WHO WE ARE
Our weekly Celebrate Recovery service is a ministry for people of all ages and from all walks of life to experience community, encounter God, claim purpose and pursue calling. Our service offers engaging live worship and biblical-based teaching relevant to your circumstances. It is a safe place to overcome your hurts, habits, and hang-ups and find freedom in Jesus Christ. It is our goal to allow you to share your burdens without interruption or advice and allow healing to begin. What is discussed here stays here. A person can use God’s Word to overcome life’s hindering issues. We have a place for wounded people. Jesus knows every wound, and He’s not going to waste our pain. Recovery takes time. It reaches and transforms the very roots of our being. When our recovery is centered on the Lord, His transforming power can turn our pain into gladness!
WHAT DO YOU NEED
FREEDOM FROM?
​The Celebrate Recovery program incorporates fellowship, worship, sharing, accountability and step-study groups to help you allow yourself to be healed by God’s transforming power. Life can be hard, but you are NOT alone! Here are just some of the hurts & habits we address at CR:
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Depression
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Anxiety Disorders
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Compulsive Sexual Behaviors/Sexual Addiction/Pornography
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Physical/Sexual/Emotional Abuse
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Anger/Bitterness
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Eating Disorders
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Alcoholism/Adult Child of Alcoholic/Minor Child of Alcoholic
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Drug Abuse: Illegal, Prescription, and Over the Counter
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CELEBRATE RECOVERY TESTIMONIES
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'I’m certainly not the poster child for Celebrate Recovery,' I thought. I’m not a drug addict, an alcoholic, sexually twisted – you name it. I’m not 'that'. Or am I the poster child?
After a lifetime of relationship abandonment, either by death or rejection, I had become very good at denial. I kept telling myself that I was fine and kept moving along. Life was good. I had a great 2nd husband, my kids and grandkids were wonderful and productive – great job, a great church, and a loving family. All was well – and then the crash came. In 2009, my husband died suddenly and life became very different. But, again I picked up and moved on denying that I hurt. Two years into widowhood, I met a man who was very charming, swept me off my feet, and I thought that God had brought him into my life to live out our golden years. In 2011, we got married. Life was good, but I was still in denial. I chose to overlook a bunch of red flags. In 2014, while on the trip of a lifetime to Europe, I discovered on the first day of our 12-day trip, through a text message I accidentally saw on his phone, that he had been wooing and pursuing an old high school sweetheart in Virginia. Again, life crashed. He wanted a divorce. Those golden years turned into ashes. This time, I couldn’t pick up and move on. The pain was overwhelming. I tried to put on that happy face, say that God had pulled me from a dark place and believe it, but I just couldn’t. I didn't want to live any longer. It was all my fault, the 'woulda, shoulda, coulda' lie that if I was prettier, younger, smarter, then he would have stayed with me haunted me. It was just not enough. Life was too painful. I didn’t understand it, but oh how it hurt. I tried to put on a happy face for everyone and tried to believe that lie myself, but I would find myself on my knees crying, begging to be released from this pain. Satan is so very clever and was hitting me at my weakest spots: pride, insecurity, and self-worth. However, God was always there, and He was working on me. I ran from Him for a year when He told me to go to the church and volunteer. Volunteer, are you kidding me? I can hardly breathe. I have nothing to offer. Finally, I gave up and went to meet with one of our pastors to discuss where I could be of use. I can put church bulletins together, or answer phones, or some admin work because I had those skills all my life. During that meeting, the pastor then asked where my heart was leading me. I told him that my heart was for broken women because I was certainly one. He introduced me to the pastor of Celebrate Recovery. What? I am not any of 'that'. Oh, I was so good at denial. Well, guess what? I may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of CR, but I discovered that I am still very broken by life. The CR pastor asked that I go through the program in order to serve in the ministry and understand the mission of Celebrate Recovery.
After that, I’ve had to hold on because what an amazing ride this has been. I discovered that, yes, I was 'that'. I needed the program as much as anyone with any other hurt, habit, hangup, denial, etc. I had to face it. I needed help and God steered me to the place where I could get that help. Satan is clever, but God is good. He clearly showed me Satan’s lies through Celebrate Recovery – and I thank Him every day for His amazing grace and goodness. He loves me and he loves you. I’m not a fluke. I’m an ordinary person, broken by life just as everyone else. And now I know: I am the poster child for Celebrate Recovery. If we step back and take a look, every one of us is on that poster. Young/old; black/white; man/woman; married/single/divorced; fat/ skinny; gay/straight; and on and on. It all hurts and we all have different ways to mask the pain.
