps… gave up my will
Maybe God loves me still.
I took a fourth… I looked inside
Nothing more I would hide.
And on the fifth… I said aloud
I’ve done some wrongs, and I’m not proud.
I took six steps… and got prepared
To lose the defects… I was scared.
Now I’m on seven… take them away
Today, Dear God, for this I pray
And on eight… the list was long
Amends to make for all the wrong.
I took nine steps… put down my pride
Forgiveness, I will not hide.
Ten Steps I take… each day I pray…
I make amends along the way.
And on eleven… I pray to know
His will each day, which way to go.
I took twelve steps… I’m like a bird
To others now, I spread the word.””  

Romans 15:13, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with
joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope
through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Thursday Night’s Dinner: 

 Reed will be cooking, chicken and fresh vegetable from the produce market.  Thank you Reed.

Recovery Reminder                                                                                          

Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.

“Happy are the pure in heart.” Matthew 5:8

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.” Lamentations 3:40