Celebrating Recovery As long as you surrender yourself, God will do the heavy lifting.
H “May I Tell You a Story?” BY DICK DUERKSEN
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i, Jonathan. You don’t know me, but I’m Mark. My cousin is in your Celebrate Recovery group, and he tells me you help people who are desperate. Well, I’m desperate, and I need help. I’m about to lose my wife and my children, but I just can’t stop drinking.” The man’s voice sounded like his heart was breaking, a sound Jonathan hears far too often as he serves more than 100 people each week as leader of his church’s Celebrate Recovery ministry. Jonathan listened, asked several questions, and then told Mark that he wanted to think and pray about his request for a couple days, and then talk again. “But first,” Jonathan said, “you must commit to not drinking. Go home, talk this through with your wife, Carol, and
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pour out all of the alcoholic beverages you have in the house.” *** When the two men talked a couple days later, Mark was still very emotional and very committed to wanting to change his life. He and Carol had agreed to not drinking, and they had poured out all of their alcohol. Knowing that this was a big step that would require a major commitment of time and energy, both Jonathan and Mark agreed to start a 30-day trial run. “I encouraged him that this was something we would be doing together,” remembers Jonathan, “and told him that each morning we would do a Bible study together, and that each night he would call me, and we’d talk about his day. You’ve got to be all in, sharing the good parts and the bad parts as we get to know each other, I said. As long as you surrender yourself, God will do the heavy lifting. And, whenever you feel like drinking, you must call me right then.” The 30-day trial included three other expectations. First, Mark was to attend the Celebrate Recovery group that Jonathan led at the church. Second, Mark was to get involved with a church. Third, Mark was to join another weekly small Bible study. “I really encouraged him to see that if he was serious about getting his life to Image: Tim Marshall
