 The Overload Season: Gearing Up for the Fall
Brockwell Bone, Director of Development
You may recall the article I wrote at the beginning of the summer about "The Distracting Season". Summer is statistically the slowest season for our ministry.
Fall is coming ... and it is "The Overload Season".
Facilitators, prepare for a flood of new comers, you may:
- Review your intake interview questions and procedures
- Ensure that your group
 information is up-to-date on our website
- Grab several copies of the L.I.F.E Guides to have on hand
- Men's Groups, Grab a 10-pack special on the Orientation Guide
Sponsors, your position in the group is very important, you may:
- Visit with those you sponsor and suggest that they sponsor new comers
- Ensure that your contact information for those you sponsor is up-to-date
- Call your group members and encourage them to come to group and help new comers
- Ask yourself, "if this group gets too large, am I capable of helping in a facilitator role by starting a new group"
Group Members, it may be time to consider taking on new roles in the group, you may:
- Pray for guidance, ask God to show you what He has in store for you this "year"
- Review your relationship with your sponsor and ask yourself if you are at a place where you can become a sponsor
- Consider updating your story to share with new comers
Our thoughts and prayers are with you always, and we will pray that the enemy does not use this time to overwhelm you. May the Lord bless your recovery and your ministry to others.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Devotional : Ripples
(Corresponds to Principle 5, Assignment 1)
Reading: Acts 9:1-20
Focus Verse: Acts 9:17 – And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother, Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit”. NKJV
As a young boy, I loved to spend time at a pond near my house. There, I would search the shore for a stone to throw into the water. When it hit the water I would watch the ever-growing concentric circles that rippled outward toward the shore. As the ripples hit the shore at my feet, I would soon begin searching for the next stone to throw in.
I always watched the ripples come to me. I didn’t pay attention to the ripples as they touched the other parts of the pond’s shore line. I lost sight of the fact that those same ripples washed onto places beyond my vision.
Our actions are like those stones. Actions have created a ripple effect that will touch far more than our immediate lives. We may see the effect on our shore but be totally unaware of the effect on other shores around the pond of our lives.
This is both good and bad. Our actions, during our addictive acting out, created ripples. We may never be fully aware of the damage those actions caused. Thankfully, our actions, as we turn our lives around, also are creating ripples affecting others in positive ways we cannot begin to imagine.
If given the opportunity, God will use your recovery to have a ripple effect on others of which you may be completely unaware. You’ve made splashes in the past. It is time to make a new splash and create some new ripples that will benefit others.
Ananias made a splash by answering the Lord and going to Saul. The ripples from that splash, the spread of Christianity throughout the world, are still washing on shores today.
Prayer: Father God, I want to make a splash for You in a positive way. I want my actions, my words, and my thoughts to be used by You. Let me have an impact for Your Glory. AMEN
Nehemiah Principle Six
In the face of overwhelming discouragement and damage,
rebuilding may be a matter of just getting started.
By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate.
Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work.
- Nehemiah 2: 13-15, 17-18
What did Nehemiah do?
He had to survey the damage that had been done. At some point, in the early stages of recovery for everyone, the fog, or more likely the smoke rising from the ashes of the destruction of our lives and relationships, clears. Inevitably, there will be a moment of clarity in which the enormity or the complete gravity of our situation falls upon us. Recovery, in this moment, for the addict or the spouse alike, will briefly look the same way. Someone aptly stated that it was like “standing at the base of Mount Everest with chains tied to my feet.”
Faced with weeks, months and more than likely years of rebuilding and restoration, many of us will simply turn around and head back to Egypt. Even though being in slavery was literally killing us, it was familiar and predictable. Nehemiah chapter three offers us a “blueprint” to start our massive rebuilding project. The principle is one that has been long used in construction, even to this very day; Take a large, daunting and seemingly impossible project and break it up into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Nehemiah senses the feeling of hopelessness amongst the people and rather non-dramatically says; “Let’s get started.” Sometimes it’s simply a matter of doing “the next right thing”. Focusing on the immediate task at hand takes from standing still to moving forward “one day at a time”. Recovery is hard work. It’s challenging, discouraging but yet can be the most rewarding season of our lives. Many of us will try to find an excuse for not “laying hand to the plow.” The mountain will still be there, climb it now while there is a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it smaller.
In your journal draw a brick, survey the damage in your life, and list the damage caused by sexual addiction; loss of family, job, friends, financial losses, trust, honor and so many more. Bring these to the Lord in prayer, ask Him to start restoring your life. Share this work with your sponsor or group and ask for support and prayer as you mount the task of rebuilding your life. |
Facilitator Training Calls
Men’s Facilitator Call
Join Glen from Orlando as he presents ideas & concepts and answers your questions in this one hour conference call.
August 26th at 8:00 pm EST
Register Now <
Spouse’s Facilitator Call
Join Melissa Haas, author of the L.I.F.E. Guide for Spouses, as she presents ideas & concepts and answers your questions in this one hour conference call.
August 26th at 8:00 pm EST
Register Now <
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Please update your contact information. Login using the gray box in the right column of the website and select “Update Profile”. Group facilitators, please double check your group listing on the site and select “Update Group” in the gray box to make changes.
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