Recovery is Like an Onion

[Chad]

Someone smarter than me said: "Recovery is like an onion. All the layers that exist have to be peeled away." Well, if you're a connoisseur of onions, you know that there are different varieties. Some are really powerful and when you barely touch them they produce tears. Others are pretty sweet and they barely affect you when you chop them up.

And so it is with your peeling the layers in your healing process. Some layers will affect you more than others. But, if you realize that it's a process, and that God is with you every step of the way, you can face the pain of your past so that you can move beyond it and heal. Also, consider this: You are in the present. You lived through the reality, whatever and whenever it was, so you can certainly live through the feelings and memories of the reality today.

Make your one desire to be made whole and to be as much like Christ as you can be. When you do, you'll find God putting on your heart the desire and the courage to carry the message of hope and healing to those who are stuck in their pain.

Embrace the pain of the recovery and healing process. It will remind you that God is in control and you're being held in his arms, tight and secure as He walks you through it. It means you'll take some steps of faith, and that will be pleasing to God and healing to you.

- Steve Arterburn