Prey to our past

Have you ever stopped to think about how the ocean photographers survive such difficult waters with such diverse creatures surrounding them? It’s even more astonishing how they swim with some of the biggest underwater creatures like sharks and stay alive.

 
A National Geographic photographer who primarily films Great White Sharks was asked in an interview one time if he was ever afraid of being eaten by the sharks while trying to film them. His response? He said, ‘I swim toward the sharks. Shark prey doesn’t swim toward them but away from them. They know by their actions if they are prey or not.’

I was thinking about all the stuff you and I walk into this room of CR with each week. Perhaps we have lived with shame, fear and even self-doubt and it literally has eaten us alive through a good portion of our life.

What I love about Celebrate Recovery is that it teaches us that running isn’t the answer. CR teaches us to swim toward the shame, fear and self-doubt. To challenge some of those old distorted core beliefs about who we thought we were in our dysfunction or addictions changes everything.

 
CR teaches us that we don’t have to run from our hurts, hang-ups or habits any longer. And the best part is that we don’t have to do it alone.

When we quit running, face the problem, and then move toward it, we no longer have to look for false substitutes to numb or escape our pain any longer. God begins to use the pain to make us stronger as we face it one day and one moment at a time.

What are you running from these days? You no longer have to be prey to your destructive past. With the help of God and others we can move toward a beautiful future in Christ.
 

Let’s pause, acknowledge what we are running from, and turn and face it together with God’s help.

It’s time to stop living as prey and start living free in Christ. His way is better.