Mental Health/Emotions

I was Drowning

To tell what CIR has meant to me is to tell a story of survival – a life saved – spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

I do not consider it a mere coincidence or stroke of luck as to how I came to find Christians in Recovery. I have no doubts whatsoever that God led me directly to this wonderful place. I was literally losing my life, drowning in a sea of addictions, SSA, depression, and drugs… all the effects of past sexual abuse.

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I was Close to Hell, Then Jesus Set Me Free

When Jesus saved me I was close to hell
The devil had me in a deep dark well
Yes I found Jesus or did He find me
It doesn’t matter, He set me free

Now the road I’m walkin’ ain’t all up hill
As I try to follow my saviors will
yes I found Jesus or did He find me
It doesn’t matter, He set me free

He guides my footsteps He leads the way
and I will follow come what may
Yes I found Jesus or did He find me
It doesn’t matter, He set me free

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God Worked Powerfully in My Life

In the late sixties, long before I committed to follow the Lord, God delivered me from an intense IV Meth addiction. There were no withdrawal symptoms of any kind, I simply stopped.

In the mid-seventies, I lived in a hippie-type community in Pennsylvania. I smoked as many packs of cigarettes a day as I could get my hands on. Filtered or non-filtered, it didn’t matter. When I ran out of cigarettes, I rolled my own with Blue Bugler, the cheapest package tobacco you could by at that time. I looked physically fit, but every morning, I woke up congested with phlegm and I could not walk up a flight of stairs without stopping several times to catch my breath.

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Living a Double Standard

My feelings of guilt and shame towards a same-sex attraction began at an early age. I experienced frequent sexual abuse from an older male friend during most of my teen years, and hustling for money soon followed.

Years later, I was baptized in a Mennonite Brethren church as a public declaration that I would follow Christ. My secret desire was that maybe now my attraction and sexual fantasies towards men would disappear. They didn’t, and the fantasies soon turned into years of acting out behaviours.

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Christian Guidance and Counseling

CLICK HERE IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS Database of Christian Recovery Ministries, Groups, Counselors and Meetings Biblical Counseling Referrals for Christian counselors: Christian Counseling Associations can recommend counselors. The following ministries provide guidance: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Guidance Dept. Toll Free Phone: 877-247-2426 Focus on the Family Toll Free Phone: 800-232-6459) American Family Radio Christian

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Breaking Habits

Part 1 Breaking Habits | Part 2 Tapping into the Unknown | Part 3 Breaking Habits and Sin | Part 4 God’s Love | Part 5 Scary Secrets | Part 6 Are You Ready?

You would be surprised at the number of people who have broken the chain of crippling habits by turning their life over to God.

There is only one higher power and that is God. One person relates:
"When I got up from my knees, I was a different person. He delivered me from alcohol, nail-biting, bad language, fear, and probably things I don’t even know about. It wasn’t as if I said to myself, ‘Well, I have had this talk with God, so now I have to clean up my act’. I could not have done that on my own. All of it was just GONE. I thought, oh, there really is a God, and I’m probably the only person this has ever happened to. (I am still amazed at thinking those thoughts.)”

This is just the beginning. Unfortunately some of us suffer multiple addictions that leave us scarred for life. It reminds me of the story I once heard about an individual that was asked to hammer a nail into a piece of lumber each time he sinned, for one year. Needless to say that peace of lumber was full of hard driven nails. He was then asked to pull each one of those nails out of that board. When he finished those the board was scared and pitted. The sadness of it was that it left vivid reminders of the destruction left by those nails/sins.

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Forgiveness of Yourself

You are not a failure. You are a Christian in recovery who failed. Satan wants you to forget what you have accomplished so far and to focus on a few moments of inappropriate behavior. Jesus wants you to focus on Him!

“I am in a Bible study and I feel I should give up this privelege.”

No way! That is Satan talking to you again. Stay in the Word.
Pray and commune with God. Ask for forgiveness and then accept His grace and mercy.

  • Ask the LORD to forgive and cleanse you of your error.
    Isaiah 1:18
    Come now, let us reason together,"
    says the LORD.
    "Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
    though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.

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Serenity is on the Horizon

The following is dedicated to all of you who have worried in the past, to all of you who are presently worrying, and to those of you who will possibly be worrying in the future.

Everyone worries about something on a daily basis. No matter how small the problem may appear, constant worry can drain our lives of joy day after day. And there is not one of us who doesn’t desire to replace it with peace of mind. The question is, “How do we find serenity and integrate it into our lives?”

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Peace in Times of Trouble

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come.

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