What does recovery look like? And why do we celebrate it?

A gentleman by the name of Geoff Brown interviewed me for his podcast Kingdom Culture Conversations and the topic of discussion for Part One & Part Two was about Celebrate Recovery. I listened to both of the 2-part episodes after it was released and thought to myself, “How many people are wondering why I gave a testimony—a deeply personal testimony—for all to hear? I mean, really, I was supposed to be promoting a Christ-focused recovery group, but instead I shared more about myself.” If you haven’t heard it, or have no clue what I’m talking about, give it a listen below.

I wrote a post called You Don’t Know Me. It helps to answer why I want everyone to get to know me—and in turn, come to know more about what Celebrate Recovery is all about. Because that’s how recovery works. How can I ever expect someone else to share if I’m not willing to share personal things about myself? Aren’t we all tired of talking about the weather? How can anyone be vulnerable in front of me if I can’t be vulnerable in front of them? I need to be the first one willing to lower my defenses and take off whatever mask I’m wearing. I need to be open and honest and share my struggles. It’ll look like I went from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye because it was in a single blink that my own life was changed from darkness to light. What’s it like talking to a blind man who can now see? It’s a lot like talking to me—and it has nothing to do with the weather. I get excited to share with everyone the things I never saw before.

“Aren’t we all tired of talking about the weather? […] What’s it like talking to a blind man who can now see? It’s a lot like talking to me—and it has nothing to do with the weather.

I want people to get to know me and I want to get to know them. I don’t want to be an unfamiliar face in a room full of faces. Instead, I want to be that guy who someone recognizes in a crowded room and keeps calling over to me until I look their way—so over time, I can start to recognize them too. I want to be that person’s brother. And as they get to know me better, we will start to have a connection, a bond, a relationship—and we will naturally become accountable to each other. During this time of connecting, I’ll be sharing with that person everything I know about my big brother Jesus, since he’s such a huge part of my life. I’ll talk about Jesus so much, that if anyone didn’t already know him, they’d want to meet him by now.

WHAT DOES RECOVERY LOOK LIKE?

Recovery is fellowship with like-minded people. There is a shared commonality that produces a thread of similarity—an understanding that even unrelated histories can share more likenesses than differences. We are a band of brothers and sisters because we have been in the same war. We might have been in different battlefields, but we are all fighting against the horrors of sin. We are all battle tested soldiers who have seen combat up close and personal.

“We might have been in different battlefields, but we are all fighting against the horrors of sin.“

Again, why did I feel the need to share my own salvation testimony on a Kingdom Culture Conversations podcast before getting into what Celebrate Recovery is all about? Because sharing testimonies is what Celebrate Recovery is all about. They don’t always have to be salvation testimonies. A person can testify to what happened to them during the week. Each person becomes their own best witness to the successes they experience in their daily life—which, in turn, leads to giving praise to God for how things turned out. That same person can also be their own best witness to the daily struggles they experience in life—which, in turn, can lead to a plea for guidance and help in overcoming the sinful behavior that binds them to this world. That guidance and help is found through Jesus Christ. He bears the burdens that we cannot bear ourselves. Just as a load-bearing wall carries much of the weight of a structure, Jesus is our load-bearing wall and keeps each of us—whom God considers to be temples (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)—from tumbling down due to the enormous weight of sin and the daily pushing and pulling of temptations from all sides.

“sharing testimonies is what Celebrate Recovery is all about.“

RECOVERY FROM WHAT?

You know what I’ve noticed? Recovery is not something people like to talk about. It indicates that somewhere in someone’s life they have fallen. We all have this natural desire to hide our failures from others. Adam did it with God. It could be shame or it could be guilt, but there should be no shame after proclaiming Jesus as Lord (2 Timothy 1:8). Shame is what makes us be quiet (Psalm 31:17). Salvation is what makes us shout out to save others from the same pitfalls we have previously fallen into (Psalm 95:1). Although we are all guilty of sin (Romans 3:10, 23) there should be no guilt we have to bear when we are justified to God our Father (Romans 8:1).

