“Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength… Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:30-31

We are made to Love God and love others. I didn’t get that early on, growing up in a family that was always moving, never rooted in God or in community. Self-reliance was the mantra for the day; you didn’t ask for help, you didn’t want help, you just did it on your own. The Cheering Section that Pastor Dennis spoke of yesterday just didn’t exist.

That kind of environment leads to one thing—dysfunction and disability. You spend your life trying to measure up, to be perfect, and when you realize you can’t and aren’t, you look for ways to cover up the lie. Coping skills at a young age become defense mechanisms, which lead to character defects of adulthood. The bottom line is we try and find ways to survive in a mixed-up mind, in a mixed-up world.

I’m grateful that I don’t live in that world of self-reliance anymore, but truth be told I visit it every once in a while. It happened last week; I was trying to solve all the problems of the world (OK, I know they were just my problems, but they were getting bigger by the minute) and getting caught in self, which lead to despair.

It didn’t take very long (thank you, Jesus) to see what was going on. I was locked in on the problem and couldn’t see the forest for the trees. When I took off the blinders I began to realize that God was providing the solution, I just wasn’t looking in the right place. I needed to be locked in on God.

Once again I was humbled by His grace and provision. And grateful that a personal, ongoing relationship with Jesus is real and growing, now matter how off track I can get. The single most important thing I have come to experience over the past eight years through my church and Celebrate Recovery is found in the Great Commandment: To love God and to love people. The second most important thing I have learned is that, without God’s grace—and hard work on our part—deep, meaningful change doesn’t happen. We can’t recover (at least I can’t recover) without God and without community. It’s that simple; pass it on!

“Two are better off than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If they fall down, they can help each other up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9

Received a wonderful text last week: The first to apologize is the bravest, the first to forgive is the strongest, the first to forget is the happiest. Thank you, Terri, for passing that on!

Have a great God filled week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
January 30-February 4, 2012

Friday—Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 7pm for worship followed by a lesson from Marty on Step 6: Ready.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

A big thanks to all of you who ushered at Crossroads yesterday. You were a Cheering Section in action!

Testimonies Needed
We are in need of testimonies for February and March. Contact Dana if you are ready to give yours.

Clothing/Sleeping Bags Needed
The Tuesday night CR open share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing/sleeping bags you can donate would be much appreciated.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

For a few weeks I have been thinking about sooner or later. I was reminded of it over the weekend, listening to Pastor John’s message about Do Good.

I write a lot of Celebrate Recovery (CR) messages about serving; serving God by serving others. But there are times when we need to allow ourselves to be served by others. There are times when we all need help.

This is never more evident than when we first come to CR. Starting at Step 1 and working through the first 9 steps, we are mentored by sponsors and accountability partners that are there to help us, just as they were helped by those going before them. We continue to build community as we engage in steps 10-12—daily inventory; prayer, meditation and Bible study; and living a life of service.

This is the CR legacy of passing it on, sharing our experience, strength and hope. We come to CR needing God and needing people to overcome our hurts, habits and hang-ups. In the process it becomes less about you and more about others. We are transformed from takers to givers. Recovery becomes our daily walk with Christ.

Sooner or later everyone in CR, and every Christian, will answer this question: How can I serve you, God? I am thankful and grateful for what You have done for me, but I am more interested in what I can do for You. It starts with our salvation found in Jesus; not of our own works, but by His unmerited favor. To serve God is to give all I have to him—my time, talents and treasures; and to hold loosely to all I have, because it all belongs to God. When we have yielded to Him, then we can serve others in word and by our actions, we can do good works as God’s masterpiece. Listen to the nudging of the Holy Spirit within you. Daily, ask that His will be done in all areas of your life.

Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. CR quote

Have a great God filled week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
January 23-29, 2012

Friday—Large Group Meeting:
It’s Celebrate night!

• Join us at 6pm for a great spaghetti dinner and fellowship.
• Join us at 7pm for worship and celebration of God’s work in our lives.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

CR Ushering — Sunday, January 29, 9am and 11am
CR ushering for Crossroads is coming up fast. If you would like to be a part of this recovery service opportunity, sign up with Doug.

Testimonies Needed
We are in need of testimonies for February and March. Contact Dana if you are ready to give yours.

Clothing/Sleeping Bags Needed
The Tuesday night CR open-share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing/sleeping bags you can donate would be much appreciated.

But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13

Forgetting the past isn’t about ignoring the past. I liked Pastor John’s definition: To forget means to no longer be influenced or affected in a negative way from the past.  Check out the message online.

