Hello sweet friends! I sure hope the last couple of weeks have been good for you all. They have been interesting as always for me and that’s a good thing for you folks that take the time to read this blog and follow me. As always God has shown up and shone out!
If you are recovering from any abuse, trauma, codependency, or substance please find a group of folks that you can relate with and recover together. We have a wonderful program at Redemption Church called Celebrate Recovery and it’s amazing. We meet every Monday night at 7:00 pm. I’m privileged and honored to be the women’s codependency leader and we have a great group of volunteers that are in place to give you much love and support. Last Monday night was truly amazing. We had a huge night of worship, speaker, baptism, and chip celebration ceremony. We had several take their first chip, which is the blue chip and several who celebrated many years of recovery. We also had someone accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our speaker for the evening was Amy Easterwood Young, she has allowed God to use her story of abuse and recovery to touch others and help many with the same addictions and recovery. The one thing that touched my heart was her statement, “When you look for God; you will find Him.” Well, that statement made me think all week about my past and how blessed I’ve been to see God’s hand in every single situation good or bad in my life. I truly think that even if you are in the ditch or valley and you see God’s hand in it that in the worst of times as long as you know He is with you there is beauty in that moment. In some of the worst moments I can see where God pulled me out and rescued my stupid self or that I can see where at that moment there was a clarity of direction that He was moving me to. I also know that there were times after that rescue He was shaking His head at me for going back to my abuser. Yeah, that happened a lot. But God! He did continue to rescue me and kept my baby boy safe. I felt God the moment I told my best friend at the time that I couldn’t live this way anymore and we devised a plan to leave while my abuser was at work. I say all that to say that if we truly want to find God in the past or future He is there!
During last week, as I thought of all the times God had been there, He showed up in a situation that I had been livid over. I had been disrespected and was truly hurt. God showed me that I can’t stop people from disrespecting me, but I don’t have to tolerate it either. Respect, and respecting others is one of my boundaries I’ve held to, and this moment God simply showed me that, their behavior, attitude, choices, and disrespect is all on that other person not me. I did do what was right even after I had in the heated moment disrespected them, I apologized for that behavior. Although that reaction to my disrespected boundary was a valid one, I should not have retaliated with the same behavior. Again, God was in that moment and showed me that retaliation was absorbing pain from others and by not absorbing the pain and allowing Him to work I was standing up for myself and boundary with Him by my side. For me there is so much healing in looking for God in every single moment from past to present and in my future. We have a wonderful future that’s bright and even in the midst of hard moments in healing we have a God that doesn’t leave us or forsake us when we stumble or fall. There is a future in your healing, one that allows you to thrive. I’m a God loving, thriving, and happier than I’ve ever been living one day at a time person now. I truly can’t wait to see where God leads me in this healing and thriving journey.
I’m so grateful for you on this healing journey with me! I pray that you have many blessings until the next time.