Hope & Encouragement | Lacy Garcia

Hey, guys. Welcome to Celebrate Recovery, the best place to be on a Tuesday night. Amen? Amen, amen. I am so glad that you're here. Golly, is December a busy time for anybody else? Is it just me? Golly, I don't know whether I'm coming or going, but I'm going to tell you this. I'm so thankful for Tuesday nights because this is where I get to regroup, I get to be still, and the Lord gets to minister to me. Amen? Anybody feel that? We are so glad you're here. Hey, and you know what? I want to give a shout out to my girls from CR on the inside. They're right back there. I'm a little fond of them. All right, welcome also to our online community, all the correctional facilities that we stream into. We are so glad that you choose to join us. We're so glad that you're with us. All right, so really quick, I'm excited tonight. Our speaker is Lacey Garcia, so I hope y'all came expecting. I saw her down at the pavilion. I don't know if she's up here yet. Is she in the house? Oh, there she is. Hallelujah. Or else Carlos was going to have to preach. All right, so really quick, y'all know the deal, right? We're a 12-step faith-based program, so we have one higher power. Who's our higher power? Jesus. Amen, amen. Also, we respect your confidentiality and anonymity, and so that is a fancy way of saying we respect your privacy. Not all of Blount County needs to know that we go to recovery meetings, right? So can I tell you though what I've done before? I've seen someone out in the community, and I looked at them. I was like, girl, it is so good to see you outside to celebrate recovery. Yeah, I just told all her business to everybody standing near us, and she was at work. Whoops, my bad. So don't do that. Don't call anybody out. Just say, hey, it's nice to see you. So with that being said, if you don't want people to know that you're coming to celebrate recovery, we understand that, and so if anybody takes your picture, just let them know that's not cool, and we will be happy to delete that. But just so you know, if we do get a gorgeous glamour shot of you, we may post it on social media because we want all of Blount County to know what's going on within these four walls, and I say it week after week. You all are living proof that we can recover, amen? Amen. All right, so with that being said, let's go ahead and stand. Y'all ready to be about our Father's business? All right, I'm going to ask the people even in the risers to stand. Can y'all do that for us? Because we're about to pray, y'all. Come on now. This is our Father's house. Let's be respectful, y'all. I love y'all. Thank you so much. All right, so together.

Oh, there we go. So we start with whose Father? Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For that is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen, amen. Y'all are welcome to have a seat. So I'm going to invite Joseph and David to make their way down here. But real quick, y'all know that we've got Celebration Place, which is a wonderful place for our children. And back there, they're actually teaching them some coping skills, and teaching them who they are in the Lord. And so if you got little school-aged kids, please bring them. We have a place for them. As well as the landing for our youth. Any of y'all know any youths that are struggling? Bring them. We have a place for them as well. And they actually get to work the 12 steps. And then last but not least, I don't know if you heard New Year's Eve Bash. Who's ever been? Who's ever been? Show of hands. Who's ever been? Yes. So we'll start at seven o'clock. I don't know if you can read the fine print. Can y'all read that fine print? No. All right. So I'll work on that. But it does say we're going to have food, and music, and games, and cornhole, and prizes, and bingo, and our spades tournament. How many of y'all like to play just a little spades? Anybody? Oh, I know there's more of you than that because it gets rough in room D. I've been in there. Y'all slamming those cards down. But come on. We'd love to have a good time. So let's party sober. And that'll be Wednesday. So the week, the last week in December, we will have Celebrate Recovery on Tuesday. And then we'll have our New Year's Eve Bash on Wednesday. And just so you know, there will be no CR at our 411 campus. Okay? Everybody say amen so I know you heard me. All right. So with that being said, did one of y'all grab the other mic? Over there? There should be one down there. Maybe under. Stevens jacket Yeah, just start moving stuff y'all we don't judge you come on Good afternoon y'all. I'm Joseph. I found the hope David Thomas when I found him for which you believe in Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen Jesus Jesus Man, man, we're gonna read the eight principles based on the beat the beatitudes. All right, the first ones is Realize I am NOT God

