Where to find your own Recovery Plan

“Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.” Isaiah 28:23

In my first post on this blog, I talked about the foundation for hope and change through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In the second, I highlighted the importance of humility. Denial is an opposite of humility. I am writing this series for people who have a mental disorder of some kind. I have found that I needed help from God and that I would not receive that without choosing to be humble. My own recovery was made possible by doing a series of things that I am writing about here on this blog. I am doing my best to take these things one by one in an order that could help someone else find the same path that I am now on. Discipleship is the term I would use to describe the overall path. I had to embrace that path and try my best to stay on it day by day.

The third thing that I needed for recovery was a plan that could work. I did not get that through medical science, although I love science and have a scientific mind. I did not get that through counseling or psychology, though I am not knocking those things. I did end up reading some Christian counseling self-help books, but that was only one step on my journey. I found that on the path, it did not guide me to it initially. The plan came from the Lord. In order for me to acquire that, I had to learn to hear his voice and trust Him to take me through each of the steps. I did not have them all laid out ahead of me at the beginning. I would have liked that because I like understanding things and also like to know where I am heading. But instead I had to learn to trust God with the details as I followed. This is the walk of faith on the path God has laid out for each of us.

John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd...” 27:”My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” I started this post with a quote from the Old Testament. Before Jesus came, and before the Holy Spirit was sent, God expected His people to listen to His voice. Now with the Holy Spirit we Christians have full access to all the help that we so desperately need.

Just see what Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” This mercy and grace is not just some theoretical spiritual thing that has no practical application to the very real problems we face on the earth. I found mercy and grace very practical. God led me on a journey out of the misery which was all that I knew in this life to a better place. That place is one where anxiety and depression no longer have a strangle-hold on me. There exists very real hope in Jesus Christ.

It has been my experience that God did have a plan for my life. That plan did not include me staying in a ditch where a mental illness made me miserable and, practically speaking, useless to everyone else on the planet. God wants us to bear good fruit. God wants us to be conformed to the exact image of His Son. Jesus is not mentally ill. Jesus blessed the people of the world. Jesus knew what He was doing. He was not confused like we can be. God wants to lift us up. God wants us to have “the mind of Christ.”

Hebrews 11:6, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Part of my reward I already have acquired: a mind that is stable. God has a plan for your recovery too. I am not saying that it is quick or easy. It is just the opposite. His plan is very long-term. It covers the rest of your life. This life has many difficult trials. There is reward for those who pass them. You can hear God's voice and ultimately get His plan for your life.

There is an old Petra song that I have always liked since the first time I heard it. The chorus goes “Life is a Minefield.” The song states that God knows the way through and that we need to stick close to Him in order to safely get through. This is so true for everyone. For those with a diagnosis there is title on the map that we must walk through. That title is our diagnosis. It is certainly a proverbial minefield of sorts. So at least we know the name of it. Two men whom I met have died on their maps in their personal minefields the past year. Their diagnosis's proved fatal, but it does not have to be that way. God died to redeem us from sin, and sin ultimately brings death to us. So I would say that if anyone wants to leave their personal wilderness--the minefield on their map with their diagnosis on it--they need to choose to become a disciple. Not for a day, or a week. Not even just until they clear this minefield. There is more than just one such field on each of our maps. This was a lifetime commitment for me, which is why this path is anything but easy. It requires the ultimate commitment anyone can make for the ultimate, highest possible reward.

To sum all of this up: we have to recognize that God has a plan and that it is possible to hear from Him what it is. If you are struggling with this concept, then you need to ask God for help understanding and accepting it. Once you get that far then you are ready to start taking steps to finding God's plan for recovery for you. In my case, I started by crying out to God for help. Prayer for me suddenly became a priority.

One of the first things that was sin (not helping me) in my life that God showed me was my personal appetite for entertainment. I was addicted to watching television. I was averaging 7 hours every day. There was a lot more I could be doing during this time. I was highly motivated so I quit cold turkey. That freed up half of the day for other things. I began spending a significant amount of time in prayer each day. I studied the Bible for the sake of personal application of what it states for my life. I started listening to, and really enjoying Christian music. God led me to new social settings and places where I was taught about Biblical Truth. I was very pro-active. This was a miracle of sorts because before I was so passive. Now your path is unique. You have to find that one, and not try and mimic my own. This is the primary reason why I do not like most “Christian” self-help books. They tend to teach you to mimic someone elses recovery instead of how to make your own work.

We live in a very busy world. For many this busyness has crowded out time for a personal relationship with God. It takes time to get your plan from God. You have to literally listen for it. You have to make seeking it a priority. You have to have faith that God will guide you. Your path may include things mine did not. Drugs, doctors, therapists and many other things can be tools that God uses. He certainly uses prayer, His Bible, His people (Christian brothers and sisters providing a support network) and, most importantly, His Spirit. None of these things work like magic. Instead they are a discipline, they have to be used consistently over time to see results.

When I started my journey, I was trying to figure out how to clearly hear God's voice for myself. I heard some others speak of a still, small voice inside. I tried listening to that and all I heard was the crickets outside. I am a mystic, but most of the Christian books for mystics that I have read I do not like and would not recommend. I have tried some of the techniques they promoted. None of those worked at all. They had a perfect failure rate for me. Maybe they worked for the people writing the books. Or maybe it was just idealized b.s. being sold, I do not know. In recent years I have come to believe that God was personally offended by my own attempts to mimic what others were claiming were surefire ways to deepen my relationship with Him. God wants to know me and have a personal relationship with me. He does not want to have a third party relationship with me through an intermediary. I could tell you how this process works for me, but that is likely much less helpful than you trying on your own to discern the process God has for you that will work, not for me, but for you. The struggle to make this personal and also make it work is part of the journey, in my experience.

I also want to say that even decades into this process that I do not have a 100 percent accuracy rate on being led by God's Spirit. There are good reasons for that. They include the strong influence of this world's system, spiritual warfare with demons and the ugly reality of my old, sinful nature. I like my pastor, but in the past he has taught being led with an overly idealized optimism. Perhaps you too have received such teaching. The problem with this is when you fail or when your pastor fails it leaves you confused, wondering what is going on? The reality is that life is much more challenging then glossing over this particular struggle.

Yet I choose not to let my own failures get me down, or stop trying to move forward. I simply ask for forgiveness for my error and ask God for help to do better next time. I have to choose to take my eyes off of myself and get them back on Jesus again. Jesus has forgiven me and I need to see myself through His eyes and not just my own. Being able to do this on a regular basis is an important key to recovery. The spiritual eyes and ears that have to be developed to get God's plan for your life will also really help you get past the tunnel vision that so many have on their own problems. God is so much bigger than that and His perspective is what we desperately need. That perspective enlightens our path, makes our problems look smaller and leads us to the answers we so desperately need.

I have written this in the hope of inspiring just one person to choose to change the way their life has been heading and get on this path. God is big. God created man to have relationship with Him. God sent Jesus to redeem us so this relationship could be restored after we all fell. The minefields in this life are a blessing in disguise if we allow them to drive us towards the guide who offers to help us get safely through them. Knowing God personally is an adventure like nothing else that this world has to offer. Fix in your mind today this goal of the high calling in Christ Jesus.