I believe that Celebrate Recovery is God’s way to lead us to healing and helping. Won’t you join the ride? You’ll never look back.
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Everyone looking at my life from the outside would have thought there was nothing wrong. I went to church, sang on the worship team, preached sermons at times. I had a house, a wife, and a child. No one would have ever guessed that a pornography addiction was eating away at my family, my life, and my very soul. I don’t really know when it became an addiction. All I knew was that it threatened to destroy everything I loved – and, still, I could not stop. I prayed hundreds of times that God would take it away. He did not. I think it was more of my not wanting Him to take it away that was the biggest barrier. Being sexually molested and exposed to pornography at the age of 11 had a lot to do with it, but I do not blame that experience for the continued addiction. For most of my life, I felt as though something was wrong with me. Everyone else seemed to think I was fairly normal. I did lots of fun and interesting things. If I would have seen somebody doing all of the neat things I did, I would have been envious of them. However, weaved into all of that was a struggle that I chose to fight alone. It was a struggle I did not want anyone to know about. I did not want to purchase the magazine, but there I went into the store and purchased it. I did not want to spend thousands of hours downloading image after image, but there I was at the computer until 5:00 am looking. I was angry, frustrated, scared, defeated, and had no idea what a real relationship was – what love was. I had even gone to a couple of counselors. I got some relief when I started letting the secret out. However, it never stayed away. My wife knew about it and went through a lot of pain. I did not know how long she would put up with this. One would think that the threat of a dissolving marriage would stop me. It didn’t. One night after acting out, again, I knew I needed something I had not tried before. I came across a 12 step group for sex addicts. I did not think I was one of those, but I thought I would give it a try. Little did I know that God was beginning to answer my hundreds of prayers.
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I eventually met a guy who was willing to be my sponsor. He had a lot of conditions I had to meet in order for him to continue to be my sponsor. It was a lot of work and a lot of time. I went through the steps and something happened that had never happened before: someone knew everything about me – not just the addiction, but all of the selfish things I had done to others and all of the pain I had caused to others. In addition, he knew all the pain that I felt, the anger, the frustration, the feelings of inadequacy. When I had shared everything with him he said, "Welcome to the human race.” We prayed for God’s forgiveness and power. Everything changed after that. There was a connection with others and, ultimately, with God that I had never had before.
I continued to go to meetings. I continued to connect with this man and others. I found power in prayer that I had never experienced before. I had no desire to go back. I had everything that my addiction never gave me: a real connection with Jesus and with others. I moved to Lakeland and found Celebrate Recovery here at Highland Park. I continue to go to the Men’s Sexual Addiction Group. Nothing in my life gives me more satisfaction than sharing with others what was shared with me. I love seeing people find freedom. I love seeing relationships restored – though it often is a long and rocky road). I love sharing God’s story in my life. I love connecting with others in a real and loving way.
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1 John 1:20 says, “For those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”
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I was incapable of loving others, and therefore incapable of loving God. I hid who I was. When I finally let that out and continue to let that out in my Celebrate Recovery open share group, I find a powerful relationship with others that I never knew possible before. Then, in turn, I find my relationship with God is beyond anything I could have imagined.
I don’t need fake love anymore; I found the real thing. It has been 6 years since acting out my addiction sexually, and I can not be grateful enough to the program, the fellowship, and the love of my God, Jesus.
WOMEN'S GROUPS
Chemical Dependency
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Spouses of Men w/ Sexual Addiction
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Co-dependency & Other Issues
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Mental Wellness
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Food Addiction/Eating Disorders
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More to Come!
CHILD CARE
Children who come to Celebrate Recovery are from homes that have some kind of hurt, habit, or hang-up. They are also from homes where someone important to them has made a courageous step to begin the healing process at Celebrate Recovery.
Our child care runs from 5:45pm to 8:00pm and is offered for 2 age-groups:
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CELEBRATION PLACE
Ages 5-12 Years Old
THE LANDING
Ages 13-17 Years Old
*Childcare is also available for
infants through age 4.
MEN'S GROUPS
Chemical Dependency
Sexual/Pornography Addiction
Anger & Other Issues
Welcome Back Veterans
More to Come!