The Ultimate Stealth Lifestyle

Ta Da!
Finally got the cable/Internet back last night. I missed not being able to post here, but the time off was good also.
We are on track to start up our meeting at the Vineyard.
Saturday Night:  April 13 /  7 p.m.
Gadsden Vineyard Church is located on Broad Street, Downtown Gadsden, between 4th and 5th streets.
We will not have a nursery but bring the kids anyway.
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More news on the home front.
I will be scaling back my duties at Rapha, and concentrating on counseling and being the Staff Pastor for the men who are in the program. I will be at the Vineyard on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's, beginning April 8. So if you are any where near and want to stop by on those days, feel free. I'd love to see you.

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Psalm 32:7
You are my hiding place: You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.

What an incredible verse to someone who is trapped in the bondage of addiction.
Living under the influence of drugs/alcohol guarantees two things...
You life is filled with Guilt and Shame.

Guilt is directed toward what you have done. The lying, cheating, manipulation. The stealing, selfishness all serve as fuel for the guilt to weigh you down like a 2-ton piece of steel.

Shame is directed toward who you are as an individual. Your Mother didn't take you, as a little child, and tell you, "Honey...I want you to grow up and lie and steal from everyone you know. I won't you to grow up and be the best addict you can possibly be."

Put these two emotions together, and they become the deadly duo that drives a person to use. Someone in addiction does not know how to cope with these feelings. Since they can't, they escape from them through using. Of course, this only compounds the problem, because when the high wears off, guilt and shame are back even stronger than before.

It takes the Power of God, through the work of Christ to break this deadly cycle.
It takes a healing to the spirit, the soul and the body to bring clarity of thought and relief from this onslaught of emotional garbage.

So God, through His Holy Spirit living inside me, becomes my hiding place. A place of safety where we can rest and get ourselves healthy. More than a specific location or geographical place, this "hiding" place that God offers to us, is Himself. We, through this salvation given to us by Him, brings a connection and the start of a new way to live. It isn't a life of rules and regulations...and it isn't a life of a spiritual free-for-all. It is a life of purpose and direction that we find as we follow God in our daily lives. I don't do the things I do because I have to....I do them because I want to.

Psalm 91:1 reads:
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
When I surrender will and life over to the care of God, He covers me with His presence. He fills me with His Holy Spirit. I can't explain how it works or the dynamics of what He does. I just know that it's true and I have evidence of it in my own life. So this dwelling is me being aware of God in me and on me. Walking daily with the assurance that He has my back and will keep me and aid me in not returning back to that old lifestyle. That is what it's all about!

Good to be back...
See you tomorrow...
God on you....
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Just a note to let you know that Patrick and Amy Brown hold a recovery meeting at Gadsden Vineyard Church every Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
Check it out !