The Best of Times... The Worst of Times... Post By Teri R - SLP CR Ministry Leader

Some people say that things work out for the best in time. I don’t believe this is always true. Letting go is not enough – we must let go and turn our lives over to the care of God. Things usually don't get better when left to work out on their own. When left to themselves, we have found things go from good to bad and from bad to worse. If we cast our cares to the wind, they will be blown away. But if we cast all our cares upon God, he will make things work out for the best.

We will only dare to cast our cares upon God if we have the assurance that he cares for us. We must believe God is there for us, and that he rewards those who diligently seek him, before we will look for opportunities to commit our losses and cares to him. We must learn to pray, asking God for what we need and waiting patiently for the Lord to provide for these needs on a daily basis.

Learning to let go to the care of God has many benefits. It will allow you to enjoy whatever comes your way. You will be able to rest. It takes a great deal of energy to try to play God. When you learn to let God be God, you can relax and simply enjoy worshiping him. By counting everything as loss, and having nothing left to lose, you are given the freedom to be real, to be imperfect. And by trusting God to take care of your reputation, you won’t have to control the way other people perceive you. You will be able to use all of your life, even the parts you used to ashamed of, to encourage others who struggle with the kinds of losses you have suffered. Let Go and Let God!

"This I call to mind and therefore I have hope; because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself "The Lord is my portion therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord"

- Lamentations 3:21-26

Seeing is believing - Real Testimonies

I love the 2nd Thursdays of each Month at SLP Celebrate Recovery - why? Because we get to hear what God has accomplished in other people's battles over their Hurts, Habits, and Hang-ups. VICTORY!

This month Jenna from our own SLP Free Celebrate Recovery group will share her testimony and tell us about the things she has been through and how God has given her hope and victory over her hurts, habits, or hang-ups.

These are the real life stories of real people. Are they always Roses and Teacups - no way. I have seen and heard some of the most painful things that I have ever heard of in my (relatively sheltered) life.

Life is hard - God is Good! it's not a cliche', it's truth!

When people share their battles and victories - well it's sometimes better than the best sermon's I've ever heard.

If fact God's been telling me that in the past weeks and showing me in His Word (the Bible). Right in front of me now is the verse from Isaiah 41 - my reminder each day not to let the world beat me:

Isaiah 41: 9-13 NIV 1985

"I took you from the ends of the earth,
    from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

¹¹ “All who rage against you
    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
    will be as nothing and perish.
¹² Though you search for your enemies,
    you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
    will be as nothing at all.
¹³ For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
    I will help you."

AWESOME!

It's quite a coincidence too (wink-wink, I don't believe in coincidence, but i do believe in a God-incidence!) that my devotional in Our Daily Bread today covered just this same thing - imagine that!

You can see this too at WWW.ODB.ORG

 

It's absolutely amazing how God talks through our Lives - It's humbling, it's awesome, it's because we were MADE to have fellowship with the Creator of the Universe. He loves us, He cares for us.

I pray that you'll get a chance to see this for yourself - come, join us tonight at SLP Free! The address is just to the right on this page! If not tonight - the 2nd Thursday of any month. See you there!

God Bless your day!

Dave

Transition and Transformation

Welcome! My name is Dave. I’m a grateful child of our Lord God, being led out of addictions to the Internet – pornography, gaming, and shopping, and other compulsive behavior. I’m also the new webmaster for CelebrateRecoverySLP. Wild, huh? That is the power of Christ over our hurts, habits, and hang-ups, and I’ve very grateful to serve Him, and you, in this ministry.

I love the response of Joseph to his brothers, in the book of Genesis: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20.

It’s my hope and prayer that my walk with God from these hurts, habits, and hang-ups, will become a blessing to others, as He works through me.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Transition like this; a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another. Yep, that pretty much sums up what’s been happening around Celebrate Recovery, here at the St. Louis Park Free Church. Let me tell you about it.

In July, Dean, our CR Ministry Leader, and one of the founding members of the CR-SLP group, following God’s calling for his life, pulled up stakes and moved to sunny Florida to begin Seminary on his path to becoming a Pastor. This certainly wasn’t a quick decision, but one that we watched Dean wrestle with for many months prior to his acceptance to the school. God took Dean through many trials and times to bring things around to His good and perfect plan, but He supported and supplied Dean throughout. It may have been selfish, but I was praying that he would be led to a school here in “sunny” Minnesota, but God has better plans.

Dean had things planned out to make a smooth transition of leadership in our CR Ministry here, and had been talking with a variety of us, when a number of items changed that required him to accelerate his move, to prepare things for the rest of his family to make their move. We pray for God’s greatest blessing on Dean and his family, as they follow His path.

Teri has blessed us by taking up the Ministry Leaders position and is now directing the ministry with the assistance of several other men and women. She continues the commitment to helping people find recovery from their hurts, habit, and hang-ups, through the saving power of Jesus Christ.

Our evening schedule has also taken a bit of a transition as well. We had been starting off with 30 minutes of Worship (starting at 6:30 pm on Thursdays), followed by announcements, then a lesson or a guest testimony. Through a small fluke one day, (ok, my mistake after being gone for a couple of meetings J), we did the announcements first, then went into worship and our lesson. It was great to go right from the worship into hearing God’s word through the lesson of the night, and the schedule has since stuck. Please feel free to join us at 6:30 Thursday’s at the St. Louis Park Ev. Free Church.

Unlike Transition, Transformation, is the complete change of one thing, into another. The definition is: to change in character or condition. The mission of CelebrateRecovery – SLP is to help people in their Transformation – through the power of Jesus Christ. We aren’t here to “fix” one another, but to point people to the source of strength that has already defeated the Sin and damage of our additions.

As I type this, I see the Verse from Isaiah posted on my Monitor; Isaiah 41:10

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

This is the source of our Higher Power, the strength over the addictions and Sin that drives people to admit they are not strong enough in themselves and need help. Thankfully, that’s the purpose of Celebrate Recovery.

We have monthly opportunities to hear testimonies from people from other CR groups, as well as some from our own “family”, share the path that led them to Christ and his power over their hurts, habit, and hang-ups. We often hear and see the transformation of their lives.

So many times the stories are of great distress and sorrow, of almost unbelievable depths of darkness, yet there is a strength that calls to reach out to someone, something… our Creator. The heart knows. In almost each testimony, you can hear or feel that their heart knows where to turn for help.

In His discussion with Nicodemus, Jesus said;  ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  John 3: 16-17.

This is our Hope, our Transformation.  From darkness to Light, from dead to Life, from sin to Salvation.

Philippians 3:20-21 - New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

What a great Transformation – Thank you Lord!

Come and see what Jesus Christ does in people’s lives through Celebrate Recovery.

I would like to hear from you too. What things are relevant to your life? What are you looking for in this Blog? Leave me comments on this webpage and I will do my best to share God’s truth with you. Blessings on your day!