Participants: Cheri Peters, Ed McClure
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR000005
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00:10 Welcome to Celebrating Life In Recovery
00:11 I'm Cheri your host. 00:13 What is going on today worker and decide if just say no 00:15 is the ticket. 00:16 I believe if you get this your recovery from whatever, drugs, 00:20 alcohol, porn addictions, well any kind of sexual addictions, 00:23 eating disorders, cutting self-mutilation and the 00:26 cleaner addictions, and I mean cleaner addictions 00:29 the ones we accept. 00:30 Workaholism, perfectionism, religious addictions will be 00:33 easier and you will be blessed. 00:36 You have to stay with us come and join us. 01:07 Abstinence, stopping addictive behavior or what ever 01:10 the hurt, hang-up our habits are that keeps you locked up. 01:14 With whatever, alcohol, food, addiction, shoplifting, 01:18 sexual addictions, porn addictions, online addictions, 01:21 spending too much, workaholism, injury, cutting, burning. 01:25 Let's look at some of the nicer ones, religious addictions, 01:28 gossip, depression, anger, critical spirit, perfectionism. 01:33 Did I say perfectionist, I don't know if anybody has 01:36 that one but I have seen it out there, controlling, 01:39 lying, cheating, abstinence is just the half, 01:43 one half of the first step. 01:46 Don't you hate that? I hate that! 01:50 When I stopped using heroin, I was a heroin addict for 01:54 10 years, from 13 to 23 years old. 01:56 When I stop using heroin I thought you know what, 01:58 everything is going to turn around, everything 02:02 is going to be good. 02:03 I didn't even think when I stopped everything else would 02:08 float nicely to the surface. 02:11 You know when the water kind of settles and 02:14 everything can float up. 02:16 I had no idea that I would have to work with character 02:20 issues and the fact that as an addict I had learned 02:24 all kinds of things so I had to look at all the things 02:27 I've learned as an addict. 02:28 Then I had to look all the things I learned prior to 02:31 becoming an addict that predisposed me to step into 02:33 that life, dysfunctional childhood, 02:35 stopped being loved and all that. 02:38 I thought no way, no way I'm just stopping the addiction 02:45 is one half of the first step. 02:48 Don't you hate that? I thought when I stopped heroin 02:51 I would be fine. Everything would be perfect. 02:55 People told me that, I'm heroin addict and you just need 02:58 to stop doing drugs. 02:59 I stopped doing drugs and everything started coming 03:03 to the surface. I had junk in every single pocket. 03:07 If people say you have skeletons in your closet I thought 03:11 I need to bring these guys out and teach them to dance. 03:13 Because we are in trouble and I am thinking okay I have 03:17 character stuff that is huge. 03:20 I'm manipulative and I lie and I have been on the streets 03:22 forever and I don't know how to behave. 03:24 The first time somebody invited me to dinner, I didn't 03:28 know how to eat with someone and my palms sweat. 03:30 I had no idea about those kind of things. 03:33 The drugs were nothing compared to the things I had to 03:36 learn in my life, and I just hated that. 03:40 I absolutely hate it that is when we stopped looking at 03:44 drug addiction and all the behavioral things that come 03:47 with drugs addiction I started looking at my childhood 03:49 stuff, my parents were addicts. 03:51 The language I learned in my home, emotional spiritual 03:55 language I learned at home was tweaked. 03:57 It was just tweaked, so to decide you were in trouble 04:01 and have to stop the behavior that is killing you is 04:04 important but it is not everything. 04:06 I heard someone say once it was like buying a ticket to 04:09 a theater, but it's not the movie. 04:12 If you know what I mean, I need the ticket, I need to stop, 04:16 but it is not the rest of the thing, the rest of the deal 04:19 is going to take time. 04:21 I remember when God showed me I didn't trust anyone, 04:24 no one and how it hit me as I fell in love to an incredible 04:30 guy, I'm a heroin addict and homeless for 10 years and 04:33 my family are addicts, everybody's addicts. 04:36 My husband was a Boy Scout until he was 18 years old. 04:40 I thought so you were a geek then? 04:43 You are homeless and an addict what is wrong with you? 04:47 His dad was an ambassador for the United States and his 04:50 mom is a violinist with the Madison Symphony, 04:52 an incredible family, right? 04:55 So we fall in love and God gifted me with this man, 04:58 I mean just gifted me. 04:59 He loves me, adores me and I have never been loved and 05:03 nurtured by anyone as much as him in my whole life. 05:06 I mean it is just amazing and one day after 10 years 05:09 of marriage, he looked at me and he was tearing up. 05:12 I thought what Hon? He said you know what Cheri, one 05:16 day you're going to let me love you. 05:18 I thought Hon you're still in my house and that has to 05:23 account for something, and to me I had no idea what he 05:27 was saying was that I had so many trust issues and emotional 05:30 damage that I really never let him close 05:33 enough to love me. 05:34 I don't know the difference because he's the closest 05:37 person ever and he is thinking that there is a wall there. 05:41 It is still there or that have to listen to my husband, 05:45 at first I wanted to say that was not true. 05:48 I let you love me, when I was on the street I moved every 05:51 three months, never did anyone get close to me. 05:53 I did not let them in my life, I never let anyone touch me 05:56 as far as that kind of emotional thing. 05:58 I want to spend the rest of my life with you so I tried 06:02 to convince him it was not true. 06:04 I do let him in, so now I have to convince God. 06:08 God, You know that I love him and You know I've let him 06:14 in, then I hear God through the Holy Spirit Cheri, 06:17 you never let Me in. Oh shut up, not true. 06:22 I did not mean that disrespect- ful to God but He 06:24 knows how I talk, and I said it was not true. 06:27 I let You in, He said not even in your prayers. 06:30 Not even when you are on your knees pleading with Me on 06:34 an issue that means everything to you to I get into that 06:37 place, you don't trust anybody. 06:40 I thought no way, no way and He says, you know what? 06:47 That is the core issue. Wait, I thought the core issue 06:52 was my heroine addiction? 06:53 I thought it was all that kind of stuff. 06:56 He said you don't trust anybody, you have never allowed 06:59 anyone to love you. 07:01 I'm thinking God, wait, and I will get back to that. 07:11 I could taste recovery, I could taste happiness and 07:14 right living forever in thousands of different ways, 07:17 look at all kinds of places and faces or 07:19 I could allow God to lead. 07:21 Our theme text is Isaiah 57:18 from the New Living 07:26 Standard, I want to let people know what version, 07:28 is God is saying, "I have seen what they do 07:31 "but I will heal them anyway" Amen. And I will comfort them 07:36 and comfort those who mourn and I think that is an amazing 07:41 thing, every time I even think of that text I think of 07:45 God's mercy, that He knows all that about me. 07:48 He knows how damaged I am emotionally to the very core 07:51 of who I am and He says I'm going to heal you anyway. 