I looked up the serenity prayer online– and found the complete version! Apparently, the original version was longer, and was written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. It’s something that not only works well for people in recovery, but if you think about it...
I recently reconnected with a former supporter and ministry partner from my early days of ministry. I shared with him what I’ve been up to lately with my network of house churches, ViaCordis, and described some of our work in the recovery field. I told them how it...
When you’re discipling people who are in recovery, I’ve found that there comes a point when you have to shift gears. Once someone is well-established in recovery—not drinking or using but still wrestling with life issues—an important shift needs to happen in your...
How do you recover from the wounds received when people hurt you? Too often people—including Christian leaders—let the wounds fester until they become infected. Here’s a different strategy. Although the medicine may taste bitter, it leads to long-term healing....
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the parable of the sower. Jesus said, “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It...
A story from Adam Trambley, who has begun some work in the recovery community: “One of the interesting places I stumbled across while prayerwalking around my church during some lunch hours was a drop in center for folks with mental illness. A couple months later, I...
A woman in our church was recently baptized. She invited her family to come and witness the event. They came, even though they weren’t followers of Jesus. But they had seen the dramatic changes in her life over the past months. Having come out of a recovery program,...
Here’s my challenge to you today: Go ask a random person on the street, “If Jesus were here today, what would he be doing?” If you’re brave, you can come back and post the responses you get here on this blog. Here’s my prediction: not one person will say that Jesus...
What I have learned in my hands-on experience working with people in recovery is that they have a spiritual responsiveness that often exceeds my own. Their level of spiritual receptivity and responsiveness to God exceeds that of most believers. I’ve been surprised at...