I admit that I'm powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable Happy of those who know they're spiritually poor Matthew 5 and 3 I Earnestly believe that God exists that note that I matter to him and that he has the power to help me recover Happy of those who mourn but they shall be comforted Matthew 5 and 4 see Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ's care and control Happy are the me Matthew 5 and 5. Oh Openly examine and confess my faults to myself to God and to someone I trust Happy are the pure in heart Matthew 5 and 8 V Voluntarily submit to every change. God wants me to make in my life and humbly ask him to remove my character defects Happy of those whose greatest desire do what God requires? Matthew 5 and 6 He Evaluate all my relationships offer forgiveness to those who hurt who to who have hurt me and make amends for harm I've done to others except when to do so would harm them or others Happy are the merciful Peacemakers Matthew 5 and 9 Excuse me, everyone Are okay, though reserve a daily time with God Self-examination a Bible reading and prayer in order to know God and his will for my life and to gain the power to follow his will and and Yield myself to God to be used to the to bring this good news to others both by my example and by my words Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires Matthew 5 and 10. Amen Good evening, I Want to also welcome all the people that are incarcerated that are Watching right now. I actually have something to say to you

Yeah Yeah, so I felt like the Lord sent me here today to encourage y'all I have a very encouraging message I believe that But the Lord wants me to specifically encourage you I've sat exactly where you are at time and time again Probably more times than I would like to admit and you do not have to go through that revolving door anymore There is a way out and that way is Jesus and I know it probably feels like a really hopeless Situation right now, but I'm telling you that you don't have to live the life that you are living There is hope in Jesus Christ and I just want you to know that God has a plan and he has a purpose for your life and He's gonna do great things with your life. All you got to do is just give it to him. Amen Amen, and so um as I sat with the Lord yesterday I'll be honest. It was hard. I woke up yesterday Severely sick and I thought oh my gosh, what is going on? And so I had a lot of time. Thank goodness to see it and just see what was on the Lord's heart And so as I sat with him, I felt like the Lord said I want you to come and encourage my people I want you to give them some hope and so I feel like it's really important as brothers and sisters in Christ that we encourage each other Right, it's it's really easy to knock each other down or point out the flaws in each other But the truth of the matter is we all have them Right, but we are called to build each other up to lift each other up in the faith The truth of the matter is the world says you need to step on her head or his head to get to the top Right, but that's not how it is in Christ That's not how it's supposed to be the truth of the matter is is I want you to come into the kingdom of God and take your place that you are supposed to have. Everybody has a piece. Everybody has a purpose. You got a piece to the puzzle. That's how I explain it to my girls. Is the kingdom of God is like a puzzle and everybody has a piece that has to fit into the puzzle

to make the body operate like it should. And your piece is important. What you carry is important, right? And so I just need to steward my part well and you steward your part well and we'll love each other on the way. Amen? And that's what it's supposed to be. That's what we're supposed to be doing as children of God. And so I've come to tell you today, you're doing a great job. God hears you. God sees you. God loves you. And I don't know what your situation looks like. I know we've all got different situations. I have them in my life. I'm gonna tell you what, this past week, I said, Lord, I don't know what's happening, but I'm hanging on, right? I'm white knuckling it. I white knuckled it last week because it was like one thing after another, after another, but I knew that God was gonna come through for me because I have seen his faithfulness for years and years and years. And the thing about it is, is God doesn't see where I stumble or where I don't get it all the way right, right? He doesn't, that's not what he's looking for.

It's a heart posture. God sees the heart. And so tonight, as I was praying, the Lord gave me some things that I just wanna speak over you. You are an overcomer. You are more than a conqueror. And so when I hear that more than a conqueror, that means that you're gonna conquer the thing and then you're gonna go on to do more, right? He's not just gonna leave you where you are, but you're gonna conquer it and you're gonna go on and do something else. Ms. Jill Hepperly, she says, you were created to do hard things so you could go and do more hard things, right? And so we just keep walking this out. God says that you are redeemed. You are his beloved. You are created with a purpose and you are a new creation. The word says that all things are made new. And how do you get that? You get that by staying in the word, getting a relationship with Christ. God is not done with you. I don't know what your situation is or what you're facing, but I know one who does, and that's Jesus Christ. The word says in Ephesians 3.20, now to him who is able to do exceedingly,

abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. So we're not serving just a wishful God, like I'm gonna wish for this and hopefully it'll happen. No, you're serving a God that when he does something, he's gonna exceedingly, abundantly do it. He's not just gonna deliver what you need, but he's gonna over deliver what you need. He's gonna go above and beyond anything that you can imagine. I know this because once again, he has shown up in my life over and over and over again. There's been times that I honestly didn't deserve it. But do you know that it's not based on what I deserve or what I can do? It's based on how good he is and how faithful he is. It's not based on me. We have to stop looking at things in a natural perspective and look at them from a supernatural perspective. I think sometimes we look at situations or problems in our life and what we do is we let our mouth override our spirit. And so we speak to things from a natural standpoint, right? But we have to come out of that. We have to stop saying, oh, that'll never happen for me or good for her or good for him, but that's impossible for me. You gotta stop saying those things. In Mark 11, 22 through 24, it says, so Jesus answered and said to them,

have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them and you will have them. So I'm asking you, what do you say to the mountains in your life? The high places in your life, what do you say to them? Because your words matter. What you speak about your situation matters. I'm trying to encourage you tonight and build up your faith, Here's the truth of the matter. We can say all the positive things we want to in this room, but if you go out by yourself and you start saying negative things about it, you are sowing into that. Whatever you speak into that will grow. And so if you speak negatively about your situations, even though in the natural, it doesn't look like it. Maybe you're in a fight to get your children back and maybe all the odds look against you. I don't care what anybody says. You stand on the word of God and you speak out, God, I thank you for restoring my family. I thank you for restoration with my family. I thank you, God, that you're going to give me back every single thing that the enemy took from me. God, it's for me. Amen.

To win this race that we're all running, and if you've ever been around Pastor Jeremy long enough, he'll tell you. If you're running a marathon, you're going to get really tired. It's not a marathon, I'm sorry, a sprint. If you're running a sprint, you're going to get really tired. It's a marathon, right? We have to pace ourself. And so this race that we're in, negativity will want to follow you. And so you have to be very careful to not allow that. You have to be very careful to be positive about your situations. Sometimes we can make our situations worse, or sometimes we can make that mountain in front of us bigger than it really is because of what we spoke to it. But the Bible says we can't leave that part out. The other part of the scripture, it says, don't doubt in your heart, but believe. Right? And so I think, I'm sorry, I think that's one of the main tactics that they use to win this race. We will look at what the enemy does, we will look at our life situations, and we will tally up all the reasons why it can't happen. It's just natural, right? We'll look at all the reasons why this can't happen in my life, when really, we should be thanking God for all the reasons why it can. And that's because of Him. That's because you have Him on your side now, right? In our old life, yeah, nothing was going good. You know why? Because you were living for the enemy. But now you're living for God. And so we have to shift our perspective and see things from a positive light. God, I know you're going to do it. I don't know how, I don't know when, but I know you will. You can't plant seeds of doubt into your situations and expect things to happen. You have to tell yourself, God, you know, I have prayed for some things for years. But I told myself, I'm not moving, right? When you don't know what to do, you stay still.

And so that's exactly what I've done. And I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. And let me tell you, it finally happened. But it wasn't on my timing. It wasn't how I wanted it. And it wasn't how I thought it was going to happen. That God come through. And there was a lot of things through this that God told me no to. But that was his divine protection in my life. Sometimes no is not God being a mean old God saying you can't have that. Sometimes God is saying no, because guess what? I see what's up ahead. And so we have to learn to, first of all, trust God. If it's a yes, then trust him. But if it's a no, trust him too. Testimonies are an amazing thing, and that's because maybe what God, maybe what you're hoping for in your life, he's done in someone else's. And so literally what I used to do in my program when we would go and listen to testimonies, I would reach out and I'd say, God, if you've done it for her, you're going to do it for me. I would literally reach out and take that hope and apply it to my life. And that's why testimonies are so important, because here's the thing. God is no favor of person. What he does for one, he will do for you too. So tonight I've come to talk about some areas in my life that I have seen God miraculously show up in. Maybe you're saying I haven't seen God in my life. But I'm telling you, if you're sitting in this building right now and you've come from any kind of lifestyle, you know, it's like, I think sometimes we miss God in certain areas. Because realistically, the life I lived before I came to Christ, I should have been dead or I should be in prison. But I can look back now and I can see the mercy, right? Because I didn't get what I should have got. That's the mercy. of God I can see the mercy of God on my life and so we can all look back at some point and see where God has come through for us. Psalms 107 1 through 2 says,

Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, who he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. So I have come today to say so but I want to make one thing clear like I always like to start this out because I don't want the glory this is nothing that Lacey done I want to make sure that everyone here knows it is from God himself the only way that I have been able to do these things it's nothing Lacey done all I did was say yes Lord and he's done the rest and I've been faithful and obedient to what he's told me to do literally that's it I've laid down what he's told me to lay down and picked up what I'm supposed to pick up when I committed true purpose in 2018 I was pregnant man my life was a complete mess but I'll be honest I come into true purpose with a plan right because I couldn't go the doctor I mean I couldn't pass a drug test to go the doctor so I said you know what I'm gonna go in here I'm gonna first of all get my mom to get up off my back because she would not quit hounding me and so I'm gonna go in here I'm gonna stay for six months and I'm gonna have my baby clean then I'm gonna leave that's all I really need it for right and so what happened was is right once you come into true purpose I think we all come in with some sort of plan or an idea of what it's gonna look like but what happened is is I started sitting down spending time with God and so what happens is when you have a born-again experience with God you're gonna have this still small voice in your ear now that voice is gonna be saying Lacey don't do that Lacey you shouldn't do that that's not a good idea and so now we have a choice I either get to listen or I don't right I have free will and so as I sat God kept telling me I have more for you I have more for you and I was actually under people right I was under godly people that God had assigned to positions in my life that believed in me and spoke life into me when I couldn't believe in myself they saw things in me that I did not see in myself they said Lacey you're a leader I thought I've always been a follower I didn't see myself as a leader right and so as I sat and I developed a relationship with Christ I had to make the decision do I continue with my plan or do I pick up yours God and I feel

like the Lord was telling me as I was writing this is there's a lot of people just back and forth do I go with my plan do I go with your plan God and I've come to tell you today you have to go with God's because listen you know what I thought for myself I thought I'm gonna go I'm gonna be a receptionist I'm gonna work a nine-to-five job and I'm gonna come home and I'm gonna chill with my kid that was mine that was my plan for my life right which is not wrong it's not wrong but that's not what God called me to do and so therefore I could have done that and guess what I'd have probably been miserable because I was out of what God called me to do and so I'm telling you today even though it don't make sense maybe you're saying God I don't know how I'm gonna do that how in the world will I ever fulfill that who knew that I would be a program director leading women to Christ who knew that I didn't know that but God did right and so God day by day he brought pastor Jeremy miss Lindsey to sit me down and said they said we think you're the house director and I was like golly I don't right I didn't see that for myself but praise God for the godly counsel that I had above me that saw things and said Lacey I'm gonna pull that out of you you might not want to be that leader but I see it in you and I'm gonna pull that out of you if you have people in your life like that man praise God listen yes always go I didn't just take their word I went and I went to my secret place and I prayed about that and allowed God to confirm it so about three months into my program I started having some complications with my pregnancy it was pretty serious they my umbilical cord So, it would stop working. And so, there would be periods of time that cadence wouldn't get any nutrients, any air. They told me, they said, listen, what's eventually going to happen is, is it's going to stop and it's not going to cut back on. And so, we're going to have to take your baby. And so, I was going to the doctor every three days, running tests, stress tests. I, you know, I think sometimes sickness and disease puts us in a place to where we say, God, why?

Right? Why did this happen to me? But, I'm here to tell you, I want to come against that because God doesn't do that. John 10.10 says, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come to give life and life more abundantly. So, any time there's sickness or disease or killing, that's not God, right? But I think the enemy will do that to try to make us blame God, that God gets a lot of blame for stuff that ain't his fault. That's just the truth of it. But, I was in that place, because I'll be honest, I was three months into the program, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I was just getting regular thoughts back at this time, the drugs were wearing off. And so, I didn't know much to do, but I was in a position that I couldn't call my mama and have her help me, I couldn't call Paige and have her help me, right? I was in a position that I could only rely on God. And so, that pulled me so close to Him, and like I said, I'm not saying that He caused that, but that pulled me to a place that I got in my word, and I found scripture about healing every single morning. I would sit and praise and worship, I'll never forget it, I sat and I looked out the door, and I would lay hands on myself, and I would say, God, I decree and I declare that I'm going to have a healthy pregnancy, I decree and I declare that my body is healed in the name of Jesus, and I done this, and one morning, I was sitting there, and all of a sudden, this is the first time I've ever, first and only actually, heard God, like He was sitting right next to me, and He said, you remember who I am. And so, I'll hold on to that, right, that was one of those moments, I reached out and grabbed that, and I said, okay God, and when I'd let the worry and the doubt start coming in, I'd hear the Lord say that to me. Three days later, I went back to the doctor, and they went out, come back in, went out, come back in, I'm getting a little nervous now, because I don't know what's going on, and that doctor comes in there and he says, ma'am, your body looks like it's healed itself.

