I’m not sure what a group of women talk about when they are idly together, but a group of men will often times be talking through their achy muscles, torn ligaments, etc. Then, this topic leads to all of the things they did to cause this or that they’re not sure what may have done it. All of this to ask, why if we are so able to talk about our physical aches and pains are we not able to talk about our spiritual ones?

The topic of last night’s Celebrate Recovery lesson was RELAPSE. It is a great lesson and it has a good deal of excellent advice for all of us to prevent relapsing. As we gathered into our small group time we were to answer the question, “what are some of the tools you have developed in your recovery to prevent relapse?” The responses were often around recognizing how much self-centeredness had to be addressed, pride was a big topic and recognizing the lies in our heads saying the self-destructive things Satan wants us to believe as truths. A hallmark of recovery and relapse prevention is daily accountability–confession to one another–recognizing the temptation when it enters the mind and confessing it right then to your accountability person. This habit is so underused and underdeveloped. And, the men said, the reason is pride. It is so hard to humble oneself and tell another that the temptation is back. It is easy to talk about physical things, that is safe; however, spiritual things is a completely different topic.

This has been a huge one for me and it will likely remain that way until “death do us part”. Swallowing Pride is always a factor in accountability, but in so doing we find that healing comes. It all goes back to James 5:16–“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”