Welcome to Celebrating Life in Recovery. 00:00:10.67\00:00:12.20 I'm Cheri your host! 00:00:12.24\00:00:13.30 A lot of people have a lot of ideas of what 00:00:13.34\00:00:15.74 the secret to recovery is. 00:00:15.78\00:00:17.21 How am I going to stay clean, how do I avoid relapse? 00:00:17.24\00:00:20.28 I think I have the secret and I have been in recovery 00:00:20.31\00:00:23.31 for a long time. 00:00:23.35\00:00:24.39 So let me share with you today come in and join us, 00:00:24.42\00:00:26.29 it's incredible! 00:00:26.33\00:00:27.46 So let's talk about the secret of recovery. 00:00:53.77\00:00:55.83 It is funny to me, because there is all kinds 00:00:55.87\00:00:57.90 of things people will tell you. 00:00:57.93\00:00:59.07 They say you know what in recovery you have got to watch 00:00:59.10\00:01:02.24 your friends, and watch what you do, 00:01:02.28\00:01:03.95 and watch what you think and all that stuff. 00:01:03.98\00:01:06.36 I found that there's more to it than that. 00:01:06.39\00:01:08.69 I want to start with there are some folks that are 00:01:08.73\00:01:12.48 staying at the ranch right now, our Ministry Center. 00:01:12.52\00:01:16.51 I met her the first time, let's say she's from New York, 00:01:16.54\00:01:19.85 because I never want to call somebody out the closet 00:01:19.88\00:01:23.15 if they are not ready to come out. 00:01:23.19\00:01:24.75 So let's say she's from New York and I met her the first time 00:01:24.79\00:01:26.60 she was 12, 11 years old. 00:01:26.64\00:01:28.89 Her father was just indicted for molestation. 00:01:28.92\00:01:31.87 He was a schoolteacher and her mother had a psychotic 00:01:31.91\00:01:34.28 break, went into the hospital for months. 00:01:34.32\00:01:36.76 Nobody told us kid anything. 00:01:36.79\00:01:38.51 I can't believe that no one said a word to this kid. 00:01:38.54\00:01:42.19 So she all of a sudden had to decide about the entire 00:01:42.23\00:01:45.61 world based on what was happening in her environment. 00:01:45.65\00:01:49.00 Both parents are gone and she is by herself. 00:01:49.04\00:01:51.85 Friends got pulled away from her. 00:01:51.89\00:01:54.54 She belong to a church, but you know all the sudden, 00:01:54.58\00:01:57.24 nobody wanted their kids playing with this kid, 00:01:57.28\00:01:59.47 because what about their parents and all the stuff 00:01:59.51\00:02:01.66 that is going on in their life? 00:02:01.70\00:02:02.87 I'm not even talking about maybe what was happening in 00:02:02.91\00:02:05.54 her home prior to that, we are not going there. 00:02:05.58\00:02:08.61 We are talking about this crisis happened, and this kid, 00:02:08.64\00:02:11.67 all the sudden has to decide about the world. 00:02:11.71\00:02:14.88 Seriously decides about the world, makes vows about 00:02:14.92\00:02:17.19 the world, whether people can be trusted or not. 00:02:17.22\00:02:19.88 Whether she is safe or not, and all that stuff. 00:02:19.92\00:02:23.16 So when she stumbles finally into her addictions, 00:02:23.20\00:02:26.41 oh and at the time she goes deaf. 00:02:26.44\00:02:29.26 No reason, and the reason I want to say no reason 00:02:29.30\00:02:35.71 is we physically are powerful. 00:02:35.74\00:02:39.03 Do you know what I mean? 00:02:39.07\00:02:40.21 I don't want to hear anything. 00:02:40.24\00:02:42.05 I don't know what the world means anymore. 00:02:42.08\00:02:44.54 I don't know what to do anymore, 00:02:44.58\00:02:46.14 so we literally shut down. 00:02:46.17\00:02:47.82 When people get sick all of a sudden, 00:02:47.85\00:02:49.45 after divorce they get sick, there's stats that are saying 00:02:49.48\00:02:51.98 that people are literally starting to die sometimes 00:02:52.02\00:02:54.48 after a divorce, after major tragedies. 