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Q: What was the turning point in your recovery?
“Well, for me, the turning point was when I broke my two-year-old daughter’s piggy bank, literally…a little ceramic, pink piggy bank. I broke it, and she stood there and watched and cried and didn’t understand why I was breaking her piggy bank…in order for me to get the next bottle for me to drink. When I saw her standing there crying, it hit me that I had done the same thing with my father, and I didn’t want that to continue. At that moment, it hit me that I had a problem in my life with that and I was out of control, and I couldn’t change it on my own.”
Q: What is your life like now?
“My life now is completely different. I’m able to live a life where every day I experience peace in my life. I have good relationships now with my friends and my family. I have a wonderful family! That doesn’t mean it isn’t hard, because it’s one day at a time, each day that I live. But, as I live each day now, I know that Christ is for me now, and that God is not against me. Not only can I find peace in my life now, but I also get to experience JOY, which always seemed to elude me before.”
Q: How have you seen Jesus in your recovery?
“I’ve seen Jesus in my recovery through my own life. Over the 27 years of me being in recovery, there have been nights where I have found myself standing in front of a cooler at a convenience store with my hands in my pockets trying to figure out if I was going to open that cooler door and get out a bottle of beer or whatever it was that I was standing in front of or not. I usually say that Jesus helped me keep my hands in my pockets. I saw Him there in those times. I’ve also seen Him through my family now where I can share Christ with my family and through my family. And then I’ve seen Christ in the 12-step study groups that I’ve been a part of here at Covenant. In my own life, in using the Christ-centered step study approach where He has deepened my own relationship with Him and He’s deepened my understanding of what community is and how we support each other through the 12 step study groups, and I’ve seen Him through the men in those groups as well and how He’s helped them stop taking drugs. He’s given them peace in the midst of a divorce. He’s helped two men in particular I’m thinking of now who have stopped drinking now for four months, and they drank for 30-35 years before. I’m watching Jesus, and I’m seeing Him through the courage that these men have, and through the fruits of them living out these 12 steps in their lives. He’s all over the place in those groups.”
Q: What would you say to people at Covenant who might want to attend Celebrate Recovery?
“To people at Covenant, I would say, it’s not whether you’re one of those kinds of people or not; that’s not the right question to ask. The right question to ask is, ‘What am I going to do with the hurts, habits and hang-ups or addictions that I do have? Am I going to try to continue to put them under the rug, or am I going to take a step, a Christ-centered step where I step into Celebrate Recovery, anonymously, and I go get some answers and I go get some steps to be able to take to not only deepen my relationship with Jesus but also get out of this mess that I’m living in?’ I’d say to a newcomer at Covenant, thinking about coming in to Celebrate Recovery, ‘If you don’t come, you’re going to miss so much in your life because God has so much to give to you, and this is a way that He uses that I’ve seen do miracles!’”
Q: What would you say to a newcomer who’s here for the first time at Celebrate Recovery?
“I’d say to a newcomer who’s here for the first time at Celebrate Recovery, ‘I am so glad you’re here, and you are so courageous…to have walked through that door. I remember walking through a door 27 years ago and my life is completely different now, and so much better. God Bless You for coming. What courage you’ve got, now only for you but also for your family. Please continue to come. Give it a chance. God uses this in our hearts and our minds, in our lives and in our families.’”
Q: What was the turning point in your life?
“The turning point in my life was when I realized that I was dying spiritually and physically. I didn’t want to die! I finally turned my will and my life over to God.”
Q: What is your life like now?
“Today, I realize that Jesus is the one and only who can fill that void and stop that hurt. He does so by a relationship with Him each day in serving others by using the hurt that I had in helping them to recover. My life today is so much better than it was before recovery.”
Q: How have you seen Jesus in your recovery?
“I see Jesus in recovery today through other people that I’m working with and the growth that they experience through Jesus Christ and the happiness and the joy that only He can give them. I see Him in the smiles on their faces. I realize today that every day is a masterpiece that He paints as long as I take the time to look at it.”
Q: What would you tell a newcomer?
“I would tell a newcomer that they no longer have to hurt, that there is a place that they can come and get healing and that we have all been through some sort of hurt, habit or hangup…and that God uses these to not only help them but to glorify Him in helping others.”
Q: What was your life like before recovery?
“My life before recovery, my life was loveless. I was so far removed from God, from church, from all that was good that there was no love anywhere in my life. I ran and I ran, and I ran from that towards what I thought was going to provide me with what I needed. I was miserable. I was lonely. I was afraid…desperate, suicidal at times.”
Q: What is life like now?
“My life today is AWESOME! I have found the love that I was searching for through Christ. My life today is all about service. I love the fact that He will use me to benefit other people. It makes all of my struggles have meaning, and it gives me a sense of purpose. And…today, having a lot less of what I thought was so important, I am a lot more happy.”
Q: What would you say to a newcomer?
“The best thing I can say to a newcomer is the same thing that was told to me early in my recovery when I really struggled was just, ‘Don’t give up! Just don’t give up! Put your faith in God. Use all of the tools that are made available. Do the best you can for yourself. Allow God to take care of the rest, and He will restore you.”
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