Author: lastwordrecovery

Tetelestai Recovery

A Clear View

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They arrived in Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man’s eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?”

He looked up. “I see men. They look like walking trees.” So, Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight; saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus.

Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, “Don’t enter the village.” 

Mark 8:22-26

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Like the blind man in this passage, we needed a second touch from Jesus to heal our distorted view. All we had to do was be honest and admit that our perspective was still distorted. Jesus didn’t scold the man for not having enough faith, or for being inadequate. Jesus simply asked him what was wrong and then fixed it.

At the end of the story, after the man’s vision was perfectly restored, Jesus told him to go straight home and not to go back into the village.  In our own parallel stories, we heard Jesus say, “Don’t go back into….”

We each heard a different ending to that sentence, based on our own uniquely personal experience. For all of us, it was a moment of truth. If we wanted to enjoy our total Tetelestai Recovery and be comfortable in our New Normal, we would not be able to return to that person, place, or thing which was certain to pull us back into our distortions.

Tetelestai Recovery Volume 2, Chapter Four, A Clear View https://a.co/d/49qBC5V

Tetelestai Recovery

Tetelestai

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In the original Greek language, the word for the phrase “It is finished” is Tetelestai.

I was introduced to the word Tetelestai one day when I was well into my fourth year of permanent healing from addiction.

It was during a year-long court battle which had been a residual consequence from my old life. The day I appeared in court to hear the verdict and receive my sentence, I claimed this scripture and the word Tetelestai over my case.  I was relieved by the peace it held and became willing to accept whatever God had in store for me, even if it meant a year in prison.

I prayed this scripture and acknowledged the fact that God had already redeemed me. He had made me a new creation by healing me from addiction. As I was praying that morning, God was working on the judge.  He gave the judge an insight into something that no one else had seen…

Tetelestai Recovery Volume 2, Introduction https://a.co/d/0lhAU5G

Tetelestai Recovery

The Great Exchange

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The work of Christ was miraculous and supernatural. His wholeness could not be explained or understood. What was broken became whole and what was missing began to appear. The void was no longer an empty vacuum demanding to be filled. We had living water to relieve the spiritual thirst which once drove us to the bottle. We derived pleasure and relief from the intoxication of the Holy Spirit which far exceeded the effects and duration of our former chemical concoctions.

As we received this shalom of our Savior and trusted that He refused to leave us broken or misplaced, we understood that this was what scripture defines as the gift of salvation.

We are not the broken people we once were. We need not fear that anyone will discover our inadequacies, for we have everything that we need. The proof is not always there, but the truth is. We bring our faith and our doubts to Him, and in return, He offers us shalom.

We enter a new realm of confidence in Christ. To our brokenness and emptiness, a strong clear voice declares from the cross and echoes into our void, “Tetelestai!”

Tetelestai Recovery, Chapter 6 Shalom https://a.co/d/fa0vnYg

Tetelestai Recovery

Marc’s Story

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I was born into a two-parent alcoholic home and struggled for decades with drug and alcohol dependence. I started drinking as a small child and was a daily drug user by age twelve. I was blessed with a willfully strong intellect and despite my addiction issues, went to college, started a family, and became a successful entrepreneur. By age twenty-six, my occasional, yet increasingly frequent business, relationship, and legal problems caused me to seek relief from my struggle with drugs and alcohol.

I had an intellectual concept of a spiritual energy (Higher Power) and over the next twenty-seven years, I cycled in and out of sobriety, with the assistance of 12-step recovery meetings and multiple treatment institutions. In that twenty-seven-year period I worked steps, had sponsors and sponsees, attended meetings, worked service jobs and attended counseling. Despite what some would say was a strong recovery program, I continued to relapse with multiple auto wrecks, work accidents, play injuries, DUI’s, loss of relationships, divorce, and spiritual discourse. Consequences continued to mount and got more severe. I agonized over what I was doing wrong and often asked myself, “Why can’t I seem to get it? Why can’t I stay clean and sober?”

Bouncing from program to program I became active in four different 12-step programs and had a daily ritual of meetings to attend. I continued to relapse again and again over resentments, old acquaintances, the “disease”, and the never-ending discussions and excitement about the glory of the ‘good ole days’. My angst would grow until I would try a different drug or go back to my good old friend alcohol.

Faith in God or my version of a Higher Power, became shaken, questioned, and eventually dismissed.

Tetelestai Recovery, Chapter 7, Marc’s Story https://a.co/d/31zY36e

Tetelestai Recovery

Feelings Are Not Our Truth

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As far back as we could remember, we felt different, damaged, and just plain wrong. We did not know exactly what was wrong with us. We only knew that we felt things more intensely than others and we processed our problems with great difficulty.

We obsessively examined ourselves, looking for clues to solve the mystery and to find a key which would unlock some invisible door into normalcy. We noticed people we admired and made feeble attempts to imitate their persona. We sought out damaged friends who would validate us in our dysfunction. We pursued money to prove our worth. We questioned and we blamed. We fought with ourselves and resented God. We learned how to act right, but we didn’t know how to feel right. Eventually it was our feelings which became our undoing.

The presence of unwanted feelings such as insecurity, inadequacy, fear, anger, and other social phobias, coupled with our inability to manage or control them, unleashed within us a desperation for relief at any cost. We soon learned of a temporary reprieve which occurred when our brain chemistry became altered. We didn’t care that the relief would be short lived or cause irreparable damage. The long-awaited relief of rightness, contrasted against the life-long agony of wrongness, offered such an enchanting embrace, we surrendered without a fight.

