God is moving in CR

  By Brookelynn Harper, Fellowship Bible Church, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery's Landing Resident and Devotional Writer, 8/26/20 I was finishing up college, and the list of goals I had to achieve would take too long to spell out. I had given myself between 30 and 45 minutes each day to eat, brush my teeth, do laundry, or do anything that was not scheduled “work.” Now you might be thinking, “Wow that’s crazy!,” or you might be thinking, “Yeah, I do that already.” But what’s important is what was happening on the inside. I had convinced myself that I could do everything by my own hard work. I was going to be the best student in all my classes, the strongest in my competitive team, the most steadfast in all my commitments. I was going to be the best, because I was just that great at self-management and goal-achievement. I was successful, too. For several months, classmates and professors would say, “How are you managing it all?” or “Wow, I would be struggling if I was in your shoes,...

By Eric Hutchinson, Fellowship Bible Church, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery ministry TEAM Training coach, 8/19/20 I love idioms.  You know, a word or phrase that means something different than the actual words being used.  For instance, when you hear the phrase “burning bridges”, you probably think of doing something so bad that you can never take it back or repair the damage that has been done.  The phrase burning bridges is typically used as a warning to someone that is about to make a decision that could likely do irreparable damage to a relationship or situation.  However, the origin alludes to the military practice of the Romans who would be conquering another territory.  As they crossed the river to get to that territory the commander would order that the bridge and/or boats be burned behind them so the soldiers had to face their enemy with no retreat available.  This would motivate the men to fight with even more intensity since there was no escape back ...

 By Kareena Holloway, Fellowship Bible Church, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery ministry TEAM Encourager Coach, Devotional team co-leader, 8/12/20 I’m a grateful believer in Jesus Christ who struggles with Relationship Addiction, Codependency, and Control. My name is Kareena.  As a child, I learned to do and say what I needed to in order to win the affections of those around me. I was a chameleon, changing who I was in order to feel loved and accepted. I see clearly now that for all of those years, what I really was doing was controlling and manipulating everyone around me so that I didn't have to feel the sting of rejection or abandonment from anyone. I just wanted to feel loved , accepted and adored , so that was how I coped. Over the ten years that I've been at Celebrate Recovery, God has helped me to learn three very important truths which I can use as tools in my recovery toolbox whenever the enemy whispers the lie that I am unloved. 1: God has always loved me! ...

By Eric Hutchinson, Fellowship Bible Church, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery ministry TEAM Training coach, 8/5/20 Y ou have probably seen or heard of the Pixar movie UP .   This is an animated movie that has some memorable characters in it. One of the characters is a Golden Retriever named Dug. Dug is able to talk through a device on his collar . ( It ’s a cartoon, ok! ) Anyway, Dug talks very fast and is often distracted. He will be talking and then all of a sudden he will say, “Squirrel!” He then looks off in the distance for a few seconds before coming back to the conversation. It’s a really funny instance that happens a couple of times in the movie. I remember riding in a car with a girl from High School when our youth minister’s wife drove up next to us not realizing she had done so. I told Ginger, who was driving, that our youth minister’s wife was driving next to us. Ginger looked over and started waving insistently trying to get the other driv...