Recovery! Does this word bring to mind people addicted to alcohol or drugs. Maybe they look different, dress different and appear down on their luck. Although many of us know the impact of drugs and alcohol abuse, is it possible other issues or struggles can be damaging as well?
What about someone neglected or abused as a child, never seemed to fit in with their peers, view pornography, have an unhealthy relationship with food or to people, get angry or maybe rage occasionally, like to control those at work, their family or friends, hold a grudge or resentment, enable others bad behavior … This is just a partial list of issues that can be damaging to the person with the struggle and the people around them.
Celebrate Recovery (CR) is a Christ centered recovery program for all kinds of struggles we refer to as hurts, habits or hangups. It includes alcohol and drug abuse and many others already mentioned. It started over 30 years ago at Saddleback Church in California and has grown to 37,000 CR groups around the world that have meetings each week. It is a peer support program with leaders and attendees making up the meetings.
CR works to cater to the entire family. Some groups offer the Landing, a recovery group for 6th grade to 18 years and Celebration Place for kids 5 years to 5th grade. CR understands the entire family is impacted when a family member struggles.
A little over two years ago a CR was launched at Capital City Christian Church and offers meetings every Tuesday with a meal at 5:45 p.m., a large group meeting at 6:30 p.m. and small group meetings at 7:30 p.m. In our CR meetings we open up about our issues during small group sharing time. We agree to keep strict confidentiality so it is a safe place to come and share. We focus on our own issues and ourselves as these are the only people we can change.
One huge aspect of CR is being open and honest. By being open and honest in our sharing time we realize we aren’t the only ones struggling and those that have achieved healing in the program demonstrate there is hope for others. You’ll build relationships and have friends that feel like family.
So who is “qualified” to come to CR? Anyone, everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in recovery for 30 years or you’ve just stopped today. Come as you are. This is a safe place for you and you’ll be welcomed by others just like you. My CR brothers know more about me than my biological family.
To find a Celebrate Recovery near you simply search for “Celebrate Recovery group locator.”
I’m a grateful believer in Jesus Christ in recovery from an addiction to pornography and I struggle placing my identity in my works and my name is Brian. Thank you for reading and I hope you’ll consider visiting us or refer a friend or family member.