Tetelestai Recovery, Chapter 2

https://a.co/d/csevDec

Tetelestai Recovery

Tetelestai Recovery – Volume 2

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Tetelestai Recovery – Volume 2 Our New Normal

Based on their own personal experience, the authors openly share about their first stages of sobriety, when the clean and sober lifestyle felt awkward and overwhelming. Within the pages of this book, emotional and social dysfunctions are identified, analyzed, and resolved. Each chapter peels back a deeper layer of awareness, revealing a clear path to a New Normal where confidence and security are a way of life.

Tetelestai Recovery Volume 2: Our New Normal continues the journey of recovery, found in the words of Christ, “It is Finished.” Addiction is not a life sentence. There is hope and healing for all addicts and alcoholics, as well as for those who love them.

https://a.co/d/es1vEDa

Tetelestai Recovery

Post-Traumatic Strength and Stability

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And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10

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This came as a shock to those of us who grew up in the psycho-babble era, where therapists were gods who slung letter-label disorders at us like lightning bolts. Most of us had been zapped by at least one label or another which altered our identity. Sadly, that movement brought such a self-defeated attitude; many of us doubted the power of the cross over our disorders.

Thankfully, after receiving the message of Christ’s finished work, we concluded that our dysfunctional labels need not remain our identity.

  • We claimed the powerful promise from Romans 8:37 concerning our sense of powerlessness:

In all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

We subjected our past trauma to the truth found in Romans 8:28:

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love Christ, who have been called according to His purpose.

Paul didn’t write ‘some things’ or ‘the good things’. No, he said that all things, even the least expected or most traumatic things, will work together for our good and for the Kingdom’s expansion project.

We realized that it wouldn’t benefit the Kingdom if its soldiers and ambassadors were traumatized, weak, and frail (either mentally or physically). No military unit would succeed with a platoon of disabled soldiers charging in to take a hill. Fighters in poor condition would be counter-productive to the cause. When charging into enemy territory, only the healthiest, strongest, and well-trained are called up to active duty.

Knowing that God has called us up to active duty, we also trust that He has given us health, strength, and solid training. We have discovered the spiritual law of the Kingdom where trauma turns to triumph and frailty turns to strength.

Chapter 4 / Post-Traumatic Strength and Stability

https://a.co/d/0G3atR1

A Date With Destiny

Not Everyone Can Go Where You’re Going

lastwordrecovery

Judges 7:4

Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there. If I say, ‘This man will go with you,’ he will go. But if I say, ‘That one will not go with you,’ he will not go.”

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As you fulfill your mission and follow the call of God on your life, you sometimes encounter the loss of support upon which you had previously relied. 

As you seek to fulfill the objectives God has set before you, a curious pattern seems to emerge. Many, who join you with passionate enthusiasm in the beginning, drop out before the project is completed.

While the world tells you that there is strength in numbers, your experience tells you otherwise. Time and time again, you have watched as friends and colleagues are called by God to other pursuits, while you are left to wonder how you will ever fulfill your mission without them.

You, like Gideon, are sometimes overwhelmed with the size of the battle in relation to the number of warriors in your company.  However, you trust that God is the Commander of Angel Armies, so whatever you lack in human support, you receive in abundance from the spirit realm.

You understand that your journey is unique to your destiny and design. You realize that God has choreographed your life experiences to mesh with the talents and gifts you possess in order to fulfill the mission for which you were created.

While there are many who admire you, and hundreds who applaud you, only a few will actually go with you.

Little by little, God has removed your support system of humans so that your reliance remains on Him. When the battle is over and victory is won, you will not be tempted to give credit to other humans or take credit for yourself.

As you watch the number of workers decrease, you must fight against anxious thoughts which breed fear and worry.

You must dismiss feelings of rejection or abandonment, and choose rather to be grateful for the time of support you received.

When Gideon was first called, he struggled with a sense of inadequacy and cowardice. God brought many soldier volunteers to his side, to bolster his courage and boost his confidence. That was their only purpose, and once Gideon was on board and ready, God removed those props, one by one, until only a few remained.

Not every soldier was destined to go into battle with Gideon.  In the same manner, not every person who joins your journey will be called to go the distance.

Not everyone can go where you are going. Each has their own call to follow. God brings many wonderful people into your life, to bolster your courage and strengthen your resolve.

You are grateful for their support and you remain gracious when the time comes for them to move on.

https://a.co/d/8SXT1tp

Tetelestai Recovery

Tetelestai Recovery Volume 2 – Our New Normal

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https://a.co/d/j1XEgXX

This book is dedicated to the members of Tetelestai Recovery who meet every Friday evening in the Lansing Correctional Facility.

The profound insights and personal experiences shared between inmates and volunteers in this lively discussion group have been the inspiration for this sequel to the original Tetelestai Recovery text published in 2019: Tetelestai Recovery Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, “It is Finished!”

A Date With Destiny

Trust

lastwordrecovery

Psalm 7:1

Lord my God, I trust in you for protection.

You have invested your most valuable assets into the Kingdom of Christ. Contributions of trust and loyalty are given freely to God and His returns never disappoint.

Unflinching faith comes to you like a divine download and you are often amazed by a sudden level of confidence which seems to appear out of nowhere.

You actively seek help from God and as a reward for your humble request, the Holy Spirit infuses you with the wisdom to discover solutions which you know are beyond your natural level of comprehension.

You prove yourself to be a trustworthy protector of what is sacred. You give honor to God and show respect to His creation.

As you place your trust in God, He places His trust in you.

Free on Kindle

https://a.co/d/0QtaINI