From: Dana Cramer
Monday, July 26, 2010
Let me express my anguish. Let me be free to speak out of the bitterness of my soul. (Job 7:11)
Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated—it can only bring harm. (Psalm 37:8)
As I listened to Pastor Carl talk of Samson yesterday (message online), two recovery themes stood out for me. One was anger—the kind of anger born of hurt; unresolved anger that leads to resentment, resentment that leads to an enslavement of self, that leads to relational and spiritual decay. Many of us have experienced this kind of toxic anger, and many of us have paid the price. We have lost jobs, relationships, family, friends, careers, health, peace, and serenity. We have lost our way, lost our purpose. For some, resentment leads to despair where depression becomes the daily routine—no energy, no purpose, no enjoyment, no desire, no life. We learn that resentment will eat you from the inside out, a kind of slow decay that infects your spirit, mind and body. “Poor me, poor me; pour me another drink, pour me another bad relationship, pour me another mess.” For many people, resentment is the leading cause of relapse.
Resentment not only hurts us, it hurts others as well. Hurt people really do hurt people. When I first started recovery and looked at my life and saw the hurt I caused, when I opened up to that hurt, it brought me to my knees. A life of resentment infected everyone around me and I was to blame.
And worst of all, resentment not only hurt those around me, it hurt my relationship with God. Why? Resentment is a form of un-forgiveness and when we live in un-forgiveness it affects our relationship with God. In fact Jesus said if we do not forgive our brother, God will not forgive us. (Matthew 6:14-15) Ouch!
The second recovery theme involves solution. Once we have opened up through the first three steps of Celebrate Recovery (CR) we come to Step 4: “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” I love this step, not because it’s easy (it surely is not that), but because it leads to freedom from the chains of self-enslavement. CR is a safe place to “speak out the bitterness of my soul.” I liken the fourth step to spilling the beans, if you will. We open up every nook and cranny of our lives and lay it all out before God; we come clean, we let out our secrets to trusted sponsors and accountability partners.
Some may read this and say, “Are you kidding me? I would never do that.” I know, because I once said the same thing. And you would be right—we can’t take a fearless and moral inventory on our own. We need Grace—the amazing grace that comes from our loving and forgiving God.
People come to CR through many doors—some are court ordered, most come out of desperation, some come to help others, some come because they are curious, some come from secular recovery to experience Jesus in the 12 steps, and some come because of fear. Early in my recovery a dear old friend in AA told me: “Honey, fear will get you into recovery but it won’t keep you in recovery.” How true her statement is. It doesn’t really matter what brings us to recovery, what matters is what we discover and experience in recovery. In CR we discover that everyone is broken in some way and everyone needs a savior. Our savior is Jesus and he shows us the way, our sins are forgiven, and we are made new.
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Have a great God filled week,
Dana
Celebrate Recovery/Crossroads Calendar
July 26-August 1, 2010
Tuesday: Open share groups from 7-8 pm. Men meet in room 138, women in room 141.
Friday: Large Group Meeting:
- We kick off the night at 6pm with BBQ. Bring a friend, bring the family and enjoy good food and fellowship.
- Join us at 7pm for great worship, followed by Celebration Night. We will be celebrating God’s miracles in our lives. If you have a birthday coming up, share it with us—we love birthdays!
- Share groups at 8pm
- Solid Rock Café at 9pm.
New Women’s 12-step group forming now; we will plan to kick it off on August 25th. Get your name on the sign-up list by attending the Friday night meeting.
Special Announcement: Crossroads CR is looking for people to help carry the recovery message to South Africa in October. For more information, please contact Dana.
Crossroads Church is a host site for the Global Leadership Summit on August 5-6. It’s a great leadership conference, one from which I have gained much. In fact it’s where I first heard of the pastor/author Timothy Keller whose works have been very enlightening to me and to many others. I encourage you to attend!