But, just how do you gain freedom from your past? I had tried for years to ignore it, subdue it, run from it, but I never really found peace with it. I would pray to God to release me from it, but at the same time do nothing to help or engage in the process. Why? I didn’t know how to; I didn’t have a process to move me out of the past. I wonder how many of us have been in that situation.

In Celebrate Recovery (CR) we have the process to move out of the past and into the present and have hope for the future. Steps 4-9 are the ticket; all we have to do is get the ticket punched. Sounds easy, but we know it is not; it takes six months of hard work. Sounds like something we can do, but truth be told, we can’t; not without faith, action and community.

So how do you punch the ticket to be freed from your past? Here is the process:

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

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

Step 5: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Therefore confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16

Steps 6: We are entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10

Step 7: We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Step 8: We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31

Step 9: We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

That’s the ticket to move you forward and out of the past to a better tomorrow!

A quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Have a great, God-filled week,

Dana

Friday—Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 7pm for worship, followed by a teaching from Dana on Step 5: ADMIT
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

The Tuesday night CR open share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing/sleeping bags you can donate would be much appreciated.

CR ushering for Crossroads is coming up fast. If you would like to be a part of this recovery service opportunity, sign up with Doug. We will be ushering at the 9am and 11 am services on Sunday, January 29, 2012.

It’s been a very eventful two days. After we arrived on Saturday (after a 3:00 am wake up call), we got settled in the team house (very comfortable) and immediately drove about 30 minutes to the community, where we met the leaders and set up the drilling rig. There’s always an awkward moment when we arrive because we immediately attracted a crowd of curious Haitian children, women and men. We just jumped in by saying hello (“bonjew”) in Kreyole (language of Haiti). No matter how badly we say “hello,” the people are very gracious and “bonjew” always prompts a smile…and the ice was broken.

We took a quick tour of the current water supply: a shallow well that was tested and found undrinkable. Since it’s the only close source of water, it’s what they drink, bathe and wash clothes in. Anywhere you go, you see people—mostly children and women—carrying either empty of full water containers. Yes, most women here can carry a full five gallon bucket of water on their head. I dare you to try it. Just try to get it up there—let alone carry it up a mountain road.

Today (Sunday), we attended church in the community where we are drilling the well. The worship was incredibly heartfelt; the singing was enthusiastic and contagious. It was great to see some of the community leaders we met on Saturday leading the church on Sunday. I’ll tell you, these people dress up to go to church. I had to smile because, even though we were in a building with a metal roof and a dirt floor, the service was interrupted by a loud cell phone going off. “Just like home,” I thought. At one point, one of the women of the church who had just taught a Bible study lesson, had each group of people stand up and tell the rest of the church what they had learned during the Bible study. Hmmmm…I think I’ll try this at Crossroads the next time I speak. Get ready!

We have two young men who travel with us to serve as translators, so they explained various parts of the service for us. At one point, they opened up the service for a prayer time. Everyone prays at the same time…out loud. As these people thanked God and prayed for their needs, it was like verbal music as the vast array of voices (young and old, men and women, children and teenagers) sent up prayers. What a moment.

The best moment for our team was when Nicole Vander Vliet shared her story with the church—through a translator, of course. We came somewhat prepared to share our stories, but she didn’t know she was going to be asked to do so (I asked her) until two minutes before she got up. Preparing our stories is part of the training we do prior to coming, so she wasn’t caught completely off-guard. What she said touched each of us, as well as encouraged the church in a very powerful way. Whenever anyone speaks from the heart, everyone understands—even if you don’t understand the words. You just never know how and when God is going to reach out, split open the heavens and simply touch people. What a moment.

Sunday afternoon was spent driving through downtown Cap-Haïtien. Google says the population of Cap-Haïtien is 200,000. It’s really about a million, seriously. We ate at a very nice Haitian restaurant next to the ocean. A number of us ate goat, while the less adventurous stuck with chicken or beef, prepared Haitian style. It’s always a big tug on our hearts as we drive through living conditions, block after block after block, of family shops eking out a very meager living.

We meet each evening to talk about our day, share observations and feelings about the day, pray and get ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we do two things–begin to drill the well and begin a children’s program/ministry with the teachers and children of the community. Here we go…

Please keep the team in your prayers.

• Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

OK, I admit it; I am having a hard time writing this CR Monday, after just watching the Denver Broncos beat the Steelers this Sunday night. But as I was watching the game with the family, I found myself thinking of Pastor John’s message—Passion.

