Thursday, July 26, 2012

Celebrate Recovery Offers a Safe Place to Share Struggles


Please welcome one of Hope Tour's charter sponsors, author Naty Matos, as our guest blogger today.

Every time someone hears the words Celebrate Recovery their mind goes to the most known addictions like alcohol, drugs or sex.  Although those life issues are addressed at this program there is so much more to it. 

Many Christians struggle with different issues and fear revealing their struggles for fear of judgment. There tends to be the erroneous conception that once you have achieved salvation the fact that you struggle with habits and hang-ups is lack of prayer or faith.  Nothing can be farther from the truth. 

Celebrate Recovery was created by Pastor Rick Warren out of his own need to recover from hang-ups himself. He’s the Pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA. He struggled with the fact that secular 12 steps were resistant to the notion of Jesus as their higher power. He found that the 8 principles to live were found in the Beatitudes and that there was basis for the 12 steps of recovery in the Scriptures. He then designed the program around that. 

Celebrate Recovery provides hope to believers that there’s a safe place where they can share their struggles without judgment.  The attendees find support from fellow Christians who are further along in the process and others that are at the same level of progress. A great sense of accountability is encouraged. We all know that we act better when we are being watched, but it’s not forced, it’s actually solicited and welcomed by the participants. 

The program allows the participants to dig deep into their pasts. They are able to share hurts that have impacted most of their lives and many times address behaviors for the first time in their lives. They finally experience the freedom of not being held back from their past. They experience acceptance, live and love without condemnation, which ultimately helps them grow in their relationship with God. 

As stated at the beginning of this article, the program addresses more than the known addictions.  Issues like divorce, grief, depression, codependency, anxiety, anger, food addiction, just to name a few, are addressed through this program. It's Bible-based and I’ve had the opportunity to see it work miracles in many lives. I’ve seen marriages being restored, parents and children improving their relationships, and broken people being healed and finding true joy for the first time. 

There are thousands of chapters of Celebrate Recovery around the world and they can be found at www.celebraterecovery.com.




About the Author: Naty Matos was born in the city of New York. She grew up in the beautiful Island of Puerto Rico and now lives in the city of Atlanta.

She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Clinical Psychology with a Minor in Mass Media Communications and a Master's Degree in Mental Health Counseling.

Naty writes Christian fiction and non-fiction. She maintains a blog on Christian Living Topics at The Rising Muse. 


The Road Home

He was finally coming. He told Desiree that once her task was complete, he would be there to pick her up. And they could finally be together forever. Desiree was finally going to be with the one she loved. But what did she need to do? And how was she going to figure out what it was?

Desiree’s life has been less than perfect.  All she wanted was to find true love. To everyone on the outside she was beautiful, fun loving, and the life of the party.  On the inside Desiree is afraid.  Her fear of rejection places her in situations that will alter her life forever and possible tear her family apart. She has the love and support of a good friend, but more importantly she has her prayers. As Desiree makes changes in her own life, she slowly realizes that her dreams are within her reach.  Journey with Desiree as she reflects on her life, through both good and bad times and discover what is really preventing her from having the ultimate dream.  True love!!!



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