00:02:54.52\00:02:56.72 and I think we shut our own 00:02:56.76\00:02:57.86 bodies down because it is that powerful. 00:02:57.89\00:03:00.42 So this kid goes into addictions goes into all that stuff. 00:03:00.46\00:03:04.54 Now I want to break from that and I want to go into what 00:03:04.57\00:03:08.26 I think some of the secrets are when you come out of that stuff. 00:03:08.29\00:03:11.94 You make vows, you go into addictions. 00:03:11.98\00:03:13.52 Let me just say about addictions, 00:03:13.55\00:03:16.53 we think we are messed up before that. 00:03:16.57\00:03:19.04 We've got all the family stuff. 00:03:19.08\00:03:21.87 You know my family are addicts and I've been molested 00:03:21.91\00:03:25.71 since I was 3 months old. 00:03:25.74\00:03:27.05 I have all that stuff. 00:03:27.08\00:03:28.32 I ended up homeless by the age of 13 years old. 00:03:28.36\00:03:30.47 So when I got into my addiction, in my addiction I thought 00:03:30.50\00:03:35.68 was the solution not a problem, know what I mean? 00:03:35.72\00:03:37.96 So I'm thinking I finally found something that is 00:03:37.99\00:03:40.20 actually going to help me. 00:03:40.24\00:03:41.37 So we fall into that kind of stuff, so all of a sudden 00:03:41.41\00:03:44.74 we start looking at recovery. 00:03:44.77\00:03:46.28 It cracks me up in recovery because I start looking 00:03:46.32\00:03:50.22 at recovery and try to figure out, let's see, 00:03:50.26\00:03:54.09 what am I going to do in recovery? 00:03:54.12\00:03:56.01 I am taking this mind, this twisted thinking. 00:03:56.05\00:04:02.06 I have gotten myself so twisted because of my pain 00:04:02.10\00:04:06.11 and my hurt and acting out in my rebellion. 00:04:06.14\00:04:09.01 Somebody else's rebellion and someone else's acting out. 00:04:09.04\00:04:12.25 I'm coming to recovery and thinking with this mind, 00:04:12.29\00:04:15.47 I'm going to figure it out. 00:04:15.50\00:04:17.74 I think all of heaven is says, oh please! 00:04:17.78\00:04:20.34 There's even a place in the Bible that says, 00:04:20.38\00:04:22.87 "don't lean on your own understanding", don't do it. 00:04:22.91\00:04:27.01 Because your understanding is tweaked. 00:04:27.04\00:04:29.63 It was tweaked from the time you were a little girl, 00:04:29.66\00:04:32.17 a little boy. 00:04:32.20\00:04:33.23 All of a sudden when you were molested the first time, 00:04:33.26\00:04:35.86 you decided something about the world and made vow's at 00:04:35.89\00:04:38.53 that time that have changed everything about you. 00:04:38.57\00:04:41.07 You come into recovery and you think you are going to 00:04:41.11\00:04:43.58 figure it out, please don't even do it. 00:04:43.61\00:04:46.20 So now we are going to talk about the secret of recovery 00:04:46.23\00:04:48.80 is to learn to communicate with the only person that 00:04:48.83\00:04:51.04 actually can figure it out for you, and that is God. 00:04:51.08\00:04:53.25 So we are going to talk about prayer. 00:04:53.29\00:04:54.71 We are going to talk about prayer, and people 00:04:54.74\00:04:57.39 it cracks me up because they did studies, 00:04:57.42\00:05:00.03 most of us don't pray. 00:05:00.06\00:05:01.28 I don't care if you been a Christian for a million 00:05:01.31\00:05:04.01 years, most of us don't pray. 00:05:04.04\00:05:06.93 We will get up and give it a few seconds, you know God 00:05:06.96\00:05:10.12 hang out with me today, thanks and that is it. 00:05:10.16\00:05:13.22 Do you know what I mean? 00:05:13.26\00:05:14.29 I don't even think for some of us we get busy and we don't 00:05:14.32\00:05:16.82 even give it that. 00:05:16.85\00:05:17.95 So we are going to talk about prayer. 00:05:17.98\00:05:19.38 We were created in the image of God, right? 