CASTIMONIA

Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group

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Pruning

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. – John 15:2

I am a Southerner. I wear shorts 10 months out of the year. I love college football. Ole Miss and Oxford, MS are just short of heaven. The only really good writers and musicians are from the South. Do I really need to make a list? When my wife and I lived in the Northeast US for a period of time, people would ask me to repeat things like “orange juice” and “y’all,” which I would happily do because I knew they were thinking “dumb redneck.” We Southerners like being underestimated.

As a true Southerner, we like our yards, flower beds, plants, and especially our trees. Walk through the piney woods of Mississippi and tell me you don’t see God. My wife and I are especially fond of crepe myrtle trees. We both think they epitomize beauty and hospitality. Crepe myrtles are the subject of a very contentious debate among we Southerners (we like feuds). The debate hinges on whether you should prune them or not. Pruning “deniers” call this crepe myrtylcide. I happen to agree with the authority on all things Southern, Southern Living Magazine, which states:

“Late winter (right now) is the best time to prune a crepe myrtle, because it’s leafless and you can easily see all of the branches. It also blooms on new growth, so pruning now won’t reduce blooming. In fact, it may increase it.”

To produce new growth, to bear new fruit, to bloom – I have to subject my life to God’s pruning. Throughout my years of separation from Him, I found only He could restore me to sanity. Living in recovery means opening my life daily to His pruning…and His restoration. Drawing close to Him by recognizing God as the only one who can restore me means openness to His authority.

What insanity is running unchecked in your life? Have you realized you are powerless to control it? Does it control you? Have you tried to stop over and over again only to slide right back into what you swore you would never do again. Don’t let that shame rule your psyche. Admit you are powerless, your life has become unmanageable. Then take the second step. Realize only God can restore you to sanity by pruning the unmanageable from you. His intervention is often painful but always necessary…so that you will bear more fruit.

Keith B. – NotUnknown.com

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Prodigal tonight at 5:30 pm

Join us Tonight at 5:30 pm 

Join us tonight as we continue examining how only He can restore us to sanity!

What to expect: we are a service of recovery and a community of hope. Expect impactful worship songs, a time of celebration and sharing of our milestones, and a testimony of spiritual awakening. Tonight, Cedric will lead us in teaching, we will have impactful worship, and a time of exploring His love for us.

When: Every Saturday at 5:30 pmLocation: The Fellowship (in the Loft), 22765 Westheimer Pkwy, Katy, TX 77450Childcare is available. Pre-notification is not necessary but is requested. For more information about childcare, email us info@theprodigals.org.

Come home, prodigals!

Copyright © 2019 Prodigal, All rights reserved. 
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. 

Our mailing address is: 
Prodigal22765 Westheimer Pkwy,Katy, TX  77450
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Prodigal – Tonight 530 pm
Orphaned
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.  The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. – Psalm 10:14

When I think of orphans, I think about malnourished children on TV with a sad song in the background. Or the literary versions like Oliver Twist. I remember my young cousins when their mother died of cancer. Saturday, while giving my mother’s eulogy, I realized…I am an orphan.

In January of 2018, my father succumbed to a long fight with a form of muscular dystrophy. After a rapid illness, this Saturday, my mother was gone as well. I had lost both parents within a year. The despair of that realization almost broke me.

In the grief that ensued, both before and after her death, I was reminded of the total helplessness I felt when I began a life in recovery. I had just come to terms with the powerlessness I had over my addiction. Step 2 gave me a glimmer of hope in that sea of turmoil: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Through working the Steps, through living a life of recovery, through His often painful intervention, He did restore me to sanity. That experience, knowing that He alone was the “helper of the fatherless,” sustains me now.  I know that there is more to this story than now. For now, though, I hold on tight to Psalm 10:14.