07:53 I'm going to stay with you until you let Me in. 07:57 I'll hang out with you in prayers, and if you think 08:00 It's close that's okay, but I will wait until you 08:03 actually feel what close is like. 08:05 Because when you let Me in, closer than what you think 08:09 it will actually bring healing into your life. 08:11 God's mercy towards us, God is saying that He knows all 08:14 our garbage, even our hidden junk and He will heal us 08:18 anyway Jeremiah 29:13, "the whole heart must be yielded 08:23 "to God or a change cannot happen. " 08:25 I don't have it within myself to get well. 08:27 The Bible says we are dead in trespasses, dead in sins, 08:30 the whole head is sick, I know that, I know that. 08:33 The whole heart is sick, we have no soundness in it. 08:37 We are held captive by our junk, whether it is child abuse 08:41 family dysfunction, molest, eating, violence, rebellion or 08:46 whatever we are taken captive by Satan. 08:48 God desires to heal us and set us free and that requires 08:51 an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole heart. 08:55 We must surrender all to God. 08:56 The battle against self is the greatest battle we will 09:00 ever fight, it's the me that has been developed by 09:03 all the junk, all the rebellion, all the hurt, all the 09:06 past stuff it's fighting for the right to be in control, 09:09 for it's very life, even if it means your death. 09:12 I learned so well at 2- 3 years old that no one is safe, 09:17 no one can be trusted. 09:18 I had to fight that belief every day and allow God to 09:21 teach me truth. 09:34 When we come back I would like you to meet Ed McClure 09:37 and share part of his journey. He is going to tell us 09:41 what his take on God is, what his take on trust is. 09:44 Stay tuned! 09:52 We want to introduce you to a beautiful book 09:54 Called 'Steps To Christ'. 09:56 Each program in this series is based on a different 09:58 chapter showing you how to become a Christian and 10:01 gain victory over your addictions. 10:03 'Steps To Christ' is our gift to you free of charge. 10:06 Just call us at: 10:33 Welcome back, this is my favorite part of the show 10:35 when we get to actually interview someone and find out 10:37 how God has led you. 10:39 What kind of journey have you been on and what was your 10:42 surrender like and how is your healing in that? 10:45 Ed McClure and you're from Texas and have a ministry 10:48 there and you have really explored some amazing things. 10:52 So I'm going to let you say little bit about your 10:54 ministry and then we will find out a little bit 10:56 about where you come from. 10:57 Well the ministry is Zoe 8, Zoe and the numeral 8. 11:01 The ministry is to, the purpose of the ministry is to 11:04 provide information, provide hope number one. 11:08 Provide hope to people who have experienced the kind of 11:10 things, anything frankly, but who have had challenges 11:13 and difficulties in their life. 11:14 We provide hope and technical information that's real hard 11:18 true facts that enable you to change your life, 11:20 mind, body and spirit. 11:22 Number three is support and relationship. 11:25 That our threefold purpose. 11:26 I just love the way you say that because hope isn't 11:28 going to do it, we have to actually, what do I do now 11:31 I am hopeful but what is the first step? 11:34 The first step I think is hope, you have to have hope 11:36 and you have to believe and then you will begin 11:39 to change whatever behavior or whatever issue that 11:41 you are dealing with. 11:43 Then you need a lot of knowledge to do that is what 11:45 I found out in my case. 11:46 So we are all about researching and providing knowledge 11:49 and information to people to help them make the changes. 11:51 Then the relationship support is equally essential 11:54 because you can't change, I heard you talking earlier in 11:57 the show today about you just can't change something and 12:01 think it is all over, it is just the beginning. 12:03 It's not just that you change that one thing. 12:05 So you know what I know more about you then obviously 12:09 the people here do because we have talked before. 12:14 You weren't always as little as you are now. 12:16 No, I at one time was much more substantial than I am now. 12:21 I'm still pretty big guy but I bring this sweater 12:24 along a lot of times to put it in perspective for people 12:26 because size can be relevant. 12:28 This use to be my daily wear and I used to stuff myself 12:31 into this. - close to 500 pounds! 12:33 500 pounds and really miserable, and the weight was 12:38 less of my problems it seems, because I had severe depression, 12:43 Anxiety for years, heart arrhythmia, high blood pressure, 12:47 oozing, gnarled, psoriasis that nobody could contend with. 12:52 Even all that is just a symptom of toxins and poisons 12:56 trying to get out of your body. - absolutely! 12:58 Outward manifestations of inward conditions. 13:00 Medications, I was on chronic medications, 7 different 13:05 chronic medications to quote 'you never get off'. 13:08 You never stopped taking them, they're with you forever. 13:11 In one year I dropped right at 200 pounds, it really 13:15 took 15 months to get off all the medications and I have 13:18 stayed off the medications and it has been amazing. 13:21 - I mean you are half the man you use to be. 13:24 - well maybe two thirds, no 3/5, 60% of the man I used to be. 13:30 But I still like myself, I love myself now. 13:34 - so I know those conditions, that just doesn't happen 13:38 overnight and so for those who have the same struggle, 13:42 whether it be weight or whatever that has led them into 13:45 the same kind of bondages where did that start for you? 13:49 Just to say one thing here so it stays relevant to as 13:52 many people, we have learned in amazing truth which is 13:56 thin people, and thick or fat people, or obese, or 13:59 whatever word you want to use, 14:00 have a very similar life patterns. 14:02 We worked now with a lot of thin people, but our 14:05 circumstances, anything less than what God would desire, 14:09 or what we would desire for our children and that is how 14:13 I personalize it for people. 14:14 If God is our Father in heaven and we have children here 14:17 on earth that we can relate to what He desires for us, 14:19 we desire for our children, so any health condition or 14:22 emotional condition or any condition that you are in 14:25 is less than the abundant life that God, which is Zoe, 14:30 a Greek word is something that we really want to deal with 14:34 and those things begin generally early in life. 14:37 - you know when I said that it made sense to me because 14:40 I have all the emotional damage that was on the 14:44 inside, and yours was more on the outside. 14:46 So somebody could look at yours, but I had the same stuff. 14:50 I think obesity is very tough, and as I get to know people 14:53 with extreme thinness that is tough too because everybody 14:57 can see it, you are wearing your emotions on the outside. 15:00 I want to make the point that I think those conditions 15:04 are physical and there are spiritual and emotional things 15:08 going on that I think personally drive the physical 15:11 state we are in. 15:12 Okay let's talk about where you came from and then get to 15:15 how that unfolded for you. 15:16 Because I know God showed your so many things in His love 15:20 and it changed everything. 