I watch a guy like Tim Tebow play with extraordinary passion. He has a love and passion for Jesus and for helping those in need, and uses his passion on the playing field as a platform to carry the good news of Jesus Christ to the world.

I don’t know where Tim would be today if he relied solely on passion, for his hard work and commitment are legendary. I heard a keynote speaker a few years ago talk of sending passionate young Christians out into the world. He noted, after a short time, their passion waned and they became disillusioned. He noted that living on passion alone usually leads to burnout; but when you combine passion with learning, with mentorship, with community, with hard work, you have a great combination for success.

The key to Celebrate Recovery and its continued growth is having a program that first helps those in need to overcome their hurts, habits and hang-ups; and, second, uses that experience to help others. It takes a year to go through a 12-step process, and in that year tremendous transformation occurs; we are made new.

As we become passionate about our recovery, many of us want to share our 12-step experience with others. Many go on to sponsor, lead groups, lead a 12-step group, lead a CR team, or go on to serve in your church in other capacities. What I love about CR is the ongoing training, learning and mentorship that exists. The CR community is a great community to be a part of.

If you are lost and want a way out of your misery, come to CR, get involved in a 12-step group. Find purpose in your life and share that as passionately as you can. Nan and I have been doing that for over 20 years; and, while there are times we think we need to do something else, we know that God has us planted in recovery—in Celebrate Recovery. From the recovery platform we can do many other things for Him, but recovery with Him comes first.

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14

Have a great God filled week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
January 9-15, 2012

Friday—Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 6pm for potluck; great food, great fellowship.
• Join us at 7pm for worship followed by a testimony from Nan and Dana.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

 Saturday:

• CR Leader Meeting from 10-noon at Crossroads.

The Tuesday night CR open-share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing/sleeping bags you can donate would be much appreciated.

CR ushering for Crossroads is coming up fast. If you would like to be a part of this recovery service opportunity, sign up with Doug. We will be ushering at the 9am and 11am services on Sunday, January 29, 2012.

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14

It’s Sunday morning and I’m writing this CR Monday early. I’ve got some family time planned for a few days at the YMCA; our grandkids will occupy our time and we love it. I am so grateful for family!

I hope you check out Pastor Dennis’s message on How To Begin A New Year. It’s a wonderful message that is full of insight; it’s a message that I so appreciate.

My tradition at this time of the year is to spend some time in reflection, do a little inventory and be grateful for what God has provided. What have I learned so far:

1. 2011, in some ways, was a very tough year. My faith was tested, my learning curve accelerated, my growth abundant, and once again I received confirmation that God will get you through the really tough times (and in all times).
2. You are never closer to God than when you surrender your troubles to him and learn to rely on him. Spiritual truth—the more we confess our weaknesses, the more God shines through us. His Grace really is enough (2 Corinthians).
3. The power of Celebrate Recovery’s Steps 10-11 (daily inventory-prayer). I have learned through painful past experiences that I don’t have to carry my burdens any longer than I need to. I relied on Steps 10 and 11 a lot this year. Step 10 keeps me from my tendency to sweep things under the rug, ignoring issues until they overwhelm me, creating resentments that can be very destructive. The more we do a daily inventory—seek God’s direction as we look at our day and own our part when we are wrong, make amends and offer forgiveness—the less junk we have to carry around, and we have more energy and passion to focus on what God has planned for us today. There is power, direction and hope found in prayer, meditation and in reading our Bibles.
4. Being grateful for what God has provided teaches us that we are all a work in progress under the Master’s hand. The process of transforming us from takers to givers is ongoing. I love Pastor Dennis’s comment about repentance: You know when you have repentance in your heart when you start serving others. That’s Step 12: Moving from pride and selfishness to humility and selflessness is a spiritual experience. As Jesus has washed our feet we are to wash one another’s. We are Family.

There is neither Jews nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

May 2012 be filled with the Love of Jesus for you. May we continue together as the Body of Christ in all we do.

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
January 2-8, 2012

Friday—Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 7pm for worship followed by a Step 5 and a teaching from Dana.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid rock Café at 9pm.

Saturday—CR Leader Training:

If you are finishing up a 12-step group, or have been through one already and want more training, this is a great opportunity. Contact Perry for more information.

The Tuesday night CR open-share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing/sleeping bags you can donate would be much appreciated.

I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord-—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! Luke 10-11.

