Celebrate Recovery {New Year, New You}
Written by Jamie Smith of Jamie’s Thots (Jamie’s blog will soon be moving to Jamiesthots.com so stay posted!)

I don’t know if I’m brave or just crazy, but for the “New Year, New You” series, I want to share about Celebrate Recovery.

It’s an interesting balance—wanting to protect my own anonymity yet wanting to shout from the rooftops about a program that, when I work it, actually makes a profound impact on my life. With that said, expect some vagueness from me. It’s not trying to be all “vague Facebook status update melodrama queen.” There’s simply just some stuff ya’ll don’t need to know. You do, however, need to know about how your life can be changed through Celebrate Recovery.

So what is Celebrate Recovery? CR is a faith-based recovery program for all of life’s “hurts, habits and hang-ups.” When most of us think of recovery programs, we think of drug addicts, alcoholics or some other obvious, possibly illegal habit. Consider this: what about the person who needs to recover from being a victim of childhood sexual abuse? Or who is struggling with self-debilitating anger towards a wayward spouse? Or someone who has a habit of being controlling and manipulative…even with the best intentions at heart?

Every hurt, habit or hang-up that consumes our lives and keeps us from functioning like a full healthy individual is something that needs recovery. Going into recovery isn’t about being weak; it’s about being strong enough to admit you can’t do it by yourself.

For me, it’s about dealing with the deeper issues that were at the root of a lot of different self-destructive habits. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last six years working to “take my life back” from lots of pain and inner turmoil that led to severe morbid obesity in the outward manifestation, and a whole lot of inner junk as the internal manifestation.

Celebrate Recovery operates from Eight Recovery Principles, all which are based on the Beatitudes. Incorporated into those Principles are the 12 Recovery Steps, which are very similar to the 12 steps that are found in most secular recovery programs.

CR is very group based with group meetings once a week where everyone is together for the first hour for a time of celebration and a lesson. The second hour is for small groups, which are based on the participant’s hurt, habit or hang-up. Small groups include Eating Issues, Divorce Recovery, Adult Child of an Alcoholic…just to name a few.

The second part, possibly the most important and most difficult, is the Step Study. This is a small group that meets together weekly and you go through the 12 steps together. This is where the real work … and the real healing happens. It’s where your heart will be torn raw, the damage will be exposed—and when you finally get to experience relief and recovery. The small groups and Step Studies are divided into groups of men and women, by the way.

Does Celebrate Recovery “fix” you? No. It doesn’t take anything away. It gives you a faith-based way of dealing with the pain and moving on in your life in a complete and healthy way. I’ve tried lots of methods for dealing with all the inner crap and this has been the only successful tool. I’ve heard addicts and other people in CR talk about the program and they say that it has been more effective in their lives than any other, secular recovery program.

So as we all start a new year and look at a “new us,” I think it’s important to look at what changes we want to make on the inside.

To me, it’s about more than making resolutions for better behavior. It’s about a life-altering, complete turnaround of our thought process, emotions and faith.

Are you ready to recover from a hurt, habit or hang-up?

*A note from the editor – Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered recovery program but is considered non-denominational and is offered at many different churches including 29 cities around Arkansas.  You can click here to find a program near you or you can visit the Celebrate Recovery website to learn more about the program.