00:05:19.42\00:05:24.09 In the image of God and I'm thinking, it is just not 00:05:24.12\00:05:27.38 I just don't have His nose, do you know what I mean? 00:05:27.42\00:05:30.64 So what does that mean, the image of God? 00:05:30.68\00:05:33.17 Do I look like Him, what ever? 00:05:33.21\00:05:34.78 We were created in the image of God, this is a God that 00:05:34.81\00:05:37.52 spoke the Universe into existence. 00:05:37.55\00:05:39.94 He spoke and it happened. 00:05:39.97\00:05:42.38 I'm thinking, He created me maybe when I speak 00:05:42.41\00:05:47.09 it's a big deal, when I speak vows against things. 00:05:47.13\00:05:51.74 When I decide on something and I start speaking all that 00:05:51.77\00:05:54.70 stuff into my life that is horrible. 00:05:54.74\00:05:57.05 Nobody can be trusted, I'm not worth anything. 00:05:57.08\00:05:59.81 I am nothing but a liar born to addicts. 00:05:59.84\00:06:03.50 When I speak that is a big deal, because I'm created 00:06:03.54\00:06:06.78 by God, in His image. 00:06:06.81\00:06:09.38 When He speaks things happen. 00:06:09.42\00:06:12.30 So when I speak things happen either positive or 00:06:12.33\00:06:14.80 negative and God Himself has to start teaching me that. 00:06:14.83\00:06:18.61 I believe with everything in me that the only way for 00:06:18.64\00:06:22.05 recovery, the only way for me to get from one place 00:06:22.09\00:06:25.47 in my twistedness. 00:06:25.50\00:06:27.29 Starting to untwist is to understand who God is, 00:06:27.33\00:06:31.18 and start asking Him, 00:06:31.22\00:06:32.81 God I think I've messed it up. 00:06:32.84\00:06:37.76 You know what's really funny to me is when I think we 00:06:37.79\00:06:40.90 get to that place all of heaven says, you think. 00:06:40.94\00:06:43.75 Do you know what I mean? 00:06:43.79\00:06:44.83 I just feel like it is in such love, day just think, you think! 00:06:44.86\00:06:49.79 All of a sudden we ask, that's all we have to do. 00:06:49.82\00:06:52.50 We have had addicts on this season who said the only 00:06:52.54\00:06:56.18 thing I could say to God for months was, please help me! 00:06:56.21\00:06:59.82 Please help me! 00:06:59.86\00:07:01.44 I don't even know, I don't know how to, and I have talked 00:07:01.48\00:07:06.04 about this story before. 00:07:06.08\00:07:07.28 They're sending an addict over to my Pastor's house 00:07:07.31\00:07:09.54 one time, and we have a couple pastures in the café 00:07:09.57\00:07:11.76 today, I want to say welcome. 00:07:11.80\00:07:13.23 But they sent this addict to my Pastor's house, 00:07:13.27\00:07:15.89 and this guy was angry all the time, all the time. 00:07:15.92\00:07:18.50 I'm thinking God this guy just irritates me 00:07:18.54\00:07:21.44 I can't believe that he doesn't irritate You. 00:07:21.47\00:07:24.30 God says, I love that guy, do you know what I mean? 00:07:24.33\00:07:26.94 I love him, but I sent him over to my Pastor's house. 00:07:26.98\00:07:30.01 He comes back over and says, that guy is an idiot. 00:07:30.04\00:07:32.80 I hate him and if you knew what he believed you would 00:07:32.83\00:07:35.55 not be in his church. 00:07:35.59\00:07:37.76 And you know what he says something, Cheri, what's 00:07:37.80\00:07:39.65 incredible about that, he will look at me and say, it's 00:07:39.69\00:07:42.69 in the Bible. 