15:22 Yes He did, the process I went through that year I was 15:25 healing, if you will, I was healing outwardly and physically 15:29 but what was driving down with the healing of my emotions 15:32 and the spiritual healing. 15:34 As I healed spiritually I was able to grow, we can't grow 15:38 when we are broke, you know. 15:39 We have to be broken to begin to heal and get better. 15:43 God through that year, I have shared this with you 15:47 another time, that I literally would wake up at four, 15:50 I didn't work I took a long time off of work and was 15:53 slow to go back to work, and workaholism is 15:56 my more positive addiction. 15:57 I would get up at four in the morning - you know 16:02 I know I didn't physically hear this, but all over 16:05 the world I heard them say that is not a positive 16:09 addiction, I just heard that. 16:11 Nothing that is out of balance is positive so I stand 16:18 corrected and apologize. 16:22 - women and children! - women and children. 16:25 God took me back through my life and the 16:28 process that I had to go through to get well. 16:30 I was to literally go back and relive and it was amazing 16:33 as if I was in a twilight sleep and I would lay there and 16:37 a prayerful or meditative state and would wake up 16:40 almost every morning at four or five in the morning for 16:43 several hours lie in bed and in a very slow procession 16:46 go back through my life and see the things that happened 16:49 to me. Equally important the things I had done 16:52 and inflicted upon others. 16:53 I could smell and feel and taste the times and places, 16:57 but with an understanding in all most as if God was 17:00 standing beside me saying do you see this. 17:02 See how this affected you? 17:04 Do you see how you affected this person? 17:07 Do you see how you got where you are today? 17:09 Then we were able, as God allowed me to do that and go 17:12 through that process, I was able to put those things 17:14 to bed and gain knowledge and understanding. 17:16 We parish for lack of knowledge God says, with that 17:21 knowledge and understanding of how I got where 17:23 I got in my life and the effect it had not only on me 17:26 but on those that have chosen to love me in this life 17:30 and be connected to me. 17:31 They were equally affected and it amazed me, it not only 17:34 enable and that was all part of the process so the pounds 17:37 are coming off, psoriasis and skin is clearing up. 17:40 You know one thing I am stuck at is where did you start? 17:45 Your 500 pounds did you just one day decide I am going 17:49 to turn over, did someone say, you know what buddy? 17:54 That had been said a few times and I think a self 17:58 realization that time had grown very, very short for me. 18:02 The physical problems and the emotional depression and 18:06 despair I really felt, whether it was the Holy Spirit or 18:10 what, I knew, I didn't need a doctor to tell me. 18:13 - you were going to survive? 18:14 I wasn't going to survive and I felt life circumstances 18:17 from my family, my wife, my children were such in some of 18:20 the businesses we were in it would have been catastrophic. 18:24 Really it sounds a little mellow dramatic, there is no good 18:28 news, no good side of the saga of Ed as Ed was. 18:31 I really felt what a legacy to leave, to deprive my wife 18:37 of a normal life by getting so out of control. 18:41 My children to have a normal father, so not only was the 18:44 reality of life with me bad that I really felt I died at 18:48 that point economically in every other way the legacy 18:52 would have been just disastrous, horrendous. 18:54 And you are actually thinking of putting a will together. 18:56 A will yeah, we had a will of sorts but the problem 19:00 wasn't in the will the problem was in all the loans and 19:03 debts, we owned hotels and just the things we were involved in 19:06 the economic cycle of 911. 19:07 A lot of things were going on in our businesses, things 19:11 that needed to be cleaned up, not just my physical 19:14 condition, there was a lot that had to happen. 19:16 I definitely reached a point, I think this is essential, 19:20 so many people I think were looking for that point were 19:23 I had been trying to turn over to God for a long time. 19:26 I had great people including my family members and 19:29 pastors in what ever pray for me. 19:32 I had been a believer and passionate for the Lord for 19:36 a long, long time, so what does it? 19:39 There is really a level, I think it's like peeling an 19:42 onion in a way in reverse. 19:44 To get to the point where you truly surrender and 19:49 you truly let God become God of every single 19:52 aspect of your life. 19:54 What you eat, what you think, what you do with your time, 19:56 how you prioritize, and I work with people today and 19:59 they have given up 70%. They've changed 30% and 20:04 I used to be one of those people. 20:06 I could get on a treadmill and walk, I could go on any diet 20:08 plan. - I bought the ticket to the movies. 20:11 Yeah I heard say that earlier. - that's not the movie. 20:14 Yeah that's not the movie, the movie is life. 20:17 It's our spiritual being, it's everything. 20:19 - you know what is amazing to me and I know that God has 20:22 showed you that, is that when you give the fact that 20:24 He can pour everything into you. - He can. 20:27 You can submit it all and let it all go so whatever it 20:31 Took when I reached that point, I was ready to do it and 20:35 I had a moment, there is these God moments. 20:39 I think God can only display Himself and the majesty, 20:44 the omnipotence of Himself when there is this utter despair 20:48 when only God can save you. 20:50 You have to get so low, you are beyond it, someone like me 20:52 who thinks he's kind of smart. 20:54 - you are smart, incredibly successful. 20:57 In many ways yes, outwardly you could say that, but when 21:01 I had to reach a point where no matter how much money or effort 21:05 or time, or hired experts, and Ed was going down. 21:08 There was no savings and that is a God moment. 21:12 Wait, wait, wait because His moment of getting it. 21:16 A finally saying this is the, everything must change. 21:20 You were kneeling in a doctor's office on the floor? 21:23 Right, actually just before that I made the decision 21:27 to walk away effectively, I had to have an outward act 21:31 of that, I had to get myself into my car and put myself into 21:35 a facility on the East Coast with a major university 21:37 for one month program. 21:39 I was a guy that worked and never took any time off. 21:41 - so that was huge for you! 21:42 Yes, so I like to say when I walked off my front steps 21:45 and got into my car, my wife and two kids were saying 21:48 goodbye, I had loaded up for four to six weeks and that 21:50 was the biggest moment of my life because for once 21:54 I wasn't trying to manage it within myself saying 21:57 I'm walking away from myself. 21:58 I didn't know what I was coming back or what I would 22:00 find in within 36 hours I'm on the floor at Dr. Colbert's 22:05 office in Orlando, Florida, a per chance Segway on my 22:09 way to this institution and we are on the linoleum 22:13 floor on our knees praying and giving every bit of my life. 22:17 He just cut to the quick too via my childhood in my 22:19 emotional state, he diagnosed. 22:22 Didn't say anything about your weight? 