God is moving in CR

Written by Dianna Skief, Fellowship Bible Church Celebrate Recovery Devotional Team, 9/25/19 I was searching on the internet one morning for some nice GIF’s to include in a text to say “I love you” to a special someone in my life. I was surprised and horrified when some of the images that came up were very inappropriate and of explicit sexual content. I wanted to stop looking for that good, special image because what I had to wade through to find it was so dirty and made me feel dirty too! Quickly I decided it was not worth continuing the search on the internet and turned it off. This experience made me think of how God is willing to go trudging through the muck of this world to come looking for us, His treasures. He doesn’t choose to turn away, even if He finds us covered in dirt and sludge from this fallen world. He searches, and digs, until He finds what He knows is precious. Then He lifts us up and begins to slowly and carefully remove the grime from our hearts and lives...

By Sarah Bryant, Fellowship Bible Church, Celebrate Recovery Devotional Team 9/18/19 The God of glory thunders. The voice of the LORD is powerful and majestic. It breaks the cedars. It hews out flames of fire. It shakes the wilderness. It makes the deer to calve and strips the forests bare. (Psalm 29) It is mighty (Psalm 68). It’s like the sound of many waters (Ezekiel 43). It comes in a whirlwind (Job 38), from the midst of a fire (Exodus 3). It comes on the mountain tops (Exodus 19). It comes in a… fortune cookie ? OK, I don’t have a scriptural reference for that one…but today, for me, I believe it did. A few years back I’d struggled with some suicidal thinking. I seriously doubted my worth and value. I was hopeless, and exhausted. But God saw me through that in an amazing way through CR and therapy. This past year, however, has been a little rough, and recently some of these worthless and hopeless feelings have started to rear their ugly head again as I find myself working...

By Kareena Holloway, Fellowship Bible Church Rogers Celebrate Recovery Ministry TEAM Women's Encourager Coach 9/11/2019 I’ve got a big question for you.   Here it is:    Have you ever felt like you were heading towards an unknown destination with an unknown certainty?    WOW, how’s that for a starter!? A couple weeks ago, my husband and I got the joy of serving in the band for the 4 th and 5 th graders of Fellowship Bible Church, Mosaic.   We always stick around for the lesson, so I was really excited when I saw the lesson would be taught by my good friend Laura’s son, Logan.   I didn’t yet know what the lesson would be about, but once he started, I was drawn in!   As Logan taught, he talked about how God wanted Abram to pack up all of his belongings, leave everything he knew, including some of his family, and travel to an unknown destination to face an unknown certainty.   God made some amazing promises to Abram! He said, ...

By Carl Kimbro, Fellowship Bible Church, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery Devotional Team 9/4/19 “Teach my song to rise to you, when temptation comes my way. When I cannot stand I’ll fall on you, Jesus you’re my hope and stay.” (Lord I Need You by Matt Maher) “So if you think you’re standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall”. No matter how well things are going, temptation can be waiting to trip us up and send us back to the very thing that we have sought so desperately to escape. Everyone faces temptation, and giving in to that temptation can result when we let our guard down. There are two common reasons we let our guard down and risk relapse. Time & Distance from our hurts/habits/hang-ups Many years of recovery isn’t a guarantee of continued sobriety. Yes, it makes it easier to resist the temptation, but it can also be the cause of a relapse as well. The longer we have freedom from our sins, the easier it is to think we have it beat. Satan knows this too! Paul ...