00:07:42.73\00:07:43.76 He said, and I grabbed him by the shirt collar 00:07:43.79\00:07:46.30 and I almost bashed his face in and then I realized, wait a 00:07:46.34\00:07:49.36 minute, this is Cheri's Pastor, she likes him. 00:07:49.39\00:07:52.38 So he decided not to hit him. 00:07:52.42\00:07:54.35 I said, what did he say to you? 00:07:54.39\00:07:56.25 What you knew the dude I accepted, Jesus, I said, yeah. 00:07:56.28\00:08:00.11 He said that dude was 3 dudes in one. 00:08:00.15\00:08:02.93 Oh Hon, sit down. 00:08:02.97\00:08:06.18 When we come to God we don't know a thing, we just don't 00:08:06.21\00:08:09.16 know thing, we don't even know what to ask. 00:08:09.20\00:08:11.08 God said, you know what sometimes the best you can do, 00:08:11.11\00:08:13.96 is just say, HELP ME! 00:08:14.00\00:08:15.18 Help me, help me to untwist, help me to understand, 00:08:15.22\00:08:18.48 help me to get out from all this kind of stuff. 00:08:18.52\00:08:21.75 God says, I will speak life into you. 00:08:21.78\00:08:24.08 I will speak in all the damage that was done to you, 00:08:24.11\00:08:28.41 I am not going to come in with a Band-Aid, 00:08:28.44\00:08:30.58 and a lot of people try to do that. 00:08:30.62\00:08:32.03 A lot of people come in and say just go to a 12-step 00:08:32.06\00:08:34.59 program, and I am not knocking 12-step programs. 00:08:34.62\00:08:37.12 Just go in and learn about self-esteem. 00:08:37.15\00:08:39.35 Just go in and start dealing with your depression. 00:08:39.39\00:08:41.57 All at stuff is good but it's like Band-Aids. 00:08:41.60\00:08:44.45 I need to change the very core of who I am. 00:08:44.49\00:08:47.30 I need to change what I think. 00:08:47.34\00:08:48.76 I need to really realize the vows I made in my life, 00:08:48.80\00:08:52.09 and be able to surrender those and give them back 00:08:52.13\00:08:55.38 to God and say, how to get away from those? 00:08:55.42\00:08:58.47 How do I realize that there is I can trust. 00:08:58.50\00:09:01.48 I can step out of hiding and I can step out of these 00:09:01.52\00:09:04.63 addictions, I can heal. 00:09:04.66\00:09:06.06 I actually can do more than that. 00:09:06.10\00:09:08.04 I'm a heroine addict in recovery, right? 00:09:08.07\00:09:10.95 When I came into my recovery I was a 100 pounds, 00:09:10.98\00:09:13.52 teeth missing and strung out on heroine, illiterate. 00:09:13.55\00:09:18.01 I stopped using heroin I was like Yahoo, look at me! 00:09:18.04\00:09:22.43 I'm a life not using heroin and I thought I wanted to tell 00:09:22.47\00:09:25.38 everybody that. 00:09:25.41\00:09:26.44 Hi my name is Cheri, I haven't used today at all. 00:09:26.47\00:09:29.36 People are like, what ever, do you know what I mean? 00:09:29.39\00:09:32.27 Most people, every addict in the room says Amen. 00:09:32.30\00:09:35.13 Because sometimes if I didn't use in the last 00:09:35.16\00:09:37.95 15 minutes, it was good. 00:09:37.99\00:09:39.44 But it was like, I was so proud of that. 00:09:39.47\00:09:41.40 God said, when you were less than 1 year old, 00:09:41.43\00:09:45.94 I was molested at 3 months old, right? 00:09:45.97\00:09:49.14 Constantly, I shouldn't say constantly, but frequently. 00:09:49.17\00:09:53.21 So before I was a 1 old I knew the world was not safe. 00:09:53.25\00:09:57.25 Before I was a 1 year old. 00:09:57.28\00:09:58.55 God and not only has to take this heroine addict, 00:09:58.58\00:10:01.40 or what ever addiction you are dealing with, 00:10:01.43\00:10:03.25 not only takes us out of that but says can I step you 00:10:03.29\00:10:06.95 out of that junk and let you feels what it feels like 00:10:06.99\00:10:11.52 to be out of hiding, to be out of all the damage. 00:10:11.56\00:10:16.02 To all the sudden look up and say, God, you know what, 00:10:16.06\00:10:19.43 I am kind of glad to be alive today. 00:10:19.46\00:10:21.98 I was suicidal my whole life and God says, 00:10:22.01\00:10:26.09 can I step you up out of that and show you that there 00:10:26.12\00:10:28.77 is going to be a time in your life that you are going to 00:10:28.81\00:10:31.42 be glad you are alive? 