22:23 Weight was incidental to him. 22:25 He said you'll melt, you will melt. 22:26 If you can take care of the spiritual problem of me, 22:30 he characterized it as a root of rejection. 22:33 The divorce when I was five years old, my father 22:36 who was violent, he was an alcoholic and I didn't hear 22:39 from him until I was 17. 22:40 I think that was rejection number one and a numerous 22:44 other rejections and other things. 22:46 When you say rejection number one, with his alcoholism 22:50 and all that type of violence from one to five, and this 22:53 child was not safe I'm sure, or felt safe. 22:56 No I think, and I don't want to make it all about me, 23:00 but we have my story and what I say when I am 23:02 doing seminars, consulting with people, everybody has 23:05 a story, the only relevance of my story to you is that 23:08 we each have one that defines how we got what we are. 23:11 What is amazing about your story is just picturing this 23:15 Dr. saying to you, it really isn't about the physical 23:18 stuff right now, you have so much hurt inside. 23:23 And things you have put in separate compartments. 23:27 Yes, he literally said to me at one point when he put his 23:29 hand on my shoulder and said you know how close 23:33 you are to death, it went through me like a hot knife 23:36 through soft butter. 23:38 I knew that was true and looked at him and 23:41 I said I do know. 23:42 He said to me you know that you can go at any minute. 23:46 He also looked at me and said this rejection it started 23:50 here in your childhood and he said rejection takes root. 23:54 Take this for whatever you want to get out of it, 23:56 it takes root in the intestines, when your intestines 23:58 don't work data starts controlling your body and the 24:00 fact that the spiritual root, the rejection which leads to 24:05 bitterness and all sorts of things begins to take over 24:08 your emotions and in the thing you know you're rolling 24:11 into depression and everything is coming apart. 24:13 We have to go to the beginning of the root which is God, 24:16 and take this to God and get delivered of that 24:20 of the spiritual issue. 24:21 So what he said to me - don't you love that, I love that. 24:24 Ask me if I love that, I'm smiling and there was nothing to 24:27 smile about in my life, in my world. 24:29 But at that time when he said that did you get it? 24:33 Oh I got it, I knew, I came to believe that the 24:37 truth has a resignation level and I'm sure there is some 24:39 scientific way when you prove that when you hear the truth, 24:41 which is the Holy Spirit, it cuts through everything 24:44 so in his office I knew and 24:47 I get goose bumps right now, I knew my life was forever 24:49 changed, it was over and I had come to this reckoning 24:53 moment, what on the earth am I doing on January 29, 2002 24:56 with a guy named Dr. Colbert and his incredible wife, 24:58 Mary walked in and they began to pray. 25:00 The nurses began to pray and we were all praying and 25:04 I am just crying babbling all over, I'm all wet and 25:08 they spent 5 hours with me the first day. 25:11 This is what we all need, we need to be important enough 25:16 and loved enough by strangers by really Christians. 25:20 People who are serving Christ, it is the deal and I left 25:25 that office and to me it sounds crazy, it was over then 25:30 because I had surrendered, the Holy Spirit had entered 25:34 in taking control. - you knew what the issue is? 25:37 I barely could speak or think for two days. 25:40 I could not articulate over the phone to my wife about 25:45 my experience and it is all sort of downhill from there. 25:48 We crashed into the mountain and then it became a journey 25:52 of healing and acquiring knowledge. 25:55 My family becoming part of this. 25:58 Did you still get the treatment center? - oh yeah! 26:00 What happened there? - We could go all day about that 26:02 one, we want to be gentle. 26:04 One of the leading educational institutions in America, is 26:08 over there, the temple if you would go to. 26:12 If money was no object you go to this place and they 26:15 taught me many things, many of the things we use 26:17 in our program I learned there these tremendous strategies, 26:20 tremendous truths, but boy the whole body, mind, and spirit 26:23 connection and all that and I went. 26:25 Dr. Colbert encouraged me to go, my wife encouraged me to go 26:28 and stay there, learn behavior modification, learn things. 26:33 I was so physically sick that when they did the induction 26:36 I was only allowed to exercise in the chair with a rubber 26:40 band, or in a pool. 26:41 I couldn't walk from here 20 feet without crippling pain. 26:45 It is hard to explain to people the physical condition. 26:49 You could look at me and say he looks like 26:51 he's out of shape. 26:52 I'm in such ferocious shape, I work out, I mean I go and 26:56 lift weights to prove to myself that I am really a man, 27:00 a person. - you know what I want to say to you when 27:03 you say that? Don't judge anybody on their journey. 27:06 I was so blessed by even the first part of your journey. 27:11 You getting it and the fact God is so gentle with us. 27:15 Being able to come in and say has nothing to do with... mine 27:19 it had nothing to do with the heroin in the fact that 27:22 I never learned to trust or love anybody. 27:25 You are rejection as a little boy and all those things 27:27 and God says, now let Me love you into health. 27:30 His love healed me and has enabled me to love and you 27:38 can't give what you don't have. 27:39 You must receive it whether it's forgiveness or love 27:42 which are the two things I focus on. we don't go 27:44 around forgiving people until you've forgiven yourself, 27:47 forgiving God for the position as I learned in my walk 27:50 that one of the things that is common, I believe, we 27:54 develop an anger and a separation of God, and it may be 27:58 in your subconscious. - as you're eating! 28:02 Why is this happening to me? 28:03 Why do these donuts make me fatter? 28:04 I don't get it, what's wrong with your plan? 28:07 So it begins there. - isn't it amazing to you that God 28:12 says I love you enough go ahead and blame me until you 28:16 actually see that it wasn't Me. 28:18 My desire for you is to be well and happy and laughing 28:21 out loud. - He's is my Father. 28:24 I came to know my dad really well and He blesses me 28:30 mightily and I still have issues in life but it is 28:37 such a different game, I'm not hiding. 28:39 Fear is gone and fear is replaced by love in my life. 28:43 I am far from perfect and will probably remain so until 28:47 I graduate to the next life. 28:48 When you said far from perfect, that opens up something 28:51 for me because I can ask your wife. 28:53 So Elisa, I want to ask you a couple things, one of the 28:57 things I want to ask you is what did you think when 29:01 he called you and said that he had met Don and what had 29:06 happened? What did you think? Did you think he was 29:09 crazy you better get to that clinic? 29:11 I wasn't surprised, everybody was so concerned about him 29:16 and I knew some of the things he needed to do but when 29:20 you just don't listen or aren't able to listen you don't 29:24 want to hear it and it is not discussed very often 29:27 actually it's pretty ignored. 