SonRise Celebrate Recovery

05/21/2026

Hello CR Friend,
I hope you have been doing well since last week!

The storms that rolled through here were devastating to some and left others untouched. I am praying that everyone was safe during this time.
I'm sure some of us enjoyed the rolling thunder and listening to the rain while others were taking cover. But we have to remember we cannot control nature and other parts of life, so we have to come to terms with the reality of it and accept it. This is much like what we need to do to begin and continue our recovery from our hurts, habits and hangups.

Recovery is a process. It is not instantaneous, and it comes with moments of both inspiration and perspiration. God has His role in our recovery, but we have to cooperate with God as He leads us in order for our recovery to work for us. A huge part of this process involves transforming our minds. Paul says in Romans 12:2, " ...be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Transformation is an ongoing process. All of the CR 12 Steps and 8 Principles of recovery are Biblical based and define for us this transformation process. We are inspired to yield to these steps to begin and to continue our recovery, and this involves engaging in the process, i.e., we must do what the Steps and Principles suggest. Doing what these Steps and Principles offer is not always easy and it requires a bit of "perspiration". Paul says in Philippians 4:8-9 to "think about" and to "put into practice" those virtues that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, "and the God of peace will be with you." So, even if our part in the transformation/recovery process involves some "sweat equity", we do not invest on our own strength. God strengthens us and guides us in our efforts. But it is so human like for us when the going gets tough, and/or when competing desires interfere, for us to give in to Satan's influence and as a result we default to our old, ineffective ways of attempting to control and overcome our hurts, habits and hangups. In so doing we fail to "...press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (Philippians 3:12) But don't be discouraged no matter how many times this might have happened to us or may happen to us! Remember, recovery is a process. God is always ready to pick us up, dust us off, and in His love, forgiveness and acceptance of us, to encourage and support our renewed dependence on Him for our recovery! Any time we fall short, we must reach out to our Higher Power Jesus Christ, and to our CR family for support and never, ever give up!

05/14/2026

Hello CR Friend!

Looking forward to seeing you this Thursday!

I was recently reviewing a book I read some time ago (Search for Significance), and I was reminded of a favorite deception of Satan's. Satan would have us believe that Self Worth = Performance + Others' Opinions. Essentially this means that we base our security and value on how well we perform and what people think of us. This can create within us, fear of failure and fear of rejection. To reduce these fears, we attempt to perform to an "acceptable" level so that we can be "acceptable" to others. This can keep us trapped in an endless cycle of performing to gain a sense of self-worth. When it comes to God, our performance and the opinion of others do not contribute to our salvation. And if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior performance and the opinion of others are not necessary, and they can be obstacles to a fruitful relationship with God. Once we are saved, we are forgiven of all our sins, and our value and self-worth are made perfect. If we continue to seek value and self-worth in any other manner than by God's grace, we are substituting God's best for an inferior and ineffective method. because we are fully accepted by God, the one whose acceptance matters most!

04/30/2026

Hello CR Friend!

Looking forward to seeing you this Thursday!

I don't know about you, but I don't like difficulties, especially very trying ones. I admit when the most challenging problems arise, I am quick to ask God to remove the problem or to help me escape asap! But immediate relief in such forms seem to never occur. Relief is more of a process for me.

Recently I was reminded of scripture that I found helpful in difficult times: The scripture is 2 Corinthians 3-4, which reads, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." As I understand it, Paul was experiencing a problem so excruciating that he thought he was going to die. He was at a point where he had no way out and the only thing, he could do was to trust God for the outcome. This reminds me of a time recently when I felt similarly (I don't believe death was imminent, but it "felt" like it.) During this time, I felt God was taking me to a deeper level of faith and trust in Him, much as I believe Paul might have been experiencing. An interpretation of this scripture shared that the "comfort" we receive in a trial is realizing we can trust a God who is so powerful that He can raise someone from the dead, and this powerful God is present with us in our trouble. Surely such a God can take care of us, and we can trust Him for the outcome, no matter what it is. When we get through the problem, we realize we have "experienced" the presence, power and trustworthiness of God and we are drawn into a more intimate relationship with Him. Then as the verse says, we can comfort others with the comfort we have received. I don't say going through very difficult trials is easy, but I believe any problem we go through, if we set our minds, with the help of one another, on trusting in our powerful God, we will ultimately be blessed, and so will others with whom we have the privilege of sharing what God has done for us. I also believe the realization of blessings resulting from our trials can encourage us as we face difficulties ahead.

04/23/2026

Hello CR Friend,
I hope you have been doing well since last week!

One of the "fruits of the Spirit" is Self-Control (Galatians 5:23). One way our degree of Self Control can be evidenced is when we are confronted with a disagreeable situation. What our belief system (what we have come to believe about ourselves and the world around us) tells us about the situation will determine whether we'll choose to react or respond, and we do have a choice. Here is what Henry Cloud, co-author of the book Boundaries, has to say about exercising choices in disagreeable situations.

"If you find yourself wanting to react, take a moment to examine your boundaries. Someone who is able to get a rise out of you by doing or saying something is in control of you, and it puts you in a defensive position. It says that your boundaries aren't well-defined, or they've been lost.

But when you think about what it means to respond, you maintain the control. If you start to feel yourself wanting to react, take a step back. (I Bill Larkey like to say, "hit the pause button.") Give yourself a moment to think, feel, and reflect. Be curious about what you're feeling and why. What comes up for you? From there, regain control of yourself so the opposing person can't put you in a position to do or say something you didn't intend to.

When you have a good sense of your boundaries, you're able to choose the best option, because it's your choice whether or not you respond or react. If you keep your boundaries, those who are trying to provoke you will have to learn self-control for the first time, instead of "other control"

04/16/2026

Hello CR Friend!