And I started jumping up and down, I mean, I'd have probably ran around that hospital if they wouldn't have put me in the mental institute, but I told them, but that was my opportunity, right, to tell them, God has healed my body, just like it's my opportunity to tell you right now, if you have sickness and you have disease, I know the one that can heal you, and that is Jesus Christ. There is one name that is over every single name, but here's the thing, we gotta quit coming into agreement with everything a doctor tells you. A wise, wise woman, Miss Melissa once told me, she got a bad report at the doctor, and she told me, she said, Lacey, I sat there and looked at them, I wasn't disrespectful, I wasn't rude, but I went straight out to my car, and I said, I curse every word that was spoken over me, I do not come into agreement with that, and so we gotta get to a place to where we quit saying, I have this, I have that, well now you got ownership of it, no you don't have that, you know what you have, you have the blood of the Lamb, and that is over your life, and that's the only thing you need, but we gotta come out of just saying we got this and that, stop taking ownership of it. I know the holidays are coming up, and man, I couldn't remember that first holiday, that was hard, it's like you get into recovery, and you want everything to be grand, because you're grand, right, I was in a terrible place, but now I'm getting my life together, and so I want us all to come together and play little house on the prairie like we're all just hunky dory, and it wasn't like that, right, I had ruined my family, they didn't believe a word I said, for good reasons, they didn't trust me, a lot of them saw me coming and was like, oh my, what's gonna happen now, because usually something always happens, a dispute, an argument, I fought my family, I mean it's been bad, and so honestly for about two years, it was very awkward going around them, but I've come to tell you today that the Lord has totally restored my whole family, my whole family, right, it's like They actually call me and ask me to bring something to eat. I mean, it's just amazing. Not that I really enjoy it. I usually bring KFC chicken, but they actually call and invite me. I'm on the list to bring kids a toy.

And so I say all that to say this is because I believe there's some people in here. This is probably your first Christmas going into this recovery. Maybe you don't have any family, but guess what? You got it right here. Look around. This is it right here. There's some girls that I know it's not safe for you to go back to where you're from, but that's OK, because God's going to plant people in your life and give you a new family. He will restore that. There's a lot of people also, though, that's been cut out of my life because they had to be. And I still pray for them, and some of it was my family. Some of it was my family that I used with. And I couldn't go there and I can't participate in that, but I'm firmly believing and I'm firmly praying for them that God is going to do the same work in my life and their life that he's done in my life because he can do it. So all I got to do is be that example. And so you ain't got to mingle in the mix, but you are to be the light in a dark place. Amen. Philippians 4.19 says, and this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Jesus Christ. God's not taking care of us based on what we have. It's based on what he has. And that's everything, every single thing. Really quickly, I'll tell you about, I'll tell you about, I had this lady pull up in my driveway. I've been praying for a new roof for about three years. Had this lady pull up in my driveway to drop off donations. In October, she said, what's up with your roof? And I'm like, well, termites. Anyway, we had a termite problem, got rid of that, but the roof was damaged bad. And so I'm praying, God, don't let it leak and God help me get a new roof, right?

He held up both of those deals. This lady pulled up in my driveway and said, I'm going to raise money to get you a new roof. Kid you not, two weeks later, a teacher pulls up in our driveway and says, are you raising money for your roof? I said, I am. She said, how much do you have left? I told her, she come found me after class, handed me a check for the rest of it. And so I say that, all that to say this, God held up his deal on both ends. God's going to hold up your deal too. Whatever you are praying for and searching for, whatever it is, I'm here to tell you tonight, you keep holding on. You keep looking to God. Do not lose faith. Do not lose sight of what's important. And that's Him. You put Him first and everything else will fall into place. I promise you it will. So lastly, Isaiah 41 10 says, don't be afraid for I'm with you. Don't be discouraged for I'm your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Amen. I thank y'all. Hey.