29:29 It was a white elephant in the room and nobody's talking 29:32 about it. - you're not talking about him? - no! 29:33 Now I know it's not a pun. It could be. 29:38 But you know it becomes uncomfortable as a family to 29:44 talk and everybody is talking to me. 29:46 Why don't you do something, I said I can't do anything, 29:50 there is nothing I can do. 29:52 We have done everything we can do so he came to the point 29:55 where he had to do something himself. 29:57 When he called me and said and talked about Dr. Colbert, 30:00 I had never met him either but I wasn't surprised. 30:03 Because there has been volumes of prayer going into this. 30:08 It wasn't an accident that appointment had just happened 30:12 to open up. - no! 30:13 - Dr. Colbert is a very busy man, very famous. 30:16 That was divine, I mean the hand of God was on that 30:19 appointment, a friend of a friend, a casual thing. 30:22 Pastor John Haggy in San Antonio, Texas who's son 30:25 happened to work for me just bing, bang, bong you're driving 30:29 to the East Coast so just stop by Don's and will get you in. 30:31 Now I just have to say to people, and Elisa you know 30:35 more than anybody else right now is that when you actually 30:39 surrender and put your hand up, when you start telling God 30:43 you know God what ever, He opens doors that will wow you. 30:47 You have to step out with that faith. 30:49 And that is what he did, he gotten in his car that day 30:52 because he had tried to do this a couple times. 30:56 But as he said 9-11 happened and then it was Christmas, 31:00 then the New Year and then he finally went. 31:03 We didn't think he was going to go, mostly just the huh 31:05 he'll get to it one of these days. 31:07 But for him to just get in that car and go, it was that 31:11 first step as we say to initiate something to happen in 31:15 your life, you just can't sit back and wait for it 31:17 to happen, go after it, go get it. 31:21 That was a turning point and he was ready to come home 31:24 after seeing Dr. Colbert and we are all saying no, 31:28 you have already done this and you never take time off, 31:32 go take the time off and spend that time even if you 31:35 don't learn anything in that place at least you're in 31:38 a safe place for a four-week period of time. 31:41 Take advantage of it! 31:45 In that place that taught me much I developed some 31:49 relationships that live on to this day, but more than 31:52 anything, and it is why really went there. 31:55 I knew that I was really done myself and it was over. 31:58 So in my prayer talk with God I was acknowledging that 32:01 I am done, I would look in the mirror and not even 32:04 recognize who was there. 32:06 Well know this is when I was really sick, you see this 32:11 person I can even connect with who and what I am, I primarily 32:17 went there to get away because I knew I had to isolate 32:20 with God and say this could not have been Your plan. 32:23 So I am way out of control, so the purpose of going there, 32:27 and the benefit in the end, the biggest benefit of 32:30 isolation, it was just me and God, no business, no phones, 32:33 I did cheat a little. 32:34 - I was going to say workaholic you would have to have 32:38 a phone somewhere. I would call out and they would call 32:40 in and say you are breaking the rules you are an addict 32:43 and you will never get well, because their prognosis for 32:46 me was not very good. 32:47 I was cheating a little here and there but I had a lot of 32:51 time with God, day and night mostly 24 hours a day. 32:54 I was with Him and I prayed and read the Bible. 32:57 I had my experience at Don's on the way, you see God gave 33:01 me this massive dose of truth and deliverance really before 33:06 I got there so that four weeks was incredibly fruitful. 33:10 Incredibly fruitful. - I am so blessed that makes me 33:14 say God if you are right here I'd kiss You on the face. 33:17 And I'd kiss on the face, right now if there are any 33:20 questions, if anybody has a question right now for Ed? 33:24 Connie! Yes I actually do have a question for you but 33:27 before I ask the question I have to give you a little 33:29 background about my family history. 33:31 I was raised in a small family, just my parents my 33:35 sister and I in Wisconsin. 33:37 When you walked into our home it look like a normal home. 33:39 You go into the kitchen and the refrigerator was fully 33:42 stocked as well as the cupboards in the kitchen. 33:44 But if you went downstairs there is a full refrigerator 33:47 and freezer stocked with food as well as a bunch of 33:51 shelving for canned goods. 33:53 That was the first hint that it might be really important 33:56 in our house, so the next thing you notice if you have 34:01 dinner with us that my parents were incredibly praising 34:06 us continually for the more we ate. 34:08 Now it wasn't just that they were praising us for eating 34:12 everything on our plate, and once you finished it you did 34:15 a good job, they did do that but in addition to that if 34:19 you ate an additional plate, two plates or more, you got 34:24 even more praise and it became almost a contest between my 34:29 sister and I, how much can we eat? 34:31 How much praise can we get today and we so wanted to 34:34 please our parents and there was so much positive 34:38 affirmation that we learned to stuff ourselves. 34:42 So then as they became adults we brought that tendency 34:46 to overeat and stuff ourselves and that feeling of being 34:50 overstuffed became normal for us. 34:53 So I guess one question I have for you is first of all 34:57 how prevalent is that tendency for parents to praise 35:03 their children so greatly when they over eat really and 35:08 also if you have any tips for me, and my sister as well, 35:14 for how we could overcome this tendency to over eat 35:17 because it is such a natural thing for us to do and 35:21 we can't seem to break out of it, either of us. 35:24 Well thank you that was a great question and I think it 35:27 is relevant to so many people. 35:29 I think first as the parents, now before I was a parent 35:33 I was a good critic of parents, but having been one 35:37 I have to reassess my position on parenting. 35:42 Parents are people too and a couple things come to mind. 35:45 I have already mentioned the scripture of my people perish 35:49 for lack of knowledge. 35:50 I found as I became a father, it took me at least 35:53 30 years I would rate myself, about 20 years excuse me 35:56 before I became a pretty good father. 35:58 I like myself as a father today. 35:59 We come so ill-equipped to be parents. 36:01 So many of us in so much to know, we are talking about 36:05 diet and nutrition, the brightest medical minds in 36:08 America don't understand diet and nutrition so how can 36:11 we expect parents to know? 36:13 We need to forgive the parents first of all for just 36:16 being human like the rest of us. 36:17 But indeed you are touching on some things I did learn 36:20 at that great institution on the east coast which is a 36:23 behavior modification, where does behavior 36:25 learned come from. 36:27 As children we are taught through the reward system of 36:31 what is good and what is bad because not only an act of 36:35 consciousness but it becomes a subconscious behavior. 36:38 Which can really undo you, I can tell you right now that 36:41 my mother, God bless her, is a nurse. 