Recovering

When it comes to the challenges we all face in life, I think we sometimes confuse being in a tunnel with being stuck in a cave. It may be dark but you’re not through it yet, either. The difference between the two is that eventually there is light. And, where there’s light, there’s hope. But sometimes it feels like that light can’t get here soon enough. It feels like we end up doing a lot of waiting before we see light at the end of the tunnel.

What does it mean for us to celebrate recovery. I like to think of recovery as healing. I also tend to think all of us are healing from something—substance, control, spending, childhood, eating, or resentment. Yet, it’s our brothers and sisters in formal recovery programs – meeting weekly and working the steps – which we can possibly learn the most from, especially what it means to be “in process”.

I don’t really like the idea of being “in process” because all that reminds me of is that I’m not there yet. It tells me that I still got work to do. It feels like waiting. And there’s nothing I can do to expedite the process, except be faithful to it.

The hard part as a person of faith is that throughout history & Scripture, even personal experience, I’ve seen God act instantly. My heart and faith tend to leap. I love when healing and recovery is an instant success, like when Jesus heals a young man who was blind from birth (John 9:25). When cross-examined by religious elite, this bright-eyed teen gives a simple testimony saying, “…I once was blind but now I see”. Honestly (and I know it’s not true but) it just feels like God’s more apart of that then when we’re in process.

I’ve heard that we don’t lose our sight as we grow old. Rather, we lose our ability to focus. Maybe the best recipe for recovery is keeping focus over time. There’s something God wants us to see when things don’t happen right away. I think it’s that he’s closer than we think.

What if all of us could say, “B/c of my support, my doctor, my community group, my sponsor, my parents, my husband, my kids, or my counselor…I’m less blind than I was last week.”

As a church, we celebrate all people who are recovering, healing, and growing. There’s room to be present and be in process. We call it grace.

There’s another picture of Recovery in scripture that might feel more relatable. The majority of time we don’t have instant success or overnight healing. Despite the Apostle Paul’s impact and influence, his life was continually in process. In his writing to the church in the ancient city of Corinth, he describes a thorn in this flesh (II Cor.12). Despite pleading with God to heal him and/or restore him, he gained no relief. Many interpretations are given of this passage – epilepsy, back, limp, sight, temper, greed. Whatever it was it was a hindrance and apparently humiliating. Yet, there is a divine beauty, maybe God’s wisdom, in that we’re left without knowing for certain what Paul’s affliction is.

He was able to celebrate God in the middle of it even though he wasn’t delivered. I think we want to be like Paul in being able to celebrate while we’re in process, one day at a time. He celebrates it while, like the rest of us, wants the instant miracle.

When it comes to healing - whatever we’re recovering from - God’s in the process as much as he is in the fix. In some cases, God heals instantly. In others, it takes over 20 years of practicing sobriety. Either case is still a miracle. God’s in both!

When we celebrate recovery, what we’re really celebrating is that God heals. When we see people go through recovery, we’re witnessing a miracle regardless of how long it takes. Maybe a miracle is best described – not as something extraordinary – but experiencing the life that God intended.

Heaven is where things are as God intends. When God created the world he said that it was good—not perfect—good. As long as we have responsibility, it will feel like work. But it is good. We celebrate recovery because it looks like heaven on earth.

[Excerpts taken from message given at Riverbend Church, 10/25/09]