Tetelestai Recovery – Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, “It is Finished!”
Within the pages of this book you will learn how to move out of your addiction and into your destiny. Through their personal journey of recovery, the authors present indisputable evidence that total healing and release from the disease of addiction can be found through the final declaration of Christ, “It is finished!”
Whether you are a suffering addict; an exhausted 12-stepper; a chronic relapser; or a person who loves one, Tetelestai Recovery will open your eyes to the possibility of permanent sobriety without the struggle. This revolutionary concept is bringing radical changes to the recovery community. You are here for a reason and it’s time to find out why.
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.
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.
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.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27
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Jesus gave us this promise of peace, translated from the original word shalom, meaning: wholeness; nothing missing; nothing broken. Therefore, if we failed to experience it, we needed to know why.
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Was He a liar? Did He tease us with hope and then pull it away like Lucy holding the football in the Charlie Brown cartoon?
We developed resentment toward this Higher Power who seemingly yanked away our hope, time after time. If He controlled the universe, why didn’t He just snap His fingers and make all our misery disappear?
We questioned Him and His ways. We saw other people receive deliverance and healing from their dysfunctions and we were jealous. We finally concluded that the odds of a miracle landing on us were about the same as a rose petal falling from the sky and landing on our heads.
We knew we couldn’t raise our hopes for a miracle of our own if it was simply a cosmic lottery. We were driven to figure out what we could do to make it happen. We had been taught all our lives that a person gets what they deserve. We feared our relapses and failures had deemed us unworthy.
We knew how to work in the natural realm to get what we wanted. We worked hard. We had built personal empires and seen our own efforts succeed in other areas of life. This made it extremely difficult to understand why we couldn’t succeed in our efforts to maintain consistent sobriety.
We wanted to work for recovery and thus, control the results. We wanted to work for it, so we could own it. We wanted to know we had earned our sobriety. We wanted to receive accolades for how courageous we had been. We wanted to know it had come to us honestly, through hard work and perseverance.
Tragically, we discovered that our work just didn’t work.
We needed a new mind, a new purpose, and a new sense of identity. It was in this prison of despair, we found the key to our freedom.
From this verdict of our King, emerged an energy which annihilated the grief of guilt, the harassment of hopelessness, and the agony of addiction. We noticed that Jesus’ final word, “Tetelestai,” translated into the English phrase,“It is finished,” seemed to imply a sense of giving up. We found this to be an unfortunate language barrier.
As it turns out, in the original Greek language of the New Testament, Tetelestai is a declaration of victory, completion, and success.
We needed a new mind, a new purpose, and a new sense of identity. It was in this prison of despair, we found the key to our freedom.
From this verdict of our King, emerged an energy which annihilated the grief of guilt, the harassment of hopelessness, and the agony of addiction.We noticed that Jesus’ final word tetelestai, translated into the English phrase, it is finished, seemed to imply a sense of giving up. We found this to be an unfortunate language barrier.
Tetelestai is the comment an artist might whisper after completing his final brush stroke on a masterpiece.
Tetelestai is the report a soldier would bring to his commanding officer when a battle was over, and victory had been secured.
We believe our Savior used His final breath on the cross to declare for all time, to all creation, in every dimension, that there is nothing left undone: It is finished; Tetelestai.
There is no more drudgery to sobriety and no more anguish to recovery. There is no self-effort which must be added to what has been declared, Tetelestai.
IT IS FINISHED
In matters of our recovery from substance addiction and the mental dysfunction which accompanied it, we were completely helpless. We had no thought which could heal our thoughts. We had no disclosure which could remove our secret shame. We had no detour which would lead us out of the darkness. We were lost. We were alone. We were afraid.
But suddenly, in a random, unexplainable moment, the gift of Tetelestai was revealed. We had run out of options, yet in that barren wasteland of emptiness, we stumbled upon a treasure trove of truth.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
Tetelestai Recovery: Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, “It is Finished” https://a.co/d/bDUe2X7
There is an overpowering conflict which occurs within the mind of anyone who has encountered the desperation of addiction. The struggle to escape one’s own mind by flooding it with toxic levels of mood-altering chemicals is the true definition of insanity. Yet, many of us suffered from this fatal and debilitating disease, consenting to the madness as if there were no other option.
In search of total recovery, we discovered we were not only seeking to be delivered from our dependency on mind or mood-altering substances, but we also searched for freedom from our thought processes, our twisted perceptions, and our obsessive fears.
In this emotional state of chronic crisis, we were exhausted.
We struggled to be free from a mind which plotted its own demise. Our thoughts quite literally tormented us to the point of insanity. We needed a way to manage our feelings and silence our sickness.
Our problem was not that we felt guilty. The problem was that we were guilty.
We were damaged and we had caused damage.
We were hopeless and infused hopelessness into everything we touched.
We were in a death march toward nothingness and our lives had no direction.
Our primary purpose was to find a reprieve from ourselves.
Our public self was known by our private self as a fraud.
Tetelestai Recovery: Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, “It is Finished”
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 find a key to unlock some invisible door which kept us perched precariously on the outside edge of 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 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….
In time, the feelings become less intrusive. The presence of an unwanted negative feeling sends us running for relief to the Word, and there we find our sustaining Truth.
When we feel like we have failed, we choose to believe God who says we are blessed (empowered to succeed).
From this day on I will bless you. Haggai 2:19 (NLT)
When we feel as if we aren’t going to stay clean, we believe God’s word which promises,
I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished… Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
When we feel as if we are weak, we believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 We silence our fickle feelings, with His word: T E T E L E S T A I
We declare, “It is finished!” to those roller coaster emotions which had bullied us long enough.
The writer Mark tells us that this group of women went to that tomb expecting to find a corpse, but they still went. I suggest to you that Jesus works this way, even today. If you have just enough faith to seek Him in your despair, in your darkness, in your doubt, even if you don’t expect much, He’s going to give you more than you bargained for. He did for those women, and He still does it today. Marks’ gospel is more concise that the other 3, but it does reveal to us that where they laid Jesus is now a bare spot on the floor. He is GONE. The tomb is an empty place.
For centuries after this event, scholars have wrestled with this problem. In the first century, the Jews thought the disciples stole the body to promote their hoax. The disciples thought the Jews or the Romans had taken the body. The Romans weren’t sure because they had stationed a guard over the tomb. But NOBODY was saying that the body of Jesus was still in there.
Death and despair have been emptied of their power. Destructive forces do not have the final word. The empty tomb is the historical evidence for believing in the truth of the resurrection.
Look for Jesus in the last place you saw Him. It may have even been an unpleasant or traumatic experience, like it was for the women who went to the tomb that first Easter morning. Even if you have low expectations, give it one last shot. This may be the time you find new hope.
Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, "It is Finished!" 