36:44 She is and RN and as I went back and read it my childhood 36:47 because I had some stuff in my childhood that I blacked 36:49 out, but when I began to reconnect to that childhood 36:52 indeed one I got my first shots and had to go to a doctor 36:56 the reward was a cherry vanilla ice cream cone. 36:58 The reward was food, now food is a good reward because 37:04 it is effective and it's satiating capabilities and it 37:08 can make us feel good, that is a whole complex subject 37:12 that we can go into really deep or just on the surface. 37:15 But I will say this much, there are chemical things 37:19 that go on with certain foods and there are society 37:22 things, some satiating things that are true about food. 37:25 Food is in effect reward system because it will make you 37:28 feel good, it will do it for chemical reasons, it will do it 37:31 for emotional reasons and you probably have had both 37:33 those things happening to you. 37:35 Again not a conscious act which sets you up for problems 37:39 in your life so I do think that we teach in our program 37:43 strongly to have healthy, positive rewards and be careful 37:47 with their children, do not tell them that children 37:50 are starving in Africa there for clean your plate. 37:52 To put a guilt thing to insert the program in your mind to 37:56 react that way because you're a young woman, but you are 38:00 not a child anymore and you are still dealing with those 38:03 programming issues and have to work through those things. 38:06 First of all I think is real dangerous for us to engage 38:11 in those behaviors and I think again that it happened but 38:16 it needs to be dealt with. 38:18 Second, I want to make this point, food is something that 38:22 is the negative, food is a gift from God. 38:26 This is the temple of God and what did He give us to 38:29 put into the temple, water and food. 38:32 The festivals and the celebra- tions in the Old Testament, 38:36 food was an integral component, in Ecclesiastes there's 38:40 three different scriptures that very specifically say 38:44 God wants man and woman to enjoy his food or her food 38:47 and it is meant to be that and we are to do it with 38:50 a merry heart Ecclesiastes 9:7, go enjoy your food 38:53 with a merry heart for now is the time I favor you 38:57 needs to be in balance. 38:59 He also expects us to eat intelligently and with wisdom 39:03 and knowledge of nutrition and diet. 39:06 Way, way, way back pre-fast foods, fragmented foods. 39:10 In our book 'Eat Your Way To a Healthy Life' we talk 39:14 about the four F's, but literally the four F's of food 39:17 are killing Americans and if not the world. 39:20 Fragmented foods, God made whole foods not fragmented foods 39:24 we eat the wrong foods. 39:26 Family foods, is what you are talking about is where we 39:29 learn bad behavior early on innocently from families. 39:32 We eat those fragmented foods because that is what we 39:35 ate growing up or there are things that are part of 39:38 our heritage so much it's just family tradition that 39:41 can be negative, fast food. 39:43 Nothing fast is really all that good, maybe a fast 39:47 prayer occasionally, but a nice long heartfelt prayer 39:51 would yield a far more better reward. 39:54 Fast foods is destructive, God meant us to enjoy our 39:57 food and that doesn't mean we should do it fast. 40:00 We're just from Italy where Lisa's family are Italian 40:03 and her parents took the family to connect with their 40:07 roots, those people eat for hours. 40:08 They eat fresh food, because food additives is our fourth 40:13 F., we put things into our food that isn't good for us. 40:17 Frankly, when we manipulate an engineer the food to 40:20 where it is not really the food God made. 40:22 So those four F's are dangerous and you are touching 40:25 on probably your family and what they were feeding you, 40:27 all those things are important but it is important 40:30 to keep in balance. 40:32 One of the things, I had an opportunity to speak as a 40:35 Guest speaker almost a year to the day after I left that 40:38 institution, invited by the founder. 40:41 Back to the same institution because I had lost 200 pounds 40:44 and this was a new cover boy let's go back here 40:46 and see what's going on. 40:47 Look what we did, are we proud of this kid and they give 40:51 you a jacket if you lose 100 pounds, it's a blazer and 40:54 they reward it to you and it's a big deal and use it to 40:57 energize people so you owe me two jackets and 40:59 I'm coming back to get them. 41:01 We got a windbreaker, and never got the other jacket but 41:04 it's not important because I had an opportunity to speak. 41:07 That was very important to me because my life had changed. 41:11 I had gone from not being able to walk to fit and abundant 41:15 realizing the dreams of my life. 41:18 - and no psoriasis? - no psoriasis, the skin blew them 41:21 the way the most. 41:22 I went to the head and it touches an interesting thing 41:25 what's really big and ugly and you don't even touch 41:29 yourself, you don't want to. 41:31 I was in such pain and my muscles atrophy, I digressed for 41:35 just a moment so when I was there and 41:39 just learning to lift the rubber bands and try to see 41:42 what kind of exercise. 41:44 I went in for a massage because this was a wonderful thing 41:47 about this place, somebody in my size could actually 41:49 go and get a massage and here was 41:51 this women or man would touch you. 41:54 When she first touched me it was almost like lightning 41:57 bolt, oh my gosh I had forgotten it. 41:59 She would spend a whole hour loosening my shoulders 42:03 a little bit because they have become so bound up. 42:07 This woman touched me in my heart and I got to know her 42:10 the month I spent there because I went there three times 42:13 a week to get treatments, therapy is really what it is. 42:16 She began to tell me some of her life and about her 42:19 daughter, she was a single mom. 42:22 Long to short, God put on my heart to visit three people 42:25 to thank them for having ministered to me when I was at 42:28 the lowest point in my life. 42:30 I booked an appointment with her when my wife and 42:33 I was visiting to speak. 42:34 I went in and got on the table and she started touching 42:38 my spine, she said I remember people by their spines and 42:41 by their skin and I feel I know you but 42:44 I don't know your skin. 42:46 She said I've do this for a living for 15 or 18 years and 42:49 have worked with thousands of people and I don't know 42:51 your skin, who are you? 42:53 I reiterated a story where she had told me about her 42:55 daughter and I say did you go to Wilmington Beach? 42:58 Did you go ahead and do that to step out and the weirdest 43:02 thing was Ash Wednesday and she had these 43:04 ashes on her forehead. 43:06 I said I'm Ed McClure and I was here and I have lost 43:09 200 pounds and she said I remember the first time I saw 43:13 you and thought I have to touch him because it's my job. 43:16 Because of the psoriasis, it was so ugly, 43:18 not just the weight. 43:20 She had heavy people all the time but the psoriasis and 43:22 it oozing and I remember looking at your legs and 43:25 remember asking you what is it? Is it contagious? 43:28 I've been fully diagnosed? It's like liquid and yet 43:31 she touched me, not the legs just the shoulders 43:35 and they were safe. Anyway long to short she ended up 43:38 laying on the floor weeping because saying I needed, 43:42 it's what God did, this isn't about wisdom of the 43:45 institution, God transformed my life. 43:47 She kept saying, your skin, how did it come back to life? 43:53 I said it was God and she took it as a witness and testimony 43:56 and so I digressed but when I went back the most important 43:59 thing in brief talk to the whole place, for the teachers to the 44:03 directors and the in-house residents at the time, 44:05 50 to 75 people. 