Unpacking Boxes

By Kareena Holloway, Fellowship Bible Church Celebrate Recovery TEAM Encourager Coach, 4/14/21

Have you ever felt stuck? That you are somehow defined by your past? Perhaps you’ve done things that you just feet that you can’t overcome. Do you feel like you "just can't win", or maybe you’ve been hurt by a loved one, and you just feel like you can’t get past it. Do you think that maybe you’ve put yourself in a “box?”

That might sound odd, but if you think about it that is what we all can tend to do at times. We can set up camp on the idea that we are defined by our past choices, or that we will “always be this way,” “always be an addict,” “always be a victim,” “once a ____ always a ____,” etc.


So how do we get out of this negative thought-life? 

"In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears."
Psalm 18:6

When I found myself stuck, I cried out to God for help!  Now, I can tell you from my own personal experience that I made many very bad choices prior to coming to God’s truth about who I am to Him. I was lost in relationship addiction, codependency, and control. Because of my past hurts, I had a distorted view on a lot of things. I thought I was happy in my mess until it caught up with me. When I faced the reality of the people I had hurt and the choices I had made, I was filled with guilt and shame. I had put myself in a box that was labeled “Damaged Goods,” and I had put my past abusers in a box that was labeled “Unforgiven.”

Engaging in the Celebrate Recovery ministry helped me to unpack those boxes one step at a time, bringing me to a place where I could lay down my guilt, shame, and the unforgiveness I held so tightly. By no means am I saying that I have it all together – but I am saying that I no longer have the hurt and shame holding me back. Those boxes have been long-since unpacked and broken down.

So what “boxes” are you holding on to? Is there a hurt you’ve experienced or a choice you made and you feel that you’re “stuck” with that label? That isn’t God’s plan for you!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

 I pray that as you read this, you will begin to see that God has greater plans for you to prosper and that you will have hope in His truth! Hallelujah, love has won!

Hope to see you at Celebrate Recovery!

"Sometimes it feels like it's hopeless
It's a war just to hang by a thread
Sometimes on this side of heaven
Oh, it just doesn't make sense
And that's why He gave us this family
With a promise that nothing can break
That one day we'll all be together
And the devil can't take that away
Oh, so don't be afraid
He's already conquered the grave
So sing Hallelujah love has won"

Click HERE to listen to "Love Has Won" by Citizen Way



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do we introduce ourselves?

One of the things that might confuse a newcomer coming into this great ministry is the way we introduce our self and do so every time we meet in a Step Group and/or Open discussion group. The question that often comes up is; “Why in the world would we have to introduce our self every time we come together? I mean, we all know each other don’t we? We all know what the other is struggling with right? So why should I have to state my main issue I am dealing with? These are all logical questions and I think the below content from Tina at Saddleback might help shed some light on this. As you may already know, in our small groups we ask our Leaders to introduce themselves with this statement: “Hi my name is _______; I am a believer who struggles with________.” We ask our leaders to keep it short; to stick to one or two primary areas of recovery. We ask them not to state a host of recovery issues and character defects, etc… especially because we do not run recovery specific groups for cha...
Read more

12 Days Of CR Christmas

Image
One of our great leader Monica rewrote the lyrics to this old Christmas song to tie into the 12 steps. We had a lot of fun singing it and love that it keeps the focus on the 12 steps thru Christmas. Great job Monica! On the first day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the notion it’s not about me; On the second day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the third day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fourth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my inventory, will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fifth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me On the sixth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, desire to be humble, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the ...
Read more

Guidelines are there for a reason

Anyone who has participated in a Step Study or a small group through Celebrate Recovery has heard the five small-group guidelines. They’re supposed to be read aloud before each meeting starts, just to remind everyone or to inform any newcomers. Most of the guidelines are obvious and make perfect sense on the first reading. Anonymity is vital and as people who are submitting to God as our Higher Power, we should realize that we are in no more a position to “fix” each other than we are to “fix” ourselves. There’s one guideline that puzzled and even annoyed me at first, that pesky no. 2. “There is NO cross talk. Cross talk is when two individuals engage in conversation excluding all others. Each person is free to express his or her feelings without interruptions.” At first I really didn’t understand the guideline. “Did they seriously need to tell us not to talk to each other while someone was sharing?,” was my thought. But as the guideline was explained further, I better understood. We ar...
Read more