Last night was the first meeting of Vineyard ReCovery in 2016. It was a time where we looked back over the past year and was given an opportunity to set the focus and direction for this coming year. Seth Barber spoke from II Samuel 12 and the story of David's mourning for the child born to Bathsheba. David was fasting and praying for the child but the child died. Upon receiving word of the death, David got up, cleaned himself up, changed clothes, went to the Tabernacle to worship, and then back to the palace to eat. His advisers found David attitude to be strange, but when asked about it, David told them that he had done what he could, it was time to move on in life.
Seth used this analogy to point to our need to move on in our personal recovery. It is so easy to lay near the things of death that keep us in our addiction. It is so easy to have a pity party about our lot in life and not see the larger freedom that God wants to give us. Life is about finding direction and purpose in God, and moving on daily away from the people, places, and things that were truly death to us.
There is a term that I use for those things that only keep us in the darkness of addiction. Radical Amputation....
If I have a leg or arm that is infected and shows signs of gangrene...I must amputate it or it will spread and eventually bring about my death. Such is the same if you are trying to move forward in your recovery. There are people that you will need to radically remover yourself from because their presence will only draw you back into the old life. There are places you will need to cut out of your life because if you frequent them, you will be drawn back into your old life. And there are things that you have possessed that are associated with you old way of life that will need to be removed.
Of course, all this "Removal" of people, places and things can be a bit depressing, and you are left feeling empty and abandoned. You will even reason to yourself, "What's the use in going on..I'll never have any fun again!". Don't allow yourself to slide into that place of pity because of what you perceive yourself to be giving up. Ask God to show you what you are going to get in return. You see, it has been my experience that when you surrender something to God, He replaces it with something much better than what you had. If you give up people, then the ones God puts back into your life will be true friends and not just "using buddies". If you give up places that you use to go to, He will lead you into "Greener Pastures" and places where you can flourish and grow in this new life you've been given.
So as we move deeper into 2016, take a moment and look at your life.
"Are you better off than you were at this time last year in 2015?
"Are you still struggling with the same old stuff....going to Celebrate Recovery getting that introductory Blue chip. You look around and you've never moved beyond the blue chip. If that is what you are seeing and feeling...it's time to find the truth and dig your heels in. Make that determination to turn will and life over to the care of God. Then ask God to show you the way to a meeting or a community of like minded people where you can plug in and get healthy.
Spiritually healthy....
Mentally healthy....
Physically healthy...
Healthy in your relationships...
Financially healthy....
Not a bad new years resolution.
God on you...
mb
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