CIR KBs

Christians in Recovery Knowledge Base article

What’s the Hardest Thing You’ve Had to Do?

What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to do?

Have you ever wished you could gracefully get out of a situation? That’s how I felt when I arrived at my last speaking engagement.

The small church invited me to their men’s group, the sort of experience I usually anticipate and enjoy. I love the opportunity to connect and share in an intimate setting.

But that night I wanted to escape. The elevator was broken; ten imposing steps stood between me and the meeting room.

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Why Bother Helping People Who Hurt You: Puppies & Porcupines

Yesterday I asked How Do You Help An Injured Porcupine? Today I’m thinking of a different question:

Why bother?

Ever cuddle a puppy? They curl up in your lap and lick your face. Everything about a puppy is somehow warm and soft and fuzzy.

Cuddling a puppy is fun and rewarding. Puppies do cute stuff—even their mischief elicits smiles. They appreciate and respond to kindness. They trust. If you get angry they forgive.

Even non-dog-lovers have a soft spot for puppies. If hurting people were like puppies, helping them would be easy. Folks would line up for the opportunity.

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Many Mothers

by Maida Rogerson
From How to Achieve Heaven on Earth: 101 insightful essays from the world’s greatest thinkers, leaders and writers, edited by John E. Wade II

Imagine. You’ve just had your first baby. Your husband is in a new job and doesn’t have a lot of time for you. You’ve moved away from your extended family. Suddenly, there you are, you and your beautiful baby, home, alone. Your baby starts to cry, and you’re dead tired and all you want to do is cry yourself, and you have no one to turn to.

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How Do You Help An Injured Porcupine?

How do you respond when your life gets interrupted by—well—life?

This isn’t the article I planned for this morning. I’d already written something insightful and thought-provoking—a certain masterpiece (at least in my mind). All it required was a few finishing touches and it would have been here to greet even the earliest risers.

And then—life happened.

I’ll spare you most of the humiliating details. Create your own mental image if your wish from an overview involving a shower, equipment failure, and a short fall to the floor in a somewhat “compromised” position. I was hopelessly wedged into a spot I don’t even know how to describe.

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How To Escape The Roller Coaster

No matter where you are, you look around and, sure enough, there you are.

Do you spend a lot of time and energy trying to be somewhere other than here-and-now?

I’ve noticed lately that my inner life seems to be a roller coaster. Past experience tells me that the valleys will eventually outnumber the hills, and when that happens I’ll settle into a low spot. Unless I take some sort of evasive action, my natural tendency toward depression will drag me into the shadows.

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Sins Of Righteousness

What’s the ultimate sin?

I’ve always figured sin was sin, none any better or worse than others. I’ve always wondered about folks who seem to categorize sins and set themselves apart as though there’s something admirable about belonging to a better class of sinner.

If you’re a regular reader, you know that my small group is studying The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. Last night we discussed Keller’s assertion that one sin underlies all of our other sins and our righteousness—in his words, “the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord.”

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Nothing less than the LIVING Christ

He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:4

If your faith stops at the cross–it misses the blessing of the fullest revealing of Christ!

You need a Savior who not merely two thousand years ago went to death to redeem you–but one who also is alive to walk by your side in loving companionship.

You need a Savior who can hear your prayers, to whose feet you can creep in penitence when you have sinned, to whom you can call for help when the battle is going against you.

You need a Savior who is interested in all the affairs of your common life, and who can assist you in every time of need.

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Bedtime Healing Prayer

Lord Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit,
go back into my memory as I sleep.

Every hurt that has ever been done to me,
heal that hurt.

Every hurt that I have ever caused another person,
heal that hurt.

All the relationships that have been damaged in my whole life
that I am not aware of, heal those relationships.

But, Lord, if there is anything that I need to do;
If I need to go to a person because he or she is still suffering from my hand,
Bring to my awareness that person, I choose to forgive and I ask to be forgiven.

Remove whatever bitterness may be in my heart, Lord,
and fill the empty spaces with your love.

Amen.

~ Author Unknown

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