Denial. (Celebrate Recovery)
 

Hebrews 12:1 offers a challenge none of us can afford to ignore:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

For many of us, though, past hurts, hang-ups and habits are holding us back and tripping us up. We may be stuck in a mode of bitterness over what someone else has done to us, continuing to hold on to the pain and refusing to forgive those who are responsible. In all fairness some of us have been hurt very deeply. Perhaps we were abused as a child, or maybe our spouse has committed adultery. But it's important for us to understand that holding on to that hurt and being unwilling to forgive that person who has injured us in the past only allows them to continue hurting us today. By starting to work our recovery program, we can with God's power, begin to find the courage and strength to forgive the guilty party.
To be continued...

Others of us are bound by guilt. We keep beating ourselves up over some past failure. We're trapped,stuck fast in self-reproach and shame. We reason that no one anywhere could be as bad as we are, that no one could love the real us or forgive us for the terrible things we've done. But we're wrong: For starters, God can. Jesus went to the cross for all our sins. He knows everything we've ever done or experienced. The apostle Paul harbored a lot of regret about his past. He'd ever participated in Stephens's murder. Yet in Philliippians 3:13-14 he inspires us with these words: "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

To be continued

If we want to be free from our hurts, hang-ups, and habits, we need to deal with our past bitterness and guilt once and for all. In the words of Isaiah 43:18, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past." That doesn't mean we're to ignore the past. Instead, we need to learn from our past, offer forgiveness and make amends; in doing so, we break its hold on us.

To be continued

Some of us,on the other hand, are trapped in fear of the future. We may worry about what's coming next and be afraid to change. We're naturally apprehensive about things over which we have no control. The truth is, though, that we can "say with confidence, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6)

Some of us have been entangled in our hurts, hang-ups and habits for so long that they've become intertwined with our identity. We're so accustomed to them and comfortable with them that we confuse what we've done with who we are. We may be thinking, "What will happen if I really give recovery a chance? Will I change? If I give up my old hurts, hang-ups and habits, what will I become?
Who will I be? What will be left of me?"

Continued...

We may have been abusing alcohol, prescription drugs or food. We're afraid of what we'll do without our substance of choice. We may have been enabling someone else in a dysfunction relationship for years. We wonder " What if I change and my alcoholic husband gets mad at me?" But God doesn't want us to stay frozen in an unhealthy relationship or a bad habit. He wants us to do our part in helping the relationship or habit become healthy.

To be continued

Even if our past has been extremely painful, we may still resist change and the freedom that can be found in really working our program. Because of our fear of the unknown or our feelings of despair, we choose to close our minds, reasoning that we don't deserve any better than what we have right now..

Principle One states: "Realize I'm not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable." As we begin working this principle, we need to remember 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear."

Because of Christs unconditional love, power, grace, and complete forgiveness, we don't have to let our past failures or future fears stop us from completing Principle One. Remember that we've all stumbled over a hurt, hang up, or habit. But the race isn't over yet. God isn't nearly as interested in how we start the race as he is in how we finish it