Tag: Restoration

Tetelestai Recovery

Faith and Doubt – The Alternating Currents

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We imagined an electric fan. We could manually spin the blades and create a slight breeze. Obviously, we would have to consistently place our fingertips on the top of the slowing blades to give it another spin. Our entire attention would be devoted to managing the spin of the blades. Our obsession with keeping those blades spinning would consume us, and we would be able to accomplish little else.

If, however, we became willing to plug the fan in to an electrical socket, the blades would spin without effort, in a smooth rhythm, independent of our attention. The effects would be much more noticeable, yet effortless. We could remain active and alert with the more important duties of life, comforted by the breeze of an unseen power.

Faith and doubt, while appearing to be polar opposites, are the alternating currents which work together, generating an absolute belief in Christ. We cannot fully resolve our doubts within our faith. That’s why Jesus tells us time and time again, “Only believe.”

Faith in wholeness, when we felt so broken, was more work than we anticipated.

We worked to believe that somewhere in time, we would possess this shalom which Jesus had bequeathed us before His death.

We worked to believe, when doubts bubbled to the surface after losing our temper, feeling depressed, or experiencing muscle cramps from the lingering effects of the toxins we had used.

We worked to believe our shattered lives could be put back together when legal issues remained unresolved and court cases loomed in our future.

We worked to believe that Jesus’ wholeness could restore us to our original value when we found ourselves faced with the wreckage of our past and the rejection from our families.

We worked to believe in the wholeness of Christ coursing through our veins, restoring the health of mind and body when our inner voice kept telling us we were being foolish and naive.

Finally, we concluded that the only way to test this hypothesis was to presume the words of Jesus were true and choose to believe that they might actually be able to work for us. It seemed worth a shot. After all, we were out of options, so what did we have to lose?

Tetelestai Recovery – Chapter 6, Shalom

https://a.co/d/fwitIMs

Tetelestai Recovery

Settling the Score

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In our New Normal, it seemed that forgiveness was an issue we struggled with at every turn. Failure to forgive made us feel guilty. Trying to forgive made us feel irritated. Convincing ourselves that we had already forgiven, when we knew we hadn’t, made us feel like phonies. It all just seemed too much. When someone did us wrong, and we incurred a loss of self-worth, inner peace, reputation, or security, did God really expect us to forgive the offense and get over it?

Was it His intent that we sustain our losses and silently endure offenses to our own demise? We didn’t think that sounded like the reasonable expectation of a loving, protective Father! We thought there must be more to this concept of forgiveness than just suffering in silence and becoming a speed bump to anyone who ran over the top of us.

Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. Deuteronomy 32:35

We examined this Sacred Text carefully and realized it contained two separate promises.

The first phrase was a promise that God would be bringing justice to the offender. The second phrase confirmed that God would repay us for the damage we sustained.

When we were offended, disrespected, lied to, or abandoned, we suffered humiliation, rejection, and loss of self-esteem. Therefore, since God promised to repay us for our loss, and exact revenge on the one who wronged us, then the forgiveness issue was less about protecting ourselves and more about trusting in a God of justice who promised to set all things right.

Tetelestai Recovery 2: Our New Normal; Chapter 7, Keeping it Vertical

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

Tetelestai Recovery

Cognitive Distortions

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Examine the magnified photo of a scratched vinyl record (see visual aid 1).  Imagine the circular grooves in the album as healthy neuropathways of the brain.  The impact of living in an imperfect world inflicts wounds and distorts our thought processes; much like a scratch in the album distorts the quality of sound it produces. 

A scratched record will not produce the same quality of sound as the non-scratched original.  A vinyl album is fragile and can be easily scarred. If mishandled, it will become lined with grooves which go against the grain of its original design. Once this happens, the needle will frequently slip into the scratch-lines rather than gliding smoothly along the original sound wave channels. This creates audible effects and creates chaos for the listener.

  • Visual Aid 1: Scratched record album; magnified.
  • Visual Aid 2: A coin placed on the headshell above the needle. The purpose is to provide extra weight on the needle, so it doesn’t bounce out of the sound wave channel and follow the groove created from a scratch.
  • Visual Aid 3: Sound wave grooves magnified 1000 times.

The Takeaway

 By placing the weight of the Word on our cognitive distortions, the electrical impulses in our brains began to follow the original pathways designed by our Creator. The Word guides our thought processes and helps us stop jumping from distortion to distortion.

Tetelestai Recovery Volume 2 – Our New Normal; Chapter 3, Brainwashed

https://a.co/d/7q67TdX

Home

Redeemed

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If you have a coupon you wish to redeem at the store, you are expecting to trade a worthless slip of paper or digital image for something of value. In other words, the real value of your coupon doesn’t exist until it is redeemed.

We are not defined by our history, we are remade and redeemed by it. Our true value is revealed through redemption. Our history brings us into an even deeper relationship with our Maker. God takes our past and weaves a new narrative which brings new life and a DEEPER life with Christ as our advocate and example.

In 2nd Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Through faith in Christ, we are made new. This verse reminds us that when we are in a relationship with Jesus, our past no longer defines us. We are transformed into new creations, with a fresh start and a renewed purpose.

Regardless of our past mistakes, failures, or regrets, God’s grace and forgiveness are available to us. In Christ, we can leave our old ways behind and embrace the new life that He offers.

Tetelestai Recovery

Stopped in His Tracks

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We noticed something remarkable about the ministry of Jesus. He had no schedule or agenda. His ministry was not directed by Himself, His apostles, or even by God. To our amazement, we realized that the ministry of Christ was determined by people. Without fail, when the slightest flicker of faith sparked, or a request for mercy was whispered, the Savior’s footsteps suddenly stopped.

Tetelestai Recovery / Chapter 8, Facts are Changeable

https://a.co/d/2g0nB5z

Tetelestai Recovery

Dig Deep

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Initially, we feared awakening resentments and regret, but with God at our side, we grew confident that there was nothing we couldn’t face and forgive. As much as we felt our history was set in stone and fossilized forever, we claimed the following Sacred Text over our emotional excavation:

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

In time, we became willing to enter our valley of dry bones and 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

Tetelestai Recovery Volume 2, Chapter 2 – Wake the Dead https://a.co/d/6JPl2Lf

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 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

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

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

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!”