Guest Post from Deborah Leathers

Question: How important do you think it is to have a Celebrate Recovery Ministry at Hydesville Church?

I feel it is very important. We just need people to get past the barrier of thinking that Celebrate Recovery is only for people who have drug or alcohol addictions. That is just not the case! Every person in our church has suffered from some hurt, loss or abuse of some kind. And we all need help getting past the pain. Letting go, making amends with those people who we have hurt or have hurt us. Doing this EXTREMELY hard step is important it not only sets you free but it enables us to grow into the individuals God has created us to be. I do know how hard it can be even in a church setting for people to humble themselves and admit they have a problem. We worry what others will say on Sunday after they have seen us at a meeting on Friday. It's hard for people to really trust that confidential means confidential. I say come trust and see. Your life is worth it

Do You Want to Get Better?

Consistency is hard for most people.  Many seasons of life can be incredibly busy or chaotic just be virtue of the responsibilities involved.  Young adults are feeling great pressures in trying to figure out their lives.  Young parents can be overwhelmed by the demands of children.  Careers change, jobs are lost and finances can be tough.  We move a lot.  Older children bring their own set of challenges.  There are a lot of grandparents raising grandchildren.  Relationships break up.  There is a lot going on.  Add on to this the mental and emotional shake up that hurts, habits and hang ups can bring.  It is a recipe for inconsistency, for sure.

But the reality is that we make choices everyday about what is most important to us and that is demonstrated in a strong way by our daytimers and our checkbooks.  This is an article about our daytimers.

When I gave art lessons to children I noticed that this activity, probably because I was too gracious about it, became the lesser priority.  Although I worked hard to plan the lessons if a soccer coach scheduled an extra practice, there went the art lesson.  There were many scenarios that meant that the art lesson would be cancelled by the parent.  I realized that it just wasn't being taken that seriously.  If there was nothing else going on that day it was easy not to take the child to the art lesson.

Recovery in life, or said another way, our spiritual journey with Christ seems to be put on the back burner a lot.  Oh, we would never say that because we don't equate consistency with gatherings such as Celebrate Recovery or church to be a measure of our spirituality - but I would challenge that idea.  Actually, the writer of Hebrews challenged that idea.  We are told quite clearly not to "neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other...".  

It is true that God alone sees the heart and that God alone knows motive.  Absolutely true.  But if we want to get better at anything, it takes consistency.  If we are serious, we engage in those activities that not only encourage us but hold us accountable to what we have said is important in our lives.  Chances are we won't work those Celebrate Recovery steps on our own - and if we do, certainly not on a steady pace.  If we are lone rangers our progress will be haphazard at best.  As much as we hate to admit it, we do need others and God designed us that way.  Hit and miss means mostly miss.

A New Year is around the corner.  What is important to you?  Do you want to get better?  Here's a challenge - not only for you - but for your close circle of family and friends that are very affected and influenced by you.  Dig in.  Make the commitment and make a decision to stick with it.  Is getting better important to you?  Write it in your daytimer with a sharpie - that's permanent ink. Or enter it on your iphone - every gathering for three months until it becomes a good habit.  The people in your life will one day thank you.

Hurtin' for Certain

The holidays can be a tough time when you are hurting.  It may be a loss - death, divorce, a job, a significant relationship....it may be a decline in health, a problem that won't seem to go away, an inner discouragement.  Perhaps you feel, "hey, I made some bad choices, why would anyone care about me?  I'm hurtin' for certain."  To that we can say, we are all human, we struggle.  But there is a God in heaven who loves us tremendously.  In fact, He specializes in taking broken hearts and restoring them to a beautiful place.  Sound hard to believe?  Join us for Celebrate Recovery where we hear and see people who are on a spiritual journey and very positive change is taking place.  Where there is God, there is hope.  Join us!

The Beginning of Hope

When people ask me about how Celebrate Recovery is going, I always have to say - it's about the life stories I hear that keep me rivited to this ministry.  When someone comes there is an openess to change.  Life has been difficult and one comes to a point where the way of life is no longer acceptable.  There is a feeling that something has to change!  And that is where we start - that is the beginning of HOPE.  We find in Celebrate Recovery there is hope for us and our situations.  As we meet with others in friendship and in worship, we gain a better perspective.  We begin to place our trust in God, and not ourselves, for the answers to our life problems.  And we find a whole lot more, because we realize we are not alone, there are people who care, and God loves us  in ways we never realized before!  We welcome you to come out on Friday nights!

What About Celebrate Recovery?

Some facts about Celebrate Recovery:

Celebrate Recovery has:

A PROVEN DESIGN:  Celebrate Recovery was designed as a program to help those struggling with hurts, habits and hang-ups by showing them the loving power of Jesus Christ through a recovery process.

A CLEAR GOAL:  The goal of Celebrate Recovery program is not simply to recover from past sins and hurts; the goal is to become Christ-like in our character.

REMARKABLE RESULTS:  To date, hundreds of thousands of people world-wide have experienced a Biblically balanced approach to repentance and recovery.

REFLECTS A UNIVERSAL NEED:  No matter what situation you find yourself in, whether it is emotional, financial, relational, spiritual, sexual or whatever, regardless of what you need help with, God wants to help you!

A PRECEPTION WE HAVE TO FIGHT:  You may think "recovery" is only for drug addicts and alcoholics - people whose lives seem out of control. But that's just not true. The Bible teaches that all of us have addictions in our lives.

SPEAKS TO REALITY:  Sin is addicting, and the Bible says, "all have sinned." Not one of us is perfect. We've all blown it; we've all made mistakes. We've hurt ourselves, we've hurt other people, and others have hurt us.  We are human and we all struggle.  But with our Higher Power, Jesus Christ, there is great hope.