Join us this week for incredible music, a testimony, and great teaching …all from a heart for recovery in Katy.
When: Every Saturday at 5:30 pm

Location: The Fellowship (in the Loft), 22765 Westheimer Pkwy, Katy, TX 77450

Childcare is available. Pre-notification is not necessary but is requested. For more information about childcare, email us info@theprodigals.org.

Give:  We need your support! Give to the Prodigal. Use your smart phone and text your donation. Send a text to 28950, and type the keyword PROD, a space and the amount you wish to give. You will receive a text response for your name, address and account information for one-time registration. An email confirmation will be sent to confirm your donation. Next time, you simply send a text with the amount – and it’s complete.

Come home, prodigals!

Copyright © 2019 Prodigal, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:

Prodigal

22765 Westheimer Pkwy,

Katy, TX 77450

Add us to your address book

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You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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Orphaned

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. – Psalm 10:14

When I think of orphans, I think about malnourished children on TV with a sad song in the background. Or the literary versions like Oliver Twist. I remember my young cousins when their mother died of cancer. Saturday, while giving my mother’s eulogy, I realized…I am an orphan.

In January of 2018, my father succumbed to a long fight with a form of muscular dystrophy. His body just wore down and couldn’t continue. Three weeks ago, I had dinner with my mother while she was in town visiting me and my brother. After a rapid illness, this Saturday I had lost both parents within a year. The despair of that realization almost broke me.

The weeks leading up to my mother’s passing were difficult. I spent most of that time at the hospital with her, holding her hand, encouraging her in her weakness, watching her fight slowly ebb. I truly thought she would walk out of that hospital. After a few short days, I was holding her hand by her bed with my siblings, watching her take her last breath, just as I had one year earlier with my father. I didn’t know I had that many tears.

In the grief that ensued, both before and after her death, I was reminded of the total helplessness I felt when I began a life in recovery. Really when I was forced to begin a life in recovery. I had just come to terms with the powerlessness I had over my addiction. Step 2 gave me a glimmer of hope in that sea of turmoil: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Through working the Steps, through living a life of recovery, through His often painful intervention, He did restore me to sanity. That experience, knowing that He alone was the “helper of the fatherless,” sustains me now.  I am in a rough place. My relationship with my siblings isn’t great. Restoration to sanity meant truly seeing my family of origin. With that knowledge has also come a need for boundaries, for me and for them.

There isn’t a finish line when working the Steps. The spiritual awakening part means actually revisiting my own flaws and fears daily, admitting when I am wrong, making amends. I know that there is more to this story than now. For now, though, I hold on tight to Psalm 10:14.

by Keith B. NotUnknown.org

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Insanity

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” – Step Two

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8 – 9

I am a slow learner. I heard someone describe my condition as being a two by four Christian. Sometimes God has to be as subtle as hitting me in the head with a two by four to get my attention. You can call it hitting rock bottom, coming to the end of yourself, or whatever you like. For me, it is recognizing that my ways lead to destruction, emptiness, and separation from God. In a word … insanity.

If you haven’t read the book of Job, I encourage you to do so. I can relate with Job. In the mess of his own life, Job was surrounded by “friends” seeking to “help” him. They encouraged him to seek “help” from everyone except God. I had many influencers in my own life, listening to  guidance from everyone except the only One I could trust. I followed my own desires, twisted thinking, and selfish wants.

God intervened with Job, like he does for His own in His timing. He reminded Job that His ways were not Job’s ways. God intervened with me as well. He let me reach the end of myself. The place where I realized that continuing to follow myself or others would continue to lead me on a path of destructive behavior for myself, my family, anyone around me. I had to have everything else stripped away to realize that my choices on lead to insanity.

So what then? My choices suck. Who can I depend on? Only the One who’s ways are higher than my ways. Only He could restore me to sanity.

Who’s ways are you following? Yours? Friends? Where does your help come from? Seek help from the One who’s ways are above all others. Recognize that all other direction is not from God. Only he can restore you to sanity and a new life following His direction.

Keith B. – NotUnknown.com

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