I had an interesting encounter this weekend. I ran into an old friend at a memorial service. I have known this person for years but they moved out of state several years ago so we are more “social media friends” than “go get coffee friends” these days. In the interval since we were last face to face they have gotten involved with Celebrate Recovery. After the service, she sought out Mrs. MoM and me to talk about her experience.

She said that she had always heard us talking about CR. She had even played on the worship team at her church, which included playing at their CR group. She had family that went to CR. But as for herself, she just never thought she needed it. Eventually, she joined a church staff that had a lead pastor who required the entire staff to go through a Step Study. Suffice to say, after just finishing her second Step Study, she is now all in!

As we chatted about our various CR experiences she commented that she really loved the idea of CR Inside. Her observation was that people on the streets can go to church or CR meetings and then look for the blessings to start coming. It’s very easy to think “I’m getting better so God will send good stuff my way. Maybe a new job, or a promotion at work…” Yes, those thoughts are all over the place with people. However, she was amazed that the men were serve on the inside keep coming back even though the possibility of of “name it and claim it” blessings isn’t there. Her words were “They have nothing, and still they keep coming back!”

She’s right. Just because we begin the work of improving ourselves doesn’t guarantee that the Brinks truck will dump its contents at our front door. Everything else in life stays the same. It doesn’t really care that we have started our recovery journey.

But God does!

Extrinsic rewards are awesome, but the real work happens on the inside. Don’t look to Brinks, look to your Higher Power, Jesus Christ. He’s the one that will show you how to…

–Rise Up!!