00:10:31.45\00:10:33.13 That you are going to contribute back to the people 00:10:33.17\00:10:35.78 around you, you are actually going to bring life to 00:10:35.81\00:10:38.39 people that are in darkness in the same place 00:10:38.42\00:10:40.96 you were in darkness. 00:10:41.00\00:10:42.03 Every molested kid, I want to will grab them and say, 00:10:42.06\00:10:44.58 you know what, there is a God that will take all 00:10:44.62\00:10:47.43 that from you and stand you up pure and holy, 00:10:47.47\00:10:50.25 in the presence of a holy God. 00:10:50.28\00:10:51.65 Where you love who you are. 00:10:51.68\00:10:52.98 Where you can stay present with the people in your life, 00:10:53.01\00:10:55.63 especially with your husband, and with your wife, 00:10:55.67\00:10:58.18 all those kind of things. 00:10:58.22\00:10:59.33 God does all that and so how do I connect with that God? 00:10:59.37\00:11:03.26 Through prayer, and we always say that and think people 00:11:03.30\00:11:07.16 will understand what we mean. 00:11:07.20\00:11:08.30 People don't understand what we mean, what is prayer? 00:11:08.34\00:11:10.94 What does that mean, and it literally is a dialogue, 00:11:10.97\00:11:13.53 conversation with God. 00:11:13.57\00:11:15.39 God, Cheri here, do you know what I mean? 00:11:15.43\00:11:18.20 I don't even know how to talk to You. 00:11:18.23\00:11:20.64 It's so funny, I worked with this addict. 00:11:20.68\00:11:23.01 You have to just imagine addicts because they are so 00:11:23.05\00:11:25.66 funny, but I worked with this addict, strung out for 00:11:25.69\00:11:28.93 ever, just out to lunch and doesn't know anything. 00:11:28.96\00:11:32.16 Doesn't even hardly, you can't trust him. 00:11:32.20\00:11:35.41 He opens his mouth and his lips are moving but he 00:11:35.45\00:11:37.39 is lying to you about something, you just know that. 00:11:37.43\00:11:39.34 He rips people off, his first conscious act, 00:11:39.37\00:11:43.86 where his conscious just peaked him and got 00:11:43.90\00:11:48.35 him to think about something. 00:11:48.39\00:11:49.46 He is in this store and trying to do recovery and picks 00:11:49.50\00:11:51.83 up some cereal, because he wants to get some cereal. 00:11:51.87\00:11:54.69 He puts it in his cart and then he goes a couple aisles 00:11:54.73\00:11:57.52 over and says, you know I don't even want cereal. 00:11:57.56\00:11:59.91 I want peanut butter, so he gets peanut butter 00:11:59.95\00:12:01.99 and puts the cereal where the peanut butter 00:12:02.03\00:12:04.00 was and puts the peanut butter in his cart and goes on. 00:12:04.04\00:12:06.36 All of a sudden he hears the Holy Spirit say, 00:12:06.40\00:12:08.59 that is not where the cereal goes. 00:12:08.63\00:12:10.35 He's like, oh shut up, what do you mean that it's 00:12:10.38\00:12:13.86 not where the cereal goes? 00:12:13.90\00:12:15.25 Cereal is 2 aisles over. 00:12:15.28\00:12:16.56 God wants to clean us up, so he is nice about that. 00:12:16.60\00:12:19.90 It's nice for you to go put the cereal 00:12:19.94\00:12:21.98 back where it belongs. 00:12:22.01\00:12:23.20 This addict is saying, last week I was ripping off 00:12:23.23\00:12:26.07 people's wallets, you know what I mean? 00:12:26.11\00:12:28.37 This cereal is no big deal, God says, 00:12:28.40\00:12:30.04 that is not where the cereal goes. 00:12:30.07\00:12:31.64 So finally after he just cannot stop thinking about 00:12:31.67\00:12:34.99 this, he goes back to the aisle, gets the cereal 00:12:35.02\00:12:37.65 and goes back 2 aisles and puts it on the shelf. 00:12:37.69\00:12:41.07 That is the connection with God, how do you get from 00:12:41.11\00:12:44.00 that place to where you are actually talking with God? 00:12:44.03\00:12:46.89 How do you do that? 00:12:46.92\00:12:47.95 How do you pray, how do you start that dialogue? 