44:07 As I told them there were 10 things, or nine or think it 44:12 was that had led to my success. 44:15 I said the first one and looked at the founder, they 44:18 taught us there to disassociate ourselves from food. 44:22 They said to me specifically in week three, I went and 44:25 said why does the food have to taste so bad, why don't 44:29 you sauté the chicken with a little garlic? 44:32 Frankly all these people here are wealthy and they are 44:35 going to go back home to their apartments in Paris 44:38 were they have come from, and they aren't going to eat 44:41 this way so what are we doing here? 44:42 The number two guy looked at me and said, you are a sick 44:46 man you've been here three weeks and not gotten it. 44:50 You're still hung up about the food, I said no, 44:52 and I hadn't found it Ecclesiastes 9:7 and God had 44:55 not taken me in His own word to give me His perspective of food 45:00 which is that it should taste good. 45:02 He doesn't want to have a lousy festival in His name. 45:04 He said let us have a feast in My name. 45:07 Enjoy it and give all the glory to God, anyway I said 45:12 you taught us to eat three meals a day, so that is like 45:17 a 1056,1095 meals so you have told me to do something 45:21 1095 times that it's essential to my health and then 45:25 you tell me to disassociate from that. 45:27 Instead we did go into the word God and we did find 45:31 encouragement in His word about, I must say we were in the 45:34 restaurant business all our life so food is important to 45:37 us, there are Italian and it's important to them. 45:39 It can be healthy as long as it is to God, as we submit it to 45:43 God, we are eating His way and we are eating His food. 45:47 We are following His teaching, His will for our life 45:50 with the food and it's a great thing. 45:51 Let me just ask you one thing, the disassociation from 45:54 food and the reinforcement that it brings initially 45:58 is just too detached the emotional strength to it. 46:01 I agree, I agree, on an emotional level you are right. 46:03 But you see that's where you have to make it God's food, 46:06 it is not my food, I am not eating to feel good I'm 46:07 eating to feed the temple of God. 46:10 I'm recognizing that it's okay with Him if it tastes good and 46:14 I enjoy it, but I must eat in moderation. 46:16 I must eat it in a balanced way in these things. 46:20 I just want say the last blessings in my speech were the 46:23 two things, anybody can do seven of the things I did, the 46:26 8th thing was my wife so tough luck here's my ninth but the 9th 46:33 one was God and because this institution disassociated from 46:40 God I just had to say to give God and our Lord credit 46:44 for I am here speaking to you today on how you get this 46:48 healthy this fast. 46:49 That has to be a lead, a change for them and it 46:54 kind of shocked them. 46:55 After we were dismissed people wanted to talk to us because we 46:58 had these revolutionary thoughts that food should taste good. 47:02 We were talking about God and immediately the first person 47:06 that cornered us in the lecture room was a Jewish guy. 47:09 He had been there when I was there a year ago and had seen 47:12 me a year before, there were a lot of Jewish people, 47:15 people from all over the world there from all faiths. 47:18 They said well what about festivals, what about the 47:21 holidays and what about this and the different religions, 47:24 the way we eat and we told the story of Elisha's family. 47:27 I'm back to family food where they are Italians but I had 47:30 to change some basic ingredients to whole foods and 47:36 I am not going to get into a food lecture. 47:38 But we went into their family heritage without changing 47:42 what we ate but look at whole natural ingredients 47:45 that were healthy and fed the body. 47:47 A second point, a long answer but with such a question 47:50 that as long as we are submitting food to God just like 47:54 we have to submit everything else. 47:55 We are not to just bless our food oh Lord but to nourish 47:59 of our body you that is important, but mean it. 48:01 How can you take something that you know is unhealthy and 48:06 asked Him to bless that and eat it? 48:08 There is a scripture in 11 Corinthians I think 29 and is 48:12 talking about the Lord supper. 48:15 There is a scripture that says very specifically, and it 48:18 is tied to taking communion, but tell me that these words 48:21 are perhaps aren't true on their own away from communion? 48:25 It says my people eat unworthily and for this reason 48:30 many are sick and parish. 48:32 When I look at that scripture I said what is He saying? 48:36 Because He told us to enjoy our food with a merry heart 48:40 in Ecclesiastes but nowhere with God, our Father or 48:43 what we tell our children to eat something that is 48:46 not good for us. 48:47 You know we have a few minutes left and I was wondering if 48:50 you could, I know there was a lot of things you learned in 48:53 recovery is there anything out you want to share with us? 48:58 I just talked to a lot about food and it is not just what 49:02 you eat but what's eating you and I feel led and impressed 49:07 to emphasize that the unwinding of Ed and the healing of 49:12 Ed and in fact my getting so sick physically really tied 49:15 to emotional issues and spiritual issues and I don't 49:19 want to leave that under spoken. 49:21 Anyone who thinks they can change their life simply by 49:24 changing what the eat or how much they eat or how often 49:28 they eat it probably will find themselves to be one third 49:31 fixed, or one third of away to life and relapsing. 49:34 That is what the diets don't work because diets go, I hate 49:39 that word, but diets go to assume you can change the 49:42 behavior for a short period of time without changing 49:44 any other real circumstances and 49:47 you'll get a different result, wrong. 49:49 Only for a very short season. 49:50 So what is eating you is as important as with our program 49:54 God took me back to the history of my life and I saw the 49:59 people who hurt me and had to forgive them and to heal 50:03 those wounds in me and the people I hurt which is equal. 50:07 Right, and I want to ask you, in a day did He do that? 50:12 No, no! - the way you looked was no I wish. 50:16 I told you I was in my little basement room and would 50:19 lay down there and sleep down there for a while just 50:22 healing and thinking I need to be alone. 50:23 When I came back from six weeks away by the time I got 50:28 back and had went through it I wasn't ready to assimilate. 50:32 I had to stay away from work for the most part. 50:35 I didn't have a life, I was a born again born again. 50:39 I was a baby and I am still a baby in a way but 50:43 I have some wisdom and knowledge to share. 50:46 It took I would say at least eight months of solid, almost 50:51 every day prayerful and submitted to the Lord saying 50:55 this thing, and I will share this. 50:57 My prayer was God make me the man You intended me to be 51:02 in my mother's womb and that is Psalms 139. 