Recovery Thought of the Day - May 13th

Good Morning CR Family!  Please see below for today's Recovery Thought of the Day from Perry C.  Also, don't forget to sign up for this week's open share groups. We had some technical difficulties with the Men's Group last week, so if you tried to get on, I apologize.  It will be resolved this week.

Stuck

Have you ever noticed how some recovery steps are easier than others?  For me the initial steps of admitting I am powerless, turning my life and will over to the care of God, doing a moral inventory, sharing my sins with someone else, admitting my shortcomings and asking God to remove them.  Those steps were easier for me then what came next.

In steps 8 & 9 we find it’s all about the relational part of our lives and that was difficult and painful for me to face. I was okay at evaluating all my relationships and offering forgiveness to others.  But making amends was nearly impossible as was forgiving myself.  I knew God forgave me. So why bring up the past, guilt and shame by making an amend for harm I’ve done to another person?

I was used to leaving, running away and starting again, rather than working to heal my fractured relationships.  But within the safety of my first 12 step group I realized that cycle had to stop. I was caught in a pattern of dysfunction.  CR teaches us to make amends so that we don’t become stuck in our own bitterness and resentment. Because that can lead to depression and prevent us from ever being able to move forward into a future with healthier relationships.

And although I didn’t understand why it was an important step, I made some feeble attempts at amends, first with my kids and friends then others. I guess what I want to share is that sometimes when we go through the 12-steps we just need to trust the process and those supporting us.  It may not make logical sense.  But the “program works if you work it”. And I have found this to be absolutely true.  

Note: The thought of the days along with other key updates will also be posted on our facebook page (Celebrate Recovery at Crossroads Church Facebook Page) and for those without facebook, they will also be posted on the following blog site: https://crossroadscr.blogspot.com

UPDATES/REMINDERS:

1. If you are in need of prayer, please send your prayer requests to CelebrateRecoveryatCrossroads@gmail.com and we will forward those on to our celebrate recovery prayer team. The Crossroads Church Prayer team would also love to pray for you, so when you send your E-mail, please note if you are okay with us forwarding your prayer request to the church.
2. Fridays at 6:30pm, We are hosting "CR Friday Night Live."   To subscribe to our youtube channel  please click on the following link and select the subscribe button.  CR Youtube Channel Link .  There will be a song or two of worship and then a short recovery based dialog between a couple of CR members.  This will be streamed on youtube. 
3. Fridays we will be hosting on-line open share group meetings at 7:30pm.  There will be one mixed issues group for men and one mixed issues group for women. Men's Open Share Group Sign-Up Link / Women's Open Share Group Sign-Up Link.  These meetings will take place using the Zoom App.  In order to participate you will need a tablet, smart-phone or computer with camera.  In order to ensure confidentiality of these meetings everyone who participates will need to find a private room to set up, have their camera on, so others can see that there is no one else in the room and they will also need to wear a pair of headphones so that they are the only ones that can hear.  This is a free app and you can download it on google play, apple app store or through your web-browser on your computer. For help on how to join a Zoom meeting please click on the the following link, which will take you to their support web-site Zoom Set-Up Help

Blessings,
James U.