trauma | Life Recovery

6 Steps to Leaving Your Baggage in the Past

Is the baggage from the past getting heavy? Put it down! Baggage from past relationships, trauma, and childhood gets carried into the present until it is dealt with. This emotional weight strains a person’s mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational health. Can God make a way to leave the heavy baggage behind? Yes. Here are six steps to take to lighten the load.

Agree with God that there’s a problem from the past, and confess it.
No one can overcome an issue until they acknowledge it. There’s a reason for every feeling—anger, joy, or bitterness. God’s word for “agree” is the word “confess.” To confess something means to agree that it is true. When it comes to baggage that is bothering an individual, they must recognize that things have gone wrong – either done to them or done by them – and agree with God or “confess,” that they have happened and affected them deeply. (more…)

11 Signs and Symptoms of a Reactive Life

Life Issues

We deny
It’s easy to ignore our issues. Like the disabled man in John 5 who waited for years by a pool to be healed, so we are looking for a magical cure to make us whole. But healing doesn’t come instantaneously. In fact, it takes hard work to stop reacting and turn to Christ who encourages us to “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!” (John 5:8).

We minimize
Let’s face it: Our issues are huge! However, we try to make ourselves feel better by saying that they’re small. Admit the truth, and you will be on the road to recovery. The Living Bible puts it this way: “You can’t heal a wound by saying it’s not there,” (Jeremiah 6:14). (more…)

Why Admission Without Change is Meaningless

Addiction/Recovery

When it comes to making changes in our lives, some of us act as if we’ve got our heads buried in the sand. For example, after years of struggling with addiction, we finally admitted we had a problem. But that was several months ago. We probably even looked into going through treatment, seeing a counselor, and attending a Life Recovery group.

However, we still haven’t made any changes in our lives.

If this sounds like you and you’re struggling to make changes in your life, the truth is, admission without change is meaningless. While you needed to admit you have a problem with addiction, recovery doesn’t stop there. That’s just the first step on your journey! (more…)