Tag: Healing

Tetelestai Recovery

From Disappointment to Destiny: Finding Purpose Again

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In time, we became willing to enter our own valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37) to speak life over what had been dead for so long.

We found the lifeless remains of enthusiasm, which had been suffocated by disappointment. We found fossils of unfinished projects, which might have been profound, had we not given up. We unearthed splintered fragments of gifts, talents, and abilities which had become casualties of our own sense of inadequacy.

Rather than viewing the carnage as evidence of a wasted life, we began to see it as dry bones coming back to life. By faith, we saw a powerful future rising up from the wreckage of our past.

In our New Normal, we spoke life over anything which reeked of death. In our New Normal, we commanded our dead dreams to rise up in service to our King. We did not think this was too much to expect, for we had been given the resurrection power of Christ. We had been urged to follow in the footsteps of our Creator, who…

“Gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist.”  (Romans 4:17)

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Tetelestai Recovery

Digging Deep: The Emotional Excavation Site of Our Souls

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Workers digging and excavating artifacts inside a large human head-shaped cave.

We felt as if our emotional center resembled an excavation site; filled with bulldozers, backhoes, and caution tape. Once the surface-level layers were removed, the process became more meticulous and precise.

An archeological dig often begins with heavy equipment, but the expert precision near the treasure is done with a toothpick and tiny brush. So too, our soul dig went through a transformation. It seemed as if it had begun with a total upheaval of our surface level behaviors and lots of changes to the landscape. But eventually, the progress slowed, and we got discouraged. We didn’t realize God needed to use a lighter touch as He sifted carefully through our broken fragments.

His work was so quiet and gentle, we sometimes wondered if He was even doing anything at all. We loved the big, dramatic, exciting changes which we passionately recalled to anyone who would listen. However, the small, hidden changes were tedious and exhausting. They were not nearly as noticeable. At times, we wondered if we might lose interest, or worse, perhaps God might…

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Tetelestai Recovery

Earning Respect Instead of Demanding It: A New Perspective

lastwordrecovery
Warrior in armor and elf in hooded cloak shaking hands surrounded by magical energy

Our New Normal offered many pleasant surprises. Some of our upgrades were unfamiliar, yet welcome. We enjoyed becoming an honorable person. We were delighted to be viewed as trustworthy. We stopped demanding respect and began earning it. We appreciated the new opportunities God sent our way. We looked in amazement at the doors which stood open in front of us. We looked with gratitude at the doors which had closed behind us.

The glaringly obvious issues had been removed with Jesus’ words, “It is finished!” and once we began moving out of our active addiction, much of the chaos connected with our former lifestyle settled down. We looked to the future with hope and knew that God was working out the more subtle issues, one at a time, little by little…

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Tetelestai Recovery

Finding God’s Purpose: Overcoming Personal Weaknesses

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We found relief in knowing that it was His pleasure to make us into the people He designed us to be.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and power to do what pleases Him.” 

(Philippians 2:13)   

   

Since time did not exist in the spiritual realm, we held fast to our faith that somewhere in time, His work in us had been completed.

“I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 1:6)

We claimed our territory in the New Normal, assured that He would drive out our defects, one issue at a time.

“Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of your territory.”

(Exodus 23:30)

We became confident in God’s declaration that He had gifted us with the proper tools and traits to become functional in the land of our New Normal.

“God gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.”

(Romans 4:17)

  1. What defect has God taken away that you never thought possible?
  2. What defect has God removed that you didn’t even realize was a defect?
  3. What defect has God removed which made you feel as if you lost a part of yourself?
  4. What defect would you like God to remove now?
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Tetelestai Recovery

Overcoming Inner Strife: God’s Possibilities

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Greed, lust, strife, envy, deception, and fear were familiar to us. Generosity, honesty, loyalty, wisdom, honor, and humility existed outside of our comfort zone. These traits seemed unattainable for those of us who seemed so deeply damaged.

We sometimes felt it was impossible to be comfortable in such unfamiliar territory.

Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

Within these words of Jesus, we found our stability. We stopped beating ourselves up for failing to accomplish what no human could. We realized our New Normal was a gift from God. We could not force it or coerce it. We would not need to use our old manipulation techniques to con Him into giving us a new life.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Embracing Change: Letting Go of the Old Ways

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Thankfully, our old ways became so frustrating and futile, we finally let them go. We felt like gymnasts on the uneven parallel bars. Releasing our grip on what had previously stabilized us, sent us reeling wildly in mid-air, hoping to catch hold of the new life when it came within reach. We grabbed at anything and everything that might be it.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Finding New Life After Addiction

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Neon-colored energy streams flowing through a dark, rain-soaked city street with glowing billboards and skyscrapers.

