Devotional - Take Heart

alcoholism, a codependency, and I've got what I hope to be a quicker video for you today. One point and one verse, but I hope that it's gonna help. My question for you, for all of us, is what do you do when you're stuck? If you've been in recovery for a while, you know that there are times where everything just seems to be firing on all cylinders, that you just feel like you're making your meetings, you're going to group, if you're in a step study, you're answering the questions, and you're contributing to share, you're seeing the growth and the change in your life, and things feel great. Everything's clicking. You feel close to God. When you read your Bible, the words jump off the page. When you pray, you feel like you connect directly to Him. And then, if you're honest, like me, maybe you've had times where, well, you feel a little less connected. You feel a little further away from God. Maybe you go to group and you feel like the people in your circle aren't quite getting what you're saying. Or maybe you look at your step study guide, and you just, you look at it and you think, "I don't know, I've answered this question already. I don't know what to write here." Or maybe when you pray, it feels like your prayers bounce off the ceiling. When you worship, you're not connected with the songs. Maybe God feels really far away from you. And I love to say that recovery is linear, that we just keep growing, that we just keep going in the same direction. But if you've been in recovery any amount of time, you know that that's not true. And I don't want to lie to you. And I don't want to lie to me. And so, what do we do? What do we do in those moments where we're stuck? What do we do in those moments where we feel like it doesn't feel like it used to? Or that I'm not getting what I used to get or what I see other people in my circles get. And here's what I would encourage you to do. Keep going. You have to keep going. Like I said, we can't expect recovery to be this linear growth where we just get better and better and better every day. There are peaks, there's valleys, there's times where we feel like we're making change every day. We're finding victory every day. And those days, if I'm honest, can be the easier days, right? Because it feels better. But there are some days where it feels hard. And recovery and the Christian walk can be challenging. There can be painful moments,

there can be things that feel like are overwhelming. So my encouragement to you, if you feel like you're there, is to keep going. To keep moving forward. You may not be able to make incredible huge steps day after day after day. But we can each make small steps. And I think this is why things like progress over perfection is such an encouraging phrase in recovery. At least it is for me to think, oh, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. Even one day at a time, one step at a time, one moment at a time. See, sometimes you can look at a day, a 24-hour period, and you can look back, you can think, oh, that was a stinker of a day. In fact, I just had one of those yesterday. A good friend of mine who I loved dearly and his family moved. And we went to help them pack their truck, their moving van. And as we drove away, I was down. I was sad. I looked at Jenny and I said, I'm really sad. And she said, yeah, I'm sad too. I said, this was a heck of a day. It was a downer day. And as I started thinking earlier that day, we'd sat in a gym and watched my son's high school basketball team beat a team that had beat him last year. That wasn't too bad. We had a beautiful time with our son and he's a teenager and doesn't want to talk much. So having him trapped in a car means that he was forced to talk to us for something. That wasn't too bad. We ordered a pizza that night. That was delicious. That wasn't too bad. We sat and we laughed and we talked. And what I'm trying to say is because of one bad moment and a tough moment, a moment that I'm still struggling with, it was tempting to picture the whole day as a bad day. And I think sometimes when we're in recovery, we look at our days and we think, oh, this was the day I didn't grow very much because we're missing some of the smaller things. So I would encourage you to keep going. Keep showing up to group. Keep calling your accountability partners. So I promise you one verse and one point I also promised you a shorter video and probably gonna break that promise But I will stick to the one point and the one verse the one point is when you feel stuck keep going and here's the verse This is from John Chapter 16

Jesus has told his disciples all kinds of things that are going to be coming and He says that I've told you these things So that in me you may have peace in this word world you will have trouble But take heart for I've overcome The world I love this passage and this part of scripture The end of the book of John is one of my favorite parts of the Bible because it's Jesus Pouring out his heart and his love for his disciples and for us as his followers And one of the things I love is that he's telling us the truth Jesus is being kind by telling us you're gonna have hard times in this world. It wouldn't be kind to say it's gonna be easy Follow me. It's gonna be so easy guys. It's kind to say yep. There's gonna be hard times You're gonna struggle. You're gonna lose. You're gonna suffer even But that doesn't mean that you should feel defeated He says I'm telling you these things so that in me You may have peace not in your strength not in your ability not in your bank account not in your position but in your Savior You I may have peace in this world. You will have trouble, but take heart For I have overcome the world. So is today a hard day Are you in a hard season? Do you feel stuck and broken? Take heart Take heart Don't put your faith in yourself. Don't even put your faith in the program Put your faith in Jesus and ask him for the power to work the program Put your faith in Jesus and ask him to put the men and women in your path that you need So that you can find Support and guidance and help and love on this road Don't give up. I Know for some of you you're watching this you're like what a downer the sun is shining. I'm having a great day. Here's what I know a Tough day is coming right again. It's not linear There's ups and downs and side tracks and all those things

So save this video because my guess is when the within the next hundred three hundred and sixty five days You're probably gonna have a bad day or two or maybe at a time when you feel stuck or maybe you have a friend Who needs to see this if you're feeling stuck keep going? Remember John 1633 I have told you that these these things so that in me you may have peace In this world you may you will not may will have trouble But take heart. I have overcome the world. I am Praying for you. I'm here with you and for you Lean into your CR team the people around you go to your group call your accountability partners call your sponsors Reach out and ask for help, but whatever it takes keep going Take heart We'll see you next time. Bye everybody [BLANK_AUDIO]