“The ultimate paradox of recovery is this: You have to surrender to win! Sounds odd I know, but true it is. I first heard this in AA meetings years ago. Many men and women expend great energy on a false assumption-Our will power can overcome any addiction, hurt, or hang-up. Many have “hit bottom” with this false assumption, but many have come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

 

The ultimate paradox I heard so long ago has even more meaning and emphasis for me today. Admitting our hurts and that we are powerless to fix them is the first step of surrender. But recovery (my walk with Christ) is not an event; it’s a process and journey that repeats itself over and over again. In Celebrate Recovery we experience again and again Step 7-“Humbly ask God to remove all our short comings.” Surrender is the dying of the flesh (our sin nature) and victory is a new and growing life in Jesus. The spiritual fuel that makes this transformation possible is God’s grace.

 

My favorite definition of grace comes from Philip Yancey’s book “What’s So Amazing About Grace.” – “Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.”

 

 

Love God, Love Each Other!