Finding Freedom Through Surrender When we accept the first principle of recovery and step out of denial into reality, a humbling truth becomes clear: there are very few things we truly control. This realization can feel frightening at first, but it is actually the beginning of freedom. Admitting our powerlessness does not mean giving up. It means stopping the exhausting attempt to control what we were never meant to manage on our own. When we acknowledge our limits, we no lon

Love often presents itself gently—through connection, care, and availability. But instead of responding to it, some people instinctively devalue  it. What was once good is suddenly minimized, criticized, or dismissed as unimportant or unsafe. Devaluation is a defense mechanism  in which a person reduces the value of something that feels emotionally threatening. Rather than risk vulnerability, they unconsciously turn something positive into something negative. This is not beca

Facing the Truth Is the First Step Toward Healing Before we can take the first step in recovery, we must first face and admit our denial. God makes it clear that we cannot heal a wound by pretending it doesn’t exist : “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.” — Jeremiah 6:14 Denial keeps us stuck. It delays healing and deepens pain. The acrostic DENIAL  helps us understand what happens when we refuse to face the truth. D — Disables Our Feelings When w

“Yield Myself to God to Bring This Good News to Others” Choice 8: The Sharing Choice — Recycling Your Pain for God’s Purpose Many people assume that God only uses the gifted, the strong, and the extraordinary. But Scripture shows us the opposite: God delights in using ordinary, imperfect, weak people. He says, “My power works best in weakness.”  When we allow others to see our honesty and vulnerability, God gets the glory. People don’t connect with our strengths—they connect

Choice 7: Maintaining Momentum – The Growth Choice Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will. Recovery doesn’t end with insight. It requires maintenance. If we don’t stay alert, we can easily drift back into old self-defeating patterns. This drift is called relapse . The Predictable Pattern of Relapse Phase 1: Complacency We get comfortable. One day we st

✨ CHOICE 4: Openly Examine and Confess My Faults “Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.” A pure heart is a free heart—a heart no longer weighed down by guilt, shame, or the secrets we’ve tried to hide. Purity isn’t perfection. It’s honesty. It’s courage. It’s the willingness to stop running from our past and finally bring everything into the light. Choice 4 is where true freedom begins. ⭐ What Guilt Does to Us Guilt slowly destroys us

🌿 Celebrate Recovery: Step 1 The First Choice — Realize I’m Not God “I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 5:3 (NIV) 💡 Introduction: Facing the Truth Part of our human nature is to resist change until our pain exceeds our fear of change. We deny, minimize, or ignore our pain until it becomes unbearable—and only then do we fin

Length:  60–90 minutes Group size:  10–15 participants Purpose:  To cultivate self-compassion, recognize courage, and affirm that being in treatment — and not giving up — is an act of strength and grace. 🕊️ Part 1: Opening Meditation (10–15 minutes) Facilitator introduction: “Today, we’re going to start by letting go of the noise around us and connecting back to truth — the truth that we are human, imperfect, and still worthy of grace.You don’t need to fix anything right no

The Road to Recovery is a Christ-centered pathway toward healing and freedom.Each principle is rooted in Jesus’ Beatitudes  (Matthew 5), showing us that true recovery begins not in self-reliance, but in surrender to God. These eight principles outline a journey from brokenness to blessing—through honesty, humility, hope, and heart transformation. 1. Realize I’m not God. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  — Matthew 5:3 I admit that I am pow