Celebrate Recovery - Part 2

This is the next entry in the DENIAL lesson, part of Principle One of the Celebrate Recovery Road to Recovery.

E - Energy Drain - Psalm 146:7-8 - "He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous."

This says that a major side effect of denial is anxiety. Anxiety causes us to waste precious energy dealing with past hurts and failures, as well as with fear of the future.

There is more discussion on this in the Celebrate Recovery Bible, which can be picked up at:

http://www.saddlebackresources.com/en-US/CELEBRATERECOVERY/Resources/Resources.htm

They say to spend at least a little time devoted to your recovery each day, which is what I am doing with these readings. Taking one day at time seems a little easier when it is broken down into individual verses.

I was able to spend some time today out in nature; I started out on a geology walk this morning at the Ocean Institute, but felt sick, so I came home. And I slept for a good 4.5 hours. I feel better, which is good - we are going to the NASCAR race tomorrow!

Stay tuned for the next reading...

Celebrate Recovery? I might once I get there...

So, tonight I went to my second Celebrate Recovery meeting. The first one was very different than the one tonight. The first one was a newcomers meeting, to introduce you to how the open share groups work. Tonight was actual sharing. Due to confidentiality, I won't say what I or anyone else shared in group. It's against the rules, and well, just in poor taste.

So, as of tonight, I am starting to work the program. They work off Eight Principles.

Principle One says: Realize I'm not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.

I have a feeling I am going to say this a lot over the next year, but if anything has hit me square in the jaw, it has to be this first Principle.

It is broken down into two questions:

Are we wearing a mask of denial?
Over what do we really have control?

First, we have to face our denial. There are six verses that follow along with the word denial, and these notes are going to share various verses that follow along with all eight Principles.

D - Disables our feelings - 2 Peter 2:19 - "They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity - for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him."

There is a discussion that goes along with this in the Celebrate Recovery Bible. If you are interested, please go to:

http://www.saddlebackresources.com/en-US/CELEBRATERECOVERY/CelebrateRecovery.htm

I will be writing these notes for me. If you are not interested, please do not read. If I've got you on the list for my blog updates and you do not want these posts, let me know and I will take you off the update list. If you are interested, feel free. I cannot say much about the program right now, than to say that I got through tonight.

Baby steps.