00:12:47.98\00:12:49.97 With this addict he starts, the first time 00:12:50.01\00:12:52.65 I heard him pray it was so funny. 00:12:52.69\00:12:54.38 He gets on his knees, serious and a he's a little bit 00:12:54.41\00:12:58.04 trembling, because he doesn't know what he is doing. 00:12:58.08\00:13:00.10 Cheri, what do I say? 00:13:00.13\00:13:01.68 Say anything, you know it's God and He loves you. 00:13:01.72\00:13:05.54 Alright, Cheri, I don't know how can you just pray? 00:13:05.57\00:13:09.35 No it would be good if you prayed, alright. 00:13:09.39\00:13:11.11 God bestow on me this day, and I'm thinking where 00:13:11.14\00:13:15.52 did he get that, bestow on me? 00:13:15.55\00:13:17.46 It's really tough because I wanted to just bust up, 00:13:17.50\00:13:20.44 I want to laugh out loud, but somebody is trembling 00:13:20.48\00:13:23.38 and praying for the first time you have 00:13:23.42\00:13:24.83 got to give them a break. 00:13:24.86\00:13:26.03 So I'm thinking, for a lot of us, the secret to recovery 00:13:26.06\00:13:30.90 is our starting to communicate with God. 00:13:30.93\00:13:33.28 To start to say, God help me, help me not only with 00:13:33.31\00:13:36.76 learning to pray but with my, the Bible calls them 00:13:36.80\00:13:40.22 strong holds, with the stuff that has got 00:13:40.25\00:13:42.69 me all twisted up in bondage. 00:13:42.72\00:13:44.33 With the vows that I made even sometimes before 00:13:44.37\00:13:46.40 I learned to speak, help me with all that. 00:13:46.43\00:13:48.16 But I need to learn to speak to God, and sometimes 00:13:48.19\00:13:50.64 you are going to want to get on your knees and 00:13:50.68\00:13:53.09 you will want it to be just a holy thing. 00:13:53.13\00:13:55.75 Just God I realize who you are as somebody that created 00:13:55.79\00:13:59.23 the entire Universe and created me and knows everything 00:13:59.26\00:14:02.67 about me and my family. 00:14:02.70\00:14:04.07 I want to stay in just reverence of that. 00:14:04.10\00:14:06.18 There is other times you are going to be 00:14:06.22\00:14:08.01 walking down the street and hey man, 00:14:08.05\00:14:09.78 are you hanging out, are you here with me? 00:14:09.81\00:14:12.80 It's going to be a very casual thing. 00:14:12.83\00:14:14.62 There sometimes that I have a friend that lays on the 00:14:14.65\00:14:17.66 ground and just puts her arms out and lays flat on the 00:14:17.70\00:14:20.48 ground, because she feels like she wants to do that. 00:14:20.52\00:14:23.08 So you can speak to God just like you speak to any 00:14:23.12\00:14:25.52 friend, sometimes you are going to be more serious, 00:14:25.55\00:14:27.92 sometimes you're not. 00:14:27.95\00:14:28.98 But God says however you speak to Me, don't ever 00:14:29.01\00:14:31.54 for a minute think that I don't hear you. 00:14:31.57\00:14:33.04 I hear every single thing you say in my delight is 00:14:33.08\00:14:36.14 to bring you into recovery, my delight is to help 00:14:36.18\00:14:39.14 you laugh out loud, to be comfortable in your own skin, 00:14:39.18\00:14:42.17 to be able to stand up and walk away from that junk, 00:14:42.20\00:14:45.16 not to look at the junk the rest of your life. 00:14:45.19\00:14:47.08 You don't have to stay focused on this the rest of your life. 00:14:47.12\00:14:49.77 God said I created you for incredible things, 00:14:49.80\00:14:52.03 and you don't even know the gifts you have. 00:14:52.07\00:14:54.17 I want to show you that stuff, and that's 00:14:54.20\00:14:56.27 where it gets exciting. 00:14:56.30\00:14:57.34 So stay with us, we are going to look at some of that 00:14:57.37\00:14:59.34 stuff and that is my favorite. 00:14:59.38\00:15:00.96 We will be right back! 00:15:01.00\00:15:02.08