Seventeen years ago, I had a radical encounter with Jesus on the bathroom floor of my apartment after an overdose that forever changed the trajectory of my life. I was familiar with Jesus, but I saw him as more of a get-out-of-hell-free card. He was not Lord of my life. After that night, I knew that I needed to not only take him seriously, but I needed to take my walk of faith seriously.
Unfortunately, that led me down a path of legalism and checklists, and I looked more like a Pharisee than I did a disciple. It actually had me to a point in my life where I had deep church wounds that went unhealed for such a long time that I almost walked away from the faith—but God intervened and brought me back.
I found myself bringing my family to Northwest, looking for a really good church to get us plugged into a body of believers, because I knew that that’s something that we needed and it was something I wanted for my kids. And then I saw that they had a Celebrate Recovery program. I started attending about a year ago, and through Celebrate Recovery, God has done a tremendous work in my life—and through me as well, because it has rippled out to those around me.
I am no longer easily angered like I used to be. I don’t feel like I have to control everything because of my flesh. The only good that is in me is God, and the work that he’s done through this program in my life has brought restoration to relationships with my parents and my brother. I’ve seen marriages restored. I've seen people come back to the faith. I’ve seen people accept Jesus for the first time ever.
All of us are wounded, and we need Jesus—and that’s exactly what Celebrate Recovery has brought to my life.
Curious about Celebrate Recovery? Find out what it is and when we meet.
