The stated purpose of Celebrate Recovery is to fellowship and celebrate God’s healing power in our lives through the “8 Recovery Principles.” This experience allow us to “be changed.” By working and applying these Biblical principles, we begin to grow spiritually. We become free from our addictive, compulsive and dysfunctional behaviors. This freedom creates peace, serenity, joy and most importantly, a stronger personal relationship with God and others. As we progress through the program we discover our personal, loving and forgiving Higher Power—Jesus Christ, the only true Higher Power.

Principle 1: 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.

“Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.” (Matthew 5:3)

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”
                                                                                  (Romans 7:18)

You might saying to yourself, “I’m not really sure I need—you know…the “R” word…RECOVERY to deal with my struggle.” If that’s where you’re at, I want encourage you Celebrate Recovery is the right place for you because CR deals with a wide variety of hurts, habits and hang-ups. Every Tuesday night you will find people who are experiencing victory over sexual addiction, co-dependency, grief and loss issues, compulsive debting, gambling, lust, homosexuality, unhealthy relationships, anger, nicotine, overeating, identity and self-esteem issues, the pain of divorce, and the list goes on and on… You will also be surrounded by people how have now or in the past experienced being broken-hearted, angry, frustrated by themselves and/or others, hopelessness, helplessness and powerlessness. It will take guts to take that first step and it will also take guts to continue. But I want to let you know you’re among friends and we’ll be cheering on every step of the way.

We like to refer to our recovery as a “journey” because a journey implies that traveling to our destination will take some time and preparation.  You see, there are no quick fixes to deep-rooted problems. Recovery is a process. But I want to assure you, that if you will be patient and you are willing to trust and work the process you will experience victory, peace and joy in your life once again.

Over the next few weeks we are considering principle of confronting our denial and admitting our powerlessness over hurts, habits and hang-ups.

Denial has been defined as a false system of beliefs not based in reality; a self-protecting behavior that keeps us from honestly facing the truth. For a while, our coping mechanisms may seem to work. But left unchecked, they distort our view of the truth and how they are impacting our lives. As a result our perception of ourselves and our expectations of those around us also become distorted. Eventually, these mechanisms blossom into into full-blown denial where we no longer wish to face reality for fear we may fail if we attempt to honestly grow forward in our lives.

One way to deal with our denial is to admit we are powerless to control our tendency to do the wrong thing and that our lives have become unmanageable. As soon as we take this step, we begin our recovery journey and begin moving toward real change. As a result, we will come to see our old ways of trying to control our hurts, hang-ups, and habits don’t work. Friends, our desire for power is not rooted in our strengths but in our weaknesses. We need to realize our human weaknesses and quit trying to do it by ourselves. There really are only two types of people in this world, those who are weak and try to convince themselves and everyone else they are strong and those who are weak and are willing to admit they are weak. Finally admitting we are powerless and being wiling to turn our lives over to God is no easy task. Jesus Himself understood how difficult it would be for us when He said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

The questions that need to be asked are, “Are you ready to begin or grow deeper in your recovery journey? Are you finally ready to stop denying the pain? Are you tired of playing God and are ready to start admitting your powerlessness?” Whether you’ve been in recovery for a while or are just starting out, if you realize that you’ve been holding back, I encourage you to join us each Tuesday night as we boldly pursue recovery over our hurts, habits and hang-ups by growing closer to our one true Higher Power, Jesus Christ!

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.
Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.
Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.
Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.
Evaluate all my relationship. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.
Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.
Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.

For more information, contact Drew Chukitus at drewc@occ.org or 425.284.2512.

Child Care

6:15 – 9:15 p.m.
Newborn through 11 yrs. old
$5 for the 1st child; $3 for the 2nd child
(price includes dinner at the CR BBQ)