Going The Speed Limit

I have a confession to share. It's one of the many reasons I attend Celebrate Recovery and just about every week I need a new blue chip for it. Hi, my name is Gabby, I'm a grateful believer in Jesus and I struggle with impatiently driving behind old ladies in the fast lane and navigating through a school zone while running behind.

Yes, I like to pretend that I am Jeff Gordon while on the road, so sue me. Just kidding, please don't, unless I accidentally sideswiped your car, then I'm sorry. I'm only saying that when I am unable to go the speed that I WANT to go I get upset.

If the German Autobahn allows people to go as fast as they like, then why should I have to slow down? Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean best summarizes speed limits when he described the Pirate’s Code, "They're more like guidelines anyway." Daily I like to believe that I can go as fast as I please, but with the Lord and Celebrate Recovery I am reminded that sometimes I need to slow down.

I remember when I first started coming to Celebrate Recovery; I had just ended an addicting and abusive relationship and needed some guidance. Immediately I joined a step study and began to work the steps of recovery. I knew that step studies took over nine months to complete but by month two I was wondering why I wasn't "healing" and "letting go" of my past hurts sooner.

Recently I have been reflecting on the importance of having an accountability team and have found what huge role they play in my own recovery. My support team is like the speed limit signs that are found on the streets. With assistance from my sponsor and accountability partner, I was able to adapt to my own pace and make progress within my recovery.

Whenever I'm trying to speed down the recovery highway, my sponsor will pull me over and remind me that there is not a quick fix. When I am drifting away, paralyzed from fear, or just stagnant in my recovery, my accountability partner will come up and honk her horn (in a loving way, not the mean tailgating nonsense) reminding me that I need to pick up the pace. Either way, having a support team is essential for me to continue taking one step at a time.

Grateful Believer,

Gabby

Unclogged Pores

I’ve struggled with oily skin my whole life but lately I’ve felt like my face has been obnoxiously oily. Why this happens, I do not understand. I do know that on a hot day I literally have enough oil on my face to lotion my entire body. Can you say, “Not cool?” As a result, I sought help in the form of a dermatologist. He had a few recommendations for me, which I’ve felt I have been following through with pretty well.

First, he recommended that I try to drink plenty of water, at least eight cups a day minimum. On a good day, I’ll drink a whole 16oz bottle. Some days I may even drink three bottles if it has the sweet flavor packets stirred in. Flavored water is better water, just saying.

He also encouraged me to take two prescribed medications, one oral medication twice a day and one nightly face cream. Let’s just say that pill isn’t the easiest thing to swallow. For my nursing friends who understand, I only take it prn, meaning as needed, really meaning, when I remember I may choke it down. As for that face cream, it’s more like one night every two weeks I’ll rub it on.
But, for some odd reason my face just continues to oil up and I cannot get it under control!

Finally I decided to take action into my own hands and went out on a limb. I decided to try Deep Cleansing Pore Strips. They are these thin strips that a person would put over their nose, wait 10-15min for it to stiffen and then pull off. Naturally I waited about 7-8 minutes and then pulled the strip off my nose. To say it hurt was an understatement. I literally had to wipe tears from my eyes and I was left with a bright red Rudolph nose.

What was I thinking? Not to say that any of the above treatments were failures, but because of my lack to completely commit to the instruction provided to me, I’m sure I did more harm to my face than good. This situation reminds me of Principle 5, “Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask him to remove my character defects.” Too many times I have allowed myself to half commit to the necessary changes that I have needed to make in my life.

The oil reminds me of the daily temptation that I face. With my constant denial of the need to change, the more the sin, or “oil”, has the opportunity to be produced. Even when given the proper tools to deal with my struggles, sometimes I continue to do the things I know I shouldn’t do or only do what I need to do half-heartedly.

As a result, this leads to me try to deal with the issue on my own and possibly ending in tears because of my inability to fix it. God loves me for who I am, where I am and wants to help me change. However, I have to be willing to submit to every change that HE wants to make and commit to the process whole-heartedly.

The Grateful Believer,

Gabby

Change.

Who moved my cheese?!  Okay, I know we don’t do book referrals at CR…so I’m not referring it, just referencing it!  Who Moved My Cheese is a book about learning to accept change.  It’s been awhile since I have read it, but with all of the changes at our Celebrate Recovery program lately I think I need to pick it up again!

Our first change will be happening this week, we'll be moving over to the Summit for the summer months.  It's a change we make to make it easier for the church to host the over abundance of summer weddings. So, watch for that change this week! 

The second change is obviously the upcoming move of The Hobbs Family.  Micah and Tara moving is creating a huge gap!  Travis is the Ministry Director now and will be filling the gap there, but both Micah and Tara were sponsors, small group leaders, step study leaders, and a ton of other things.  It will be a challenge to replace them in all of these areas.  Not to mention maybe the most important….their friendship!

Change is often difficult to deal with.  Satan will use this opportunity to create division, and attack our personal recoveries.  I have already experienced this myself.  However, as I said, Travis is our Ministry Director and is fully capable of tackling the job.  In addition, Angi is our female Ministry leader, working together Travis and Angi compliment each other well.  One is educated and articulate and other is Angi.  I’m kidding! If you’ve ever met Angi you know that’s a joke.  But seriously, they each bring valuable talents to the TEAM.

Speaking of the TEAM, Travis and Angi aren’t alone.  They have Sheldon and Christi as Training coaches, who have an immense amount of knowledge and experience to train.  Nate and Karyn are our talented, creative Assimilation coaches, who are always thinking about ways to promote CR.

And then there is Jen and I, the Encouragement coaches.  Our main job is to sit around and smile while everyone else does the work.  You know, go with what you’re good at!

Aside from the TEAM we have several step study leaders, small group leaders, the dinner team, and several other dedicated volunteers.

Celebrate Recovery at Memorial Road will continue.  Change is scary.  But change can be good too.  The most important piece of the puzzle as we go forward is that each of us is truly working our recovery.  And don’t forget prayer!  Pray for the program, the leaders, and participants.

Use this opportunity to work your own recovery and maybe even step up in volunteer positions or leadership.  Look to see what needs to be done and pitch in!  This is an exciting time and there is a lot of work to do.

There is plenty of opportunity to complain and be negative about change, first when something happens you don’t like or agree with, I encourage you to pray and then bring it to leadership.  None of us is perfect, but if we all work together we can make this a positive experience for everyone!

To show you that change can be okay, Travis has agreed to stop shaving his head so be on the lookout for that!

Grateful believer,

Andrew