Helping the Wounded Find Freedom:
Moving Beyond Hurts, Hang-Ups, and Habits
to Experience Help, Hope, and Healing
HELP
Life is hard! Some grow up under very difficult circumstances while others never grow up! There’s cynicism, disrespect, neglect, abandonment, and/or abuse. Pain becomes so unbearable it leads to difficult relationships, loss of hope, and inadequate coping mechanisms. These struggles at CR, are better described as the 3H’s that form a progression.
- Hurts from the past that affect the present. If we don’t walk through them with Jesus, we develop
- Hang-ups or false mindsets that feed you lies about yourself and others leading to
- Habits that harm you and others.
Everyone needs repentance, reconciliation, healing, and recovery in order to live our lives the way God intended. CR benefits any and all who struggle.
Many people hear “recovery” and say CR is just for “those people” addicted to drugs and alcohol. But the reality is, these habits are only one issue addressed by CR. The fact is, only a third of CR participants deal with drugs and alcohol.
Like this participant, they come for a variety of reasons.
“Before attending CR, I had the perfect life: perfect career, perfect home, perfect financial picture, perfect performance – and perfect walls to keep the tears in and the people out! I came to CR out of desperation to escape the perfect prison I had built for myself.”
Anger, military service issues, church hurts, trauma from racism, social injustice, family dysfunction, childhood pain, and how hurt people hurt people are just a few more struggles. Different CR initiatives further describe their depth and breadth.
HOPE
When things get difficult and life gets complicated the focus of our struggle goes to what has been lost. Doubt debilitates beliefs and worries destroy them. Finding hope through vulnerability, transparency, and surrender to Christ, CR then becomes the place where we are anchored in hope!
Hope is also about knowing you are not alone. There are now 35,000 CR churches worldwide. Now that’s a big Forever family! Now is the time to experience the love of Christ and CR’s unconditional acceptance. This culminates with the words; “Welcome Home!” CR is a home for those walking through any trial, trauma, or tragedy as a shelter in the storm. It’s finally feeling safe enough to share whatever is on our minds.
The purpose of CR is – through prayer and the Word – to build relationships and surrender and accept God’s grace in solving life’s problems. It’s finding freedom, peace, serenity, joy, and most importantly, a stronger personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
HEALING
Hopefully, friends and family can be reached in the face of difficult situations for encouragement, prayer, and a listening ear. However, depending on the situation, they may not be able (or want) to offer the support you need. That’s why CR exists. Who can better understand your situation than someone who has walked through a similar situation?
The CR steps are not a process, it is a lifestyle that’ll take you on a journey to not only know the Word of God but become doers of it. You too can experience the benefits of CR and help bring those messages to others. Hear this testimony:
“I now no longer consider myself a victim of my past or stained by the worst things I’ve done or believed about myself, and I accept the full truth that I am a beloved child of God and a new creation in Christ,”
Are you ready to begin your recovery journey?
If so, check out CR at 6:30 PM every Wednesday at GRC. Begin your journey toward growth and healing in a safe loving community. The hardest (but most rewarding) step is the first one – walking through the doors for the first time. Come as you are and leave forever changed.
Werner Tretner is the Director of Celebrate Recovery at GRC.