The enemy—who is Satan—is always after us, tripping us up, and causing us to stumble. Eventually, we all fall. We need to stop fearing it and start mastering how to get back up. We need to start seeing where it happened, and walk more carefully. Sometimes people will say they need to avoid the location where they fell—never again to revisit that part of their life or that struggle that seemed overwhelming. Sometimes that’s a good approach. Other times I say, walk all over that location—knowing we will never fall that way again—because we’ve learned from the last time and Jesus is our strength. With Celebrate Recovery, we have a band of brothers in our recovery group that will come alongside each one of us and live life with us. We have become accountable to one another. We all help each other to look out for the next fall, the next stumble, and the next struggle. We are constantly being hunted by Satan. I’m tired of being the prey. Our shepherd—Jesus Christ—might be a lamb, but he’s also a lion. He protects us because he knows us and we are safe because we know him. Through his strength, we can stop being hunted by Satan. Let’s shoot back with fellowship with one another and reading scripture and praying for one another and then let’s throw overripe fruits of the Spirit right on Satan’s head and watch it splatter.

“We all fall. We need to stop fearing it and start mastering how to get back up.“

Are there consequences to making bad decisions in life? Of course there are. The consequences of our decisions don’t go away when we choose to walk the straight and narrow path of recovery. We are recovering from a sinful life. Choosing to repent of our sinful ways does not erase the hurts and the hang-ups and the habits we spent a lifetime struggling with. Sometimes they’re still there—but now, with the help of Christ in our lives, they’re easier to identify in the light. The light doesn’t just cause us to see what was hidden in darkness—the light is the truth that keeps us from denying our struggles. It makes us honest—and honest people claim victory over all lies, every time. We can rebuild after the wake of a storm. We can’t rebuild if we hide in our bunkers, too fearful to see if the storm has even passed. God is all about restoration. He promises restoration (Job 42:10, Jeremiah 30:17) and I believe that promise because I am proof of that promise.

“Choosing to repent of our sinful ways does not erase the hurts and the hang-ups and the habits we spent a lifetime struggling with.“

When we become Christians, then we’ve become justified in the eyes of God the Father. That means we have accepted through faith that Jesus Christ is our Lord and our Savior, and we have invited him into our hearts so that we now have a circumcised heart (Deuteronomy 30:6)—a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). He dwells within us as the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 3:16) and now we know we must turn from our sinful ways through his power. That’s called repentance (Luke 5:31-32). Repentance from our sins does not occur overnight for many of us. Perhaps we have the desire to turn away from our sins, but we just don’t have the self-control—which is a fruit of the spirit. As that fruit grows, we need to nourish it with fellowship, discipleship, the reading of scripture, prayer, and through serving others.

WHY DO WE CELEBRATE OUR RECOVERY?

We celebrate our recovery because we are celebrating repentance, which brings us closer to God. So, we’re actually celebrating our closeness to God, if you think of it that way. We’re celebrating our freedom from the bondage of this world. We’re celebrating the greatest freedom fighter this world has ever seen: Jesus Christ—the Son of God who fought for us because of his great love for us.

I think the absolute coolest thing in the world is knowing that God has forgiven me for all the sinful, selfish things I have done in my life. There is nothing more amazing than receiving forgiveness by my Father in heaven and knowing that he loves me. He exampled for me a love I never knew before. Now I must forgive myself—and after that, I must forgive others. Forgiven people forgive others. Forgiveness is when life begins. Truly. The entire purpose of 4given.me is for me and others to be able to share how God has worked in our lives through the lens of a circumcised heart. A new heart. A loving heart.

“We’re celebrating the greatest freedom fighter this world has ever seen: Jesus Christ—the Son of God who fought for us because of his great love for us.“

If anybody walks into a Celebrate Recovery meeting anywhere in the world and doesn’t know who Jesus is, that’s okay. I once heard someone say they believe in God because the devil is real. I say good. If that’s what it takes, then that’s being real, and that’s all we ask. We all start somewhere. Plus, there is the free dinner. I forgot to mention that. Every Celebrate Recovery—so far as I know—starts with a pre-meeting dinner, so show up hungry. What a great way to start a celebration!