Celebrate Recovery, is a Christ Centered 12 Step Recovery Program for everyone who is dealing with a hurt, habit, or hang up. Celebrate Recovery is for anyone with the courage to be honest about life's hurts, habits and hang-ups and is willing to open their life to healing and change.
We believe in walking through the pain of this life together as we follow Christ, not telling people how or where they should walk. We are all still recovering from hurt and pain, our current or past addictions are no longer hidden but are now front and center, and you will probably easily identify the hang-ups in each of us. However, you will also identify the most authentic, transparent, genuine, and compassionate people anywhere. Thankfully, our identity is not found in our weaknesses or struggles, but is found in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Celebrate Recovery is a recovery ministry based on biblical principles with a goal to let God work through us in providing His healing power. This allows people to be "changed" spiritually by working through sound biblical principles. Participants open the door by sharing their experiences, strengths, and hopes with one another. In addition, they become willing to accept God's grace and forgiveness in solving life's problems. Celebrate Recovery provides a safe place for individuals to begin their journey of breaking out of bondage and into God's grace by helping them to start dealing with their life's hurts, hang-ups, and habits.
HURTS:
The feeling of being hurt is an emotional reaction to another person's behavior or to a disturbing situation (abuse, abandonment, codependency, divorce, relationship issues, grief, distress, etc.).
HABITS:
A habit is an addiction to someone or something (alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, sex, shopping, smoking, etc.)
HANG UPS:
Hang-ups are negative mental attitudes that are used to cope with people or an adversity (anger, depression, fear, or unforgiveness).
Stepping out of Denial and being open/honest about your hurts/habits/hangups is the first principal covered in Celebrate Recovery. For me saying out loud for the first time who I was and what I was struggling with was one of the hardest things for me to do. Mainly because I had kept my addictions and my hurts/hangups a secret for so long that I was afraid of what other may think of me. But over the past 10 months or so I have come to a place where my past and my addictions no longer define me, now I can say as a way of introduction in a CR meeting (with gratitude to God for bringing me from where I was to where I am today), Hi, my name is Judy, I'm a grateful believer in Christ, who is recovering from prescription drug/alcohol addiction (19 months sobriety on 8/3/2013)and currently dealing with anger/resentment stemming from childhood/sexual abuse. I'm not proud of my addictions or my hurts/hangups but I'm learning that through them and seeing my need for Christ to bring me out of them I am a better person today because of it. May I never get to a point that I place myself on a pedestal and forget from where it is that God has brought me. No longer are there "those people" in my life, because I AM ONE OF "THOSE PEOPLE", and if the truth be told we all at one time or another have been "those people".
I'm at a point in my recovery that I'm learning to let go of some of the hurts/hang ups that led to a lifelong battle with the "bad habits"; and I'm finding other "good habits" to replace the "bad habits". Recovery is a lifelong process, a daily surrender of self to God because without Him I couldn't do it, nor would I want to!
If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about Celebrate Recovery, you are more than welcome to join us on Friday evenings at SonRise Church, 8136 Wooster Pike, Cincinnati, OH 45227 (just outside of Mariemont). Dinner is served at 6 pm, Large Group/Worship is at 7 pm, Small Groups at 7:45 pm and please feel free to stay and join us for fellowship and dessert at Solid Rock Cafe beginning at 8:30 pm. We meet every Friday night, 52 weeks a year!
And to answer the question at the beginning of this blog - all you have to do is show up and want to be part of Celebrate Recovery!