Looking forward to seeing you this Thursday!

I wonder if we sometimes find ourselves attempting to live the Christian life by trying really hard to always do the "right thing". But trying to do the right thing implies we are attempting to live the Christian life of our own power. However, operating on our own power is doomed from the start because it is impossible for us to live a Christian life through our own effort. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...." The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God...." The person we were before we accepted Christ has died, and now Christ lives in us; therefore, by faith we allow Christ to live His life through us. We step aside and let Jesus take over and direct our lives. So, living the Christian life is not a matter of striving to do right, but it is a matter of surrendering to Christ and trusting in Jesus as He lives His life in and through us.

04/09/2026

Hello CR Friend,

I hope you are having a great week
I have been thinking recently about our journey through life and about doors that open and close along the way. I believe this happens to us all; I know it happens to me. I believe that a God who loves us is constantly seeking us. I feel He will allow us to experience the opening and closing of doors, or any other type of circumstance, that will lead us to a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, and once that relationship is established, He then will use the same method to help develop us into the likeness of Christ, which I understand is God’s ultimate goal for us. I believe the circumstances He arranges for us to experience are specifically designed for us based on our individual needs so we will be able to achieve those two goals. So, when we experience doors that close on us, it is a good idea in my opinion to pray to see the experience through God’s eyes and come to understand God’s purpose in it for us, for I believe if one door closes another door will open. After all, God promises He has a plan for us that is “not to harm” us, but it is designed to “prosper” us, to give us “hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). He has also promised that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). Also, we can trust that He “will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31;6). So again, I believe that if one door closes it will be wise for us to seek God’s purpose in it for us, because as I heard one pastor say recently, we don’t want to get stuck on the door that closed and miss the blessing God has for us in a new door that opens.

02/12/2026

02/12/2026

Hello CR Friend,

I hope you are having a great week
John Ortberg says in his book, The Me I Want to BE, "The way we live will inevitably be a reflection of the way we think. True change always begins in our mind." I believe this means that how we think influences how we feel which in turn influences our decisions and actions. It means that negative thinking can lead to negative feelings and then to negative behavioral choices. The reverse is equally true of thinking positive thoughts - positive thoughts lead to positive feelings and positive choices. If we aren't living the fulfilled lives Christ wants us to live it might be due to faulty thinking patterns (thoughts not based on truth). Paul says in Romans 12:2, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will". (NIV) How do we transform our minds from negative (unwholesome, untrue, etc.) thoughts to those that are positive? I believe Philippians 4:8-9 has the answer. "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." (NIV). The transformation of our minds takes place by replacing faulty, untrue thoughts with wholesome thoughts based on truth, such as those just mentioned in Philippians. This transformation is a process and not a single event. I think words that indicate key principles behind the transformation process are "think about" and "practice". I believe to benefit from this better way of thinking we need to continuously expose our minds to Godly truths that lead to feelings, decisions and actions in accordance with God's will ("His good, pleasing and perfect will.") I believe we can experience continuous exposure to God's truths which lead to a transformed mind by attending Celebrate Recovery. So, if you believe you are stuck in "stinkin' thinkin'", you don't have to be! Come to CR where people with various hurts, habits and hangups are living out the process of achieving transformed minds!

01/22/2026

Hello CR Friend!

Looking forward to seeing you this Thursday!
I'll share something that you probably already know, but if you are like me, I find myself often needing to be reminded of some basic understanding that is worth remembering. This is because I do forget things, or at least I lose focus at times.

Our first three steps lead us to a point where we are ready to "...make a decision to turn our lives and wills over to the care of God." I believe to come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ as our Higher Power and to turn our lives over to the care of God involves a foundational trust in God based upon God's love for us. It's hard to trust God if we don't believe He genuinely loves us. We may have gained misconceptions about God due to bad parenting or other bad experiences in life, or we may feel we have "blown it" so much that we can't fully accept that God loves us. But God is not the imperfect parent because His character is love. Also, God loves us unconditionally based on His character, not based on our performance. God knows our struggles and He cares about us in our struggles. "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.", Psalm 34:18 (NIV) " To me one of the greatest assurances of God's unconditional love is evidenced in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (NIV) As I said, you probably already know this. But I believe circumstances can cause us to occasionally lose sight of this Truth. We may in trust turn our lives over to the care of God but under some sort of pressure we sometimes we may tend to want take control back. I believe to maintain our trust in God it is necessary to consistently hold God's love for us captive in our minds and hearts and to love Him in return. Then we can trust Him more genuinely, and I believe this will release God's power in us so that we will thrive in according to His plan for us.

12/18/2025

Hello CR Friend,

I hope all is well with you!
Our 8 Principles and 12 Steps of Recovery indicate that recovery begins when we realize we are powerless to control our tendency to do the wrong thing based on our addictions and compulsive behaviors and that our lives have become unmanageable. These and the remaining Principles and Steps reveal the healing power available to us through our Higher Power, Jesus Christ. I wonder if we sometimes hinder our own recovery by stumbling over two obstacles that keep us from fully opening ourselves up to Christ's healing power. These stumbling blocks are shame and guilt. We may feel we have done such bad things and have failed so much that we don't deserve Christ's love and forgiveness. While much can be said about this subject, I'm reminded of Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (NIV) What a blessing! This says to me that we don't have to clean up our act before we turn to Christ! Any hesitation caused by our believing it's necessary to clean up our act before we reach out to Christ only prolongs our pain and suffering! Celebrate Recovery offers the opportunity to come just as you are, to shed shame and guilt and to join in with acceptance from others who are on a journey to experience the freedom that Christ wants for each of us.