CELEBRATE RECOVERY!

Celebrate Recovery is a program that Seacoast Church offers on Friday nights for those who have been saved from addiction, abuse, and other sin in their lives. I was invited one Friday by my friend Dereck who was taking some of the guys from the half-way-house that he has moved into. He informed me of the type of service that it was and I (desperate for praise and worship and fellowship with the Lord) told him I didn't care, I just wanted to go to church.  So I went that Friday and have been back a few other times since then. What I have come to realize is this: sin is sin no matter what form it manifests itself. It operates on the same basic principles in all of our lives. I listened to the testimony of a recovered drug and alcohol abuser and was immediately drawn to her story. What she was attempting to do with drugs and alcohol in her adolescence and part of her adult life is the same thing I attempted to do with success in sports, dating the most popular guys, and attempting to win as many awards as I could. She was seeking attention and love.  She was empty and wanted to be filled. She was lost and wanted to be found. The only difference between she and I was the types of things we choose to fill our voids with. Pick your poison! We both 'earned wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it" (Haggai)  And don't we even still, after being saved, experiencing God's immense love, and knowing that He is the only One that can fill us, have "affairs of the heart" as John Eldredge puts it and attempt to use worldly things, relationships,  jobs, etc to satisfy us? The principle behind the sins I was hearing described and the sins I fight on a daily basis were and are the same.

There was, however, one obvious difference between the people I was surrounded with and myself: they seemed to have more zeal, more vigor, more excitement and I can only surmise that this is because of the appreciation they have from the lives that our Great God saved them from. They did not seem to have a 'pride issue', or struggle with any feelings of 'active righteousness' (thoughts of 'MY righteous deeds got me here, MY good decisions). No. They knew, only our God was mighty enough to save them from the nightmares of lives they were delivered from! I sometimes wonder, if there will ever be a time where God brings me to total humility. Will there ever be a time when I do not delight to hear MY name praised? I am overwhelmed with selfish ambition. My only answer for the time being is to run to the cross! 

Miss Independent? Miss self-sufficient?

"Miss Independent. Miss self-sufficient. Miss keep your distance...

No wonder there are so many wounded women in the world confused about who they are and who they should be! I know I was there. I was once one of the ones that was confused. Listening to the lyrics of Eminem and others, having no guidance as an adolescent girl, and pouring myself into the things that seemed to get me the most attention and win me the most love.  As a naive adolescent I bought the lie that I was supposed to be 'miss independent'.  I bought the lie that I was supposed to play the game to win the guy, to be self-sufficient, and to say 'don't worry I got it'. But what does the Bible say? What does the Christian community say? 

In Captivating John and Stasi Eldredge discus our innate desires to look to one another in relationships for validation-- a validation that is not going to be found nor is it reliable. 

"If he [or she] hasn't found that deep validation he [or she] needs from God, he's [she's] a sitting duck....... "That is why we spoke of Romance with him [God] first. It comes first. It must. It has to. Adam is a far too unreliable source-amen!"  

John and Stasi Eldredge

And what about this desire I am filled with to make it look like I've got it all together? Got wants our broken hearts- our vulnerabilities! 

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. " Psalm 51:17 

"For this is what the high and lofty One says- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the heart of the contrite." Isaiah 57:15

The Lord tells us over and over again of this Truth. "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit"  Think of the great women of the Bible. What are there characteristics? Ruth, Ester, Mary, Rahab, Tamar. They are courageous, their trust in the Lord is NOT subjective. They are quietly cunning, and are incredibly vulnerable. All of these women risked severe consequence by their people by going against their cultures to follow the prodding and commands of the Lord. Let us all, women, following the examples given us by these women, go against our own cultures, begin a deep Romance with our Lord, and give Him and only Him our broken hearts and vulnerabilities that He may heal us!