I hope that the Christmas services you attended over the weekend were filled with the awe and wonder of Christ’s birth, filled with joy and love and hope. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t get through Silent Night at Crossroads without choking up and shedding tears. The emotion of genuine gratitude takes over, especially as I share Christ’s birth with my family and church family.

Last Friday Night at Celebrate Recovery (CR) we reflected on Jesus being born in a messy manger, in a messy world. The significance? Jesus meets us right where we are, no need to clean up our act before we give our life over to Him; just surrender and let God take charge of our life, then the real housecleaning can begin as God transforms us from takers to givers.

As I listened Friday to the open mike session, to people in CR spontaneously talk about what Jesus means to them, I heard life-changing stories—people overcoming hurts, habits and hang-ups by God’s grace found in his son Jesus. I heard the joy and hope that only a life filled with Jesus can bring. And I heard the transforming message of being a Christ follower—that we are to serve others as Christ has served us.

Jesus’ birth over 2,000 years ago changed the world forever. His birth plays out in our lives and in our hearts everyday, ever reminding us that God is a personal God. God’s love sent his son to this messy world to save us, to love us, to restore us and to be in relationship with Him. What are we to do in return? Serve others as Christ has served us. Carry the good news to all people, that our Lord and Savior is real, that by the Cross or sins are forgiven and we have eternal life with him by the power of the resurrection.

Our life with Jesus starts with us saying, “Yes, Jesus, I believe in my heart you are Lord and God raised you from the dead” (Romans 10:9).

Make everyday a Christmas day by sharing your gifts with others.

Blessings,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
December 26-January 1, 2012

Friday—Large Group Meeting and Celebration Night:

• Join us at 6pm for soup night. Bring a pot of your favorite soup to share.
• Join us at 7pm for worship, followed by birthdays and celebrations.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

New Year’s Eve Party
CR is having an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve party on Saturday, December 31, 7:30pm to 12:30am at Crossroads. Bring the family and enjoy a safe place this New Year’s Eve.

The Tuesday night CR open share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing you can donate would be much appreciated.

“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

Check out Pastor John’s weekend message on Mercy, part four of the series on Advent.

Jesus’ death on the cross for the atonement of our sins is an act of forgiveness that is unparalleled in human history. We have a merciful God who took on human form, who was both human and God, experienced all that this mean world has to offer and then gave his life on the cross for us. If that’s not mercy I don’t know what is. If that is not love I don’t know what is.

In its simplest definition, mercy is not getting what we deserve. If our Heavenly Father can forgive us our sins, who are we not to forgive others. I was reading the parable of the unforgiving debtor in Mathew 18—a merciful king forgiving the debt of a repenting servant, only to find the servant withholding forgiveness to someone who owed him. No mercy, no love, no forgiveness.

In this week leading up to Christ’s birth, we can get so busy doing that we may forget temporarily the why of Christmas. Ever think what it would be like if Jesus never came, if our God was an unmerciful unforgiving God, an unreachable God instead of a God who dwells in us in spirit?

There are many in Celebrate Recovery (CR) who have tried living our own lives without God and we know the results. If you have been in recovery and taken the third step of turning your life and your will over to the care of God, you are undoubtedly grateful for God’s mercy.

But what about those in our community who don’t believe, or who have walked away from God; what do they celebrate this Christmas season? I don’t know, but what I do know is that we should carry the message of God’s love and mercy to everyone. We can’t get so busy that we don’t care; we can’t get so callous that we ignore others; and we can never think that what we do doesn’t matter.

In this week leading up to Christmas, spend more time reading your Bible, talking to Jesus and listening to him; live in the joy of being a believer. Spend time with family and friends. Find someone to help this week. Some people need food, some need gifts for children, some need a hot meal and meeting at the homeless shelter, and some just need you to listen and show that you care. Imagine if every week was Christmas week!

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

Thank you, God, for your son, Jesus; and thank you, Jesus, for your Spirit that lives within us.

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
December 19-25, 2011

Friday—Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 7pm for worship followed by a celebration of Jesus.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

Please Note: Crossroads is having a Christmas service in the auditorium this Friday night at 7pm. Our CR program will meet in the youth building starting at 7pm. Childcare will be in the main church as always, with CR child care from 6:45 to 9:30.

New Year’s Eve Party
CR is having an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve party on Saturday, December 31, 7:30pm to 12:30am at Crossroads. Bring the family and enjoy a safe place this New Year’s Eve.

The Tuesday night CR open share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing you can donate would be much appreciated.

