In recovery circles there is a saying, “You are only as sick as your secrets.” Recovery is a process where, with trusted caring people, we begin to come alive. In the right place, and at the appropriate time, we begin to deal with our dark and often long held secrets.
The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. (Romans 13:12 NLT)
We follow the outline of the 12 Step Program to help us restore our soul. As we begin to put each of the steps into practice we may find that while we are ready to pray for God's will to be done in some areas of our hearts, we continue to feel uncomfortable with having God's light shine on other areas. When we are unwilling to expose our secrets, the guilt and shame from our past festers and causes harm in our recovery.
We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NLT)
We struggle to come into the light because we’re unwilling to surrender ourselves to God and allow His healing power to restore us. God wants us to be completely separated from the things of darkness. The longer we cooperate with darkness, the more we will hide from the light. Darkness causes us to reject, or not even recognize, hope and help when it comes our way.
Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12 NLT)
To the extent that we surrender our lives to the light of Christ, we will be strengthened and directed by Him to live life to the full.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Many things are buried in us and we’re not sure how to bring them to the light. Help us to follow the light that leads to right living. Amen
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