As we called an end to our addiction, using Christ’s words, “It is finished,” our recovery took root and began to grow into a new life filled with promise. We began to detect subtle changes in our thoughts and behaviors, but they often fluctuated so rapidly, we sometimes wondered if they were real or imagined. We understood that the development of our new life would take time, but the changes we had hoped would happen quickly seemed to be taking forever. Many of our old habits, which we desperately wished would vanish, continued to linger. And some of the expectations we set for ourselves just weren’t happening.

However, we also noticed that some of our undesirable behaviors that we previously accepted as normal (or just being human) had disappeared without any effort on our part. In fact, there were some attitudes and mindsets which were so deeply ingrained in our personalities; we didn’t even think they could be removed. Yet, they disappeared without a trace, and we knew it was a God thing.

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Tetelestai Recovery

From Addiction to Redemption: My Journey

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I suffered from anxiety all  my life and didn’t know what to call it. I self-medicated with drugs and alcohol, which only made the problem worse. I ended up hitting bottom in the worst way and was facing prison. Thankfully, I didn’t run. I did my time and that is where I met Jesus. I continued progress after my release and recently celebrated 17 years clean and sober.

Since leaving prison, God has placed people in my path who would help me in my journey. One was a doctor who understood addiction and provided me with safe, legal, non-addictive medication that relieved my anxiety. Later, God brought a man into my life who was also in recovery. He had found Jesus and sobriety while incarcerated several years earlier and was currently hosting AA and NA meetings in our local jail. We eventually married and now enjoy a life that is better than we ever imagined possible. We owe all credit to Jesus who gathered up our shattered lives and restored us to sanity.

Through our journey and subsequent prison ministry, we wrote the book, Tetelestai Recovery: It is Finished, which details our journey into the freedom and recovery found in the final words of Jesus, “It is finished!”

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Tetelestai Recovery

Break Free from Dark Thought Cycles

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The trajectory of our future is altered by our thoughts when we base them on the perceived realities that swirl around in our brains unchecked. We may hate our pessimism and suspicion, but we can’t break out of the cycle. We may despise our long dreary days of dark thought spirals, but we can’t seem to stop them once they start.

We think about what people were saying about us behind our backs. We wonder if they really wish we weren’t around. We suspect we are going to be fired, dumped, rejected, or abandoned. We replay old conversations, trying to read between the lines so we can better prepare for a number of worst-case scenarios that are likely to befall us.

It has been said that a coward dies a thousand times, a brave man, only once.

***********************

Our thoughts create the reality we live in, whether they align with the truth or not.

To level up, we must develop healthy thought patterns and discipline our minds to stay on a positive track. We can no longer allow our thoughts to wander aimlessly through the minefield of our worst imaginations. We must carve new pathways for our thoughts to travel. We need to keep our thoughts on the high road and pump the brakes when we are headed for the ditch.

But how?

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Glowing maze in the silhouette of a human head on dark background
Tetelestai Recovery

Rerouting Your Brain: Overcoming Circular Thinking Patterns

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“Be very careful about what you think. Your thoughts run your life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

To level up, we must evaluate the quality of our thoughts. There are established neuropathways in our brains that need to be rerouted. We do not wish to remain stuck in circular thought processes, like mental roundabouts, which have no outlet or resolution.

When suspicious thoughts come to mind, after an encounter with someone we don’t trust, we go into self-preservation mode and begin analyzing all the things they said or did that just don’t add up. We evaluate our observations to confirm our suspicions. We are angry that they think we can be so easily manipulated. We contemplate ways we can call it out and let them know we are onto them.

Our mental trails lead us into darkened paths, where we get tangled in the weeds of irritation and resentment. We are offended and angered by such a lack of respect. We vow to be more defiant and difficult, to prevent ourselves from being underestimated again.

By the time we cycle through the process described in the last two paragraphs, several hours have passed and we find ourselves in a depressive state of mind. The series of events that triggered the entire process are irrelevant. Our thoughts, fears, and imaginations merged into a twisted reality that we forced ourselves to endure.

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