51:04 Make me to realize Lord, and I see with my eyes closed 51:07 I can go right back to that place and say look what 51:09 I have done, look at the psoriasis, look at this 51:12 at the emotional damage I did to my family, look at the havoc, 51:15 look at the wreck of this man at age 50 and the tragedy of it. 51:19 But for whatever reason if I give it to You today and 51:23 submit myself and ask You to make me the man 51:26 You plan me to be. 51:27 I will accept that and if that means I'm out of careers 51:29 and I go broke, the worldly way of going broke or whatever 51:33 that means, and He was assuring me daily fear not because 51:37 you will have it all. 51:38 I will restore you in ways of physical restoration and 51:40 the ability to walk on a beach and get you a beach house. 51:43 It's a testament, I drew a place in the institution. 51:46 They said draw a place a dream of where you want to be. 51:49 I drew a place in chillingly three years later I realized 51:52 we had built that place in the subconscious we had did it. 51:56 - Gods that I want to bless you. 51:58 He said He wanted to bless me. 52:00 You have blessed us and I want to say that you have 52:03 blessed us how I am so grateful that you came on and so 52:06 grateful that you did this journey and I know Ed, I know 52:10 that eight months a lot of people will say eight months 52:13 is too long, that eight months daily and I am sure 52:16 you were blessed by God. 52:18 Oh yes, yeah. - amen 52:19 Thank you so much and we'll be right back so stay with us. 52:27 Amazing stories, real people in real situations discussing 52:30 issues that really matter. 52:32 A complete first season of Celebrating Life In Recover is 52:35 now available on DVD and can be ordered by calling 3ABN 52:38 or online at 3ABN.org hosted by Cheri Peters. 52:42 This season follows principles of the book 52:45 'Steps to Christ'. 52:46 See for yourself how God changed the lives of the 52:48 convicted, and the accused and victims of terrible crimes. 52:51 You won't want to miss a moment 52:53 of these powerful interviews. 52:59 You cannot give up some stuff and hold on to other things. 53:02 CS Lewis wrote 'In the Great Divorce', 53:16 I often thought when I read that quote that what is a 53:19 souvenir? A souvenir is a thing that remind you of a 53:22 pass thing and God is saying give up all that stuff. 53:25 I gave up heroine and all the stuff from the streets. 53:29 Some of the manipulation, most of the lying and 53:31 I didn't even see the core issue. 53:33 So what I love about God is His love for us and it's so 53:36 great that it He stayed right with me until I was able 53:39 to surrender all of my issues, all of my junk. 53:43 Like my inability to trust, to love and all of that. 53:47 I really did long to be the normal, in fact not only 53:51 did I long to be normal, I bought every single 53:53 self-help book on the planet. 53:55 I don't know if Ed went through that, but I bought 53:58 everything, I had my shelves full of stuff in one day as 54:02 I am in my basement, going through my issues, letting God 54:06 bring healing into my life, God said I want you to 54:09 give up your books, all the self-help books. 54:11 I'm thinking no way, I can't do it, how am I going to learn 54:15 to be well and overcome my low self-esteem? 54:18 My depression and this and that and He said, 54:21 when I come back you will be perfect, perfect transformed. 54:26 I'm thinking yeah, but are You coming back tomorrow? 54:29 If You're not coming back tomorrow I just want to be 54:33 normal today and He said trust Me. 54:35 It took me a long time, but as soon as I learned to 54:38 surrender to Him, He filled me with His Holy Spirit 54:41 who made me free. 54:43 Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, 54:48 meekness, temperance, self- control, all with things I need 54:52 that I didn't even know how to get. 54:53 He just gave them to me free, to show me how to live as 54:57 I was created to live. 54:59 I didn't even believe that these things really existed. 55:02 But God taught me that they do and I can be healed by 55:05 them, what an amazing thing. 55:08 Remember abstinence is the beginning, one half of the 55:12 first step, in fact if you want a guaranteed relapse, 55:16 do nothing after you stop the drugs or whatever. 55:20 What ever has kept your bondage, after you stop the food 55:23 like Ed was talking about or the anger or rejection 55:27 or porn or bitterness or alcohol or unforgiveness, 55:31 what ever, you will relapse if you don't go further. 55:35 Know that you have the privilege of asking God, the God who 55:39 created all things, the God who is desired is to see you 55:43 healed, to lead you and He will teach you how to live. 55:47 How to be healthy. How to laugh. How to love. 55:50 How to grow in peace. 55:51 We do not recover overnight, we grow in stages. 55:54 You don't have to wait like I did to hear God say to you 55:58 after 21 years of sobriety to be ready to start. 56:01 Start now because the Bible says today if you hear His 56:04 voice don't harden your heart. 56:06 Today please listen and do not turn a deaf ear, 56:09 Hebrews 4:7 says that. 56:11 Ask Him, it's His desire to save you, to free you from 56:14 bondage as we talked about with Ed and all the different 56:18 things that he had to look at. 56:19 All the different places God had to take him. 56:21 All the way back to his childhood. 56:23 I love what he said, God is so gentle and He will be 56:26 gentle with you, He will walk you in your head to 56:30 where you need to go, to where the hurt was, where the 56:33 injustice was, where the hurt you did to somebody 56:36 else and how to forgive and all those things. 56:39 You just have to ask Him, you got to ask Him and have 56:43 Faith that He is God and He knows and He loves you. 56:46 Ed in his testimony talked about God never giving up. 56:50 Never lost hope in him. 56:52 Never walked away from him during those eight months 56:55 in the basement and He will do the same, trust Him. 56:58 Next time on Celebrating Life In Recover we are going 57:01 to talk about faith and acceptance. 57:04 Faith and acceptance is a huge thing. 57:06 We need to have faith that God is God, that He loves us, 57:09 that he's crazy about us and we need to accept all the 57:12 promises and the Bible that are really geared towards us. 57:16 I never had a problem with that, when we talk to people 57:19 and they have addictions and alcoholism and porn 57:23 addictions and eating disorders and all that stuff I never 57:26 have a problem with that and every once in a while I hear 57:29 somebody that it wasn't their addiction, their whole life 57:32 changes because of somebody else's behavior. 57:35 Next week Joyce Swift is going to be on this show and she 57:38 wrote a book' They Are All Dead Aren't They?' 57:40 A young boy came in and killed off everybody in her family 57:43 and devastated not only her, but an entire community. 57:48 She had to pick herself up, find out who she is again. 57:52 Who God is and how she is she going to heal. 57:55 How is she going to step out of that? 57:56 How was she going to have faith and acceptance of 57:58 what God is doing? 57:59 You won't want to miss this one, it is life-changing. 58:04 Until then please remember that God is crazy about you. 58:08 He's crazy about me, He's crazy about Ed, He is crazy 58:13 about all of us and that is so exciting. 58:16 I want you to know that I'm crazy about you too, 58:19 see you next week! |
Revised 2014-12-17