My name is Cheri and today
my best friend is here from
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Australia and I want to say it's
really fun to have you here.
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I can't believe
we're in the same room.
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I know and I can't wait till you
hear her story and how God has
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led her. One of the things that
we're going to look at is the
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importance of friendship.
Come join us in the cafe.
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¤ ¤
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I want to just say welcome to
the program. A lot of times on
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this program we'll talk about
recovery stuff and we'll talk
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about what to do as far as your
next step, how to stop using,
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making sure you get some support
people around you, but not this
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time. This season we're talking
about some of the things that
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happen after you stop using.
Some of the core issues and the
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core issues of fear and shame.
I don't know about you but I had
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a lot of stuff that I would look
at and I thought I hope nobody
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ever knows that. I hope God
himself doesn't know that and
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I feel like all of heaven said
Hon, I know that and I love you.
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Today we're going to talk about
some of the healthier things;
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You know, what's really
interesting to me is somebody
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had talked about when they
do the recovery it's like they
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really look at an issues
and they stay on that and they
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pay attention to that and
God said to me one time, Pay
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attention to me, look at me
because that's where you get a
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lot of really good stuff from.
So when you pay attention to me
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I will show you who you are
outside of this junk. I will
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even live that in you as
you stand up to give you a clue
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of what that feels like. So
when you're going to focus on
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anything, focus on God. Now
years into my recovery I had
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that I have a lot of people that
I know, a lot of people that I
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meet, lot of people that I even
love, but I don't know if I let
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a lot of people really into
my life. So we're going to talk
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a little bit about that. I want
to say what got me is a story
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that I'm going to tell you, what
made it clear to me, is I was
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going to Australia one time and
I'm doing a number of things.
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I'm doing a youth event, a camp
meeting, I'm meeting people that
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are amazing and I had a day off.
My husband shows up because he's
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going to do one of the gigs with
me. So he shows up and so coming
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up to our anniversary somebody
says why don't you go to and
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I don't even know, like a
conservation park or one of
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those things where they had all
these animals and why don't you
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go and spend the day there.
I thought how fun is that going
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to be. 'Cause I don't know about
you but I've never seen a koala
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bear, I've never held a koala
bear and they said you could do
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all that kind of stuff. So I'm
excited and we show up. And on
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the way down we see that
the whole area had been kind of
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trashed. There were a lot of
storms that came through, trees
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down. You could tell that it was
a major, major storm and what I
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heard from people is there was
a major flood even with the fact
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that people had... I don't know
if there was loss of life, but
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I mean it was that kind of thing
and really intense. So I get to
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the park and there were not a
lot of tourists, which was fun
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for me because they paid a lot
of attention to us because we
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were like the only ones walking
around. So they were talking
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about that they had been closed
down for a long time, that they
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had to rebuild the park and all
that kind of stuff. So we got a
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lot of attention. I got to hold
the koala bear and play with
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the koala bear. I got to
hang out with kangaroos. It was
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really funny about. You know you
just don't see that stuff over
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here. So I got to hang out with
kangaroos and those little joeys
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that kind of pop out of their
pouch. You think they're going
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be little tiny things; they get
out and they're huge. I think
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how do you fit in there. We just
had a great time. They have a
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lot of deadly snakes, got to see
those. But my most favorite part
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was this little, not
little thing, it was this huge
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thing that looked like a big
rat and they're called wombats.
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For some of you may not even
know what that is but it's like
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a mole or a gopher but huge,
huge. So this thing came walking
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up and I thought look at you,
how cute are you. And he was
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just goofy looking and he just
had this joy in his face like
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you know what, are you looking
at me? I am looking at you and
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he just wanted to be held and
played with and all that kind of
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stuff and I was just glad to
do it; it was adorable. Picking
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them up was a little awkward
because he just huge and so one
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of the people at the park told
me a story about this wombat.
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They said that during the storm
of course there were no tourists
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that came to the park and the
park closed down. The animals
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don't come out of their areas.
They're fed and they're taken
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care of and all that kind
of stuff but you know everybody
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was just kind of panicking and
trying to deal with floods and
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all that kind of stuff and
they realized, they called this
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wombat Tonka and I'll tell
you why because I think that's
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amazing too. You know how moles
kind of tunnel their way under
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things and they can be
destructive a little bit.
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When the mole is the size of
a Mack truck it can talk a whole
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building down. These guys
are kind of destructive, so they
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call him Tonka. So anyhow Tonka
was getting sick and he lost
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like 18 pounds and he wasn't
sleeping well and when they put
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food for him he wasn't eating
and they thought oh man during
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this whole time, I bet we're
going to lose him. I don't know
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what happened. What if he
got hit with something and they
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didn't know if there was
internal bleeding. What if he
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has a cancer of some kind. They
just didn't know so they started
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taking Tonka to the doctors.
Nothing. I mean they're running
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all kinds of tests and nothing.
Pretty soon one of the young
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girls said I think he's
depressed. And they said no way.
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He's like a rat. Do rats get
depressed? And she says no, no I
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think he's depressed. So anyway
they end up deciding as a staff
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that we're going to start to
play with Tonka, pay attention,
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make sure that we don't just
drop his food off, that we go in
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and we hang out and all
those kind of things. Well Tonka
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became so happy again. He
started eating again, he started
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gaining his weight. Everything
changed. His joy came back and
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they're telling me this story
and I'm holding this thing that
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kept wanting just to snuggle
into me. I thought, you know
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what, we're like that, we're
like that. And in our recovery
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one of the things that I think
God is really clear about is
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make sure you let somebody love
you. Make sure that you start
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paying attention to the people
around you and love on someone
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else because we are made to
be social, we're made to be in
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community. Sometimes in
our addictions we really get
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isolated. I hang out with other
heroin addicts and we're nodding
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off for 12 hours and the only
thing we have in common is that
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we're going after this drug
and you may have that with your
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sexual addictions, drug
addictions, alcoholism, all that
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kind of stuff. But when you get
into a normal life look around
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and see who's there. It's going
to be risky at first but make a
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friend. I believe what God told
me is have three close friends
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and really spend time with
them. Be intentional about those
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relationships because we need
to see in someone else's eyes
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that they find joy in us, that
they love us. In the middle of
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our destruction, I talk, I could
take a building down. You know
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what when I'm PMS-ing I think
I can too. You know what I mean.
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I am not always that easy. But
you know what there are friends
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that they know that about me
and they'll look at me and say
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no worries, I love you. And I
can't even tell you how healing
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that is. For a lot of us we've
been told out whole life that
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we're not okay, nothing is okay.
Find two or three friends that
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tell you know what, you're okay
no matter what we'll get through
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this and I love you. That's one
place where God brings healing
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into your life. We're going
to take a break. I'm going to
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introduce you to my friend and
you're going to hear her story.
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But remember find three people.
It's a little bit of work but
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you can do it.
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