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14

Check out the weekend message from Crossroads; John talks about PEACE. As I listened, I was thinking about how little peace there is in the world. Some of us have caused a lot of upheaval in our lives and in the lives of others—self-will run riot.

All of us come to Celebrate Recovery (CR) in some state of chaos; our lives have become unmanageable and peace is the farthest thing from our reality. Yet peace does come to us as we rely on God and experience the 12 steps of recovery.

I had a sponsor in my early years in recovery that taught me a lot about peace. He was a Christian man who loved Jesus and believed God could restore him to sanity. His name was Happy Al and man did he have a story. I was thinking of him this last week, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Al was 15 years old, in the Navy, and on a ship that was destroyed on December 7, 1941. His life changed that day and he knew little to no peace for the next 35 years of life. He suffered with alcoholism; he lost jobs, lost his wife and family, lost himself. Al went to four treatment centers and relapsed every time. He ended up on skid row in Denver, living in abandoned cars on Larimer Street. Then, on his 5th try at a rehab center, Al finally got it. He got recovery.

He would tell me that it wasn’t until he gave himself fully to God did he begin to recover. And boy did he recover. Al went by the name of “Happy Al,” not because he was happy all the time but because He new who his God was, because he new Jesus. Al had peace in his life. How do I know? He shared it with me all the time, but it wasn’t until Al lay on his death bed in the hospital that I really started to grasp the real meaning of peace.

Happy Al had been sober 17 years and God was good to him. Al grew in his faith and learned to rely on Jesus by taking the action steps of recovery. God blessed Al in those years and Al knew it. He remarried his wife and his family returned. Al spent countless hours helping others in recovery, and there are hundreds of men today who owe much to Happy Al.

As Nan and I were with Al and his wife on his last day, he gave me my greatest lesson—he modeled for me what real peace was. He told me he was ready and looking forward to meeting Jesus. He had done what he could do, by God’s power, to clear away the wreckage of the past and live in peace today. It wasn’t so much what he said but how he said it and how at peace he was. I new then that the peace that passes all understanding was real and that someday I too could experience it.

Just a few minutes after midnight Happy Al passed on; he was, and is, with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What day did God take Al home? It was on December 7, the same day 55 years prior that Al lost much of his life, that he entered into an eternal life with Jesus in heaven. God is always present, always amazing.

Have a great God filled week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
December 12-18, 2011

Friday—Large Group Meeting

• Join us at 7pm for worship followed by Marty teaching on Spiritual Inventory 2.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

CR is having an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve party on Saturday, December 31, 7:30pm-12:30 am at Crossroads. Bring the family and enjoy a safe place this New Year’s Eve.

The Tuesday night CR open share group meeting at the homeless connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing you can donate would be much appreciated.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

I have always been a little confused about Joy—what is it really and how do we know we have it? Pastor Dennis helped answer those questions in his weekend message, Joy.

There was a time in my life when I had very little joy; but there were times I was happy, especially if I got my way. Sorry to say, these times were not just part of normal childhood development where everything is supposed to be about me. No, the “me syndrome” was present well into adulthood; an extreme selfishness and self-centeredness that occupied my mind and spirit. I know some of you reading this understand the dilemma.

It’s as though you can get so caught up in self, that you cannot internalize the happiness or joy of others. At one time it was so prevalent in me that I couldn’t feel the success of those around me; even if I was leading them and was partly responsible for their success, I couldn’t experience their joy.

Why? I don’t know; but I do know that, at that time in my life, I was far from God. I believed in God, but did not have a relationship with him. But as I worked in my recovery, I started to see my character defects and how they had blocked me from God and from people. Experiencing the 12 Steps opened the door and let Jesus in.

Today, I know that joy is experienced through the love and grace of Jesus. As the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we experience the fruit of the spirit. (Gal 5:22-23)

Step 12: Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs. Buy the time we get to Step 12 we have had a spiritual awakening, and joy is a natural outcome. If I have joy in my life today, it’s because I can celebrate the joy in yours.

Here is an acrostic for JOY:

J: Jesus first
O: Others next
Y: You serve the Lord by being of service to others

Have a Joy filled week in Christ,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery Crossroads Church Calendar
December 5-11, 2011

Friday—Large Group Meeting/Pot Luck Night:

• Join us at 6pm for chili. Bring a salad or dessert and we have the makings of a great dinner.
• Join us at 7pm for worship followed by a testimony.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

The Tuesday night Celebrate Recovery open-share group meeting at the Homeless Connection is going great. Winter is here and any clothing you can donate would be much appreciated.