It is a Monday night at 9 PM and I am sitting here all alone after our weekly Celebrate Life meeting and the presence of the Holy Spirit is so heavy on me that I can not leave. The room is empty now but just moments before we locked the door behind the last of one of our largest groups in this space that we have had. It isn't about the numbers but what God is doing in the lives of each individual person and that we are privileged to be on their journeys.
See my husband and I have struggled for 25 of our 39 years of marriage with about every sin that you can name and hurtful devestating situations such as the death of an infant son, addictions, codependency, marital problems etc. As we have sought Jesus and surrendered our lives completely to Him, He has taken what satan meant for evil and turned it for good.
Now God has us running our own recovery ministry along with other ministries out of our nonprofit (www.gapministriespa.com). It will be 10 years this September 2024 since we started Celebrate Recovery which has now transitioned to our own program by Holy Spirit's direction called Celebrate Life.
One of the most healing things that you can do when in recovery is help some one else. That is what God allows us to do through Celebrate Life. Being real and transparent with people makes all the difference in the world to them in their recoveries. For them to know what someone else has gone through and see the hope, healing and happiness that Jesus brings is a game changer for them.
I can't even put into words what happened just in this one evening. We anointed a couple who are having extreme health issues personally and in their family, announced what our focus for the year is, people taking chips for a variety of different months of sobriety and taking the first chip to start their journey, one of our participants who has completed the 12 steps asking me to become a leader, oh and 5 guests from another church came to observe because they want to start a recovery program and much, much more.
As I finally made my way to the parking lot and got in my car, the song by Tasha Layton, "Look What You've Done" came on and I could not leave the parking lot without fully worshipping God. I burst out into tears realizing what he has done in mine and my husband's life and now the lives of all the people who have come to our ministry.
Listen to the song. It exemplifies what the recovery process is. We're for anyone that has a struggle, suffering or sorrow. There is Victory in Jesus!
This is what living an ABUNDANT LIFE AT FULL DRAW means!!!
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