CASTIMONIA

Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group

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Take No Less than 100% Responsibility for Your Life

One of the greatest myths that is pervasive in our culture today is that you are entitled to a great life and that somehow, somewhere, someone is responsible for filling our lives with continual happiness, exciting career options, nurturing family time and blissful personal relationships simply because we exist. But the real truth is that there is only one person responsible for the quality of the life you live. That person is you.

Everything about you is a result of your doing or not doing. Income. Debt. Relationships. Health. Fitness level. Attitudes and behaviors. That person who reflects back at you in the mirror is the chief conductor in your life. Say hello!

I think everyone knows this in their hearts, but the mind can play games, tricking plenty of people into thinking external factors are the source of failure, disappointment, and unhappiness. But the truth of the matter is that external factors don’t determine how you live. You are in complete control of the quality of your life.

Successful people take full responsibility for the thoughts they think, the images they visualize, and the actions they take. They don’t waste their time and energy blaming and complaining. They evaluate their experiences and decide if they need to change them or not. They face the uncomfortable and take risks in order to create the life they want to live.

http://jackcanfield.com/7-steps-for-creating-the-life-you-want/

You cannot borrow half
of who you are
from someone else,
yet people try to do it
all of the time,
they just call it
a relationship!
Jennifer O’Neill,

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Journal Through Recovery – Bonus Podcast #14 Looking Deep

Step Four means looking deep into me. Way deeper than I ever imagined.

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Addicted to Porn: Chasing the Cardboard Butterfly Film Event THIS FRIDAY, 9/29

Addicted to Porn: Chasing the Cardboard Butterfly Film Event

Register here: http://houstonsfirst.org/event/addicted-to-porn-chasing-the-cardboard-butterfly-film-event

A film event for parents, grandparents, men, women, singles — anybody in high school and above

Like it or not, porn is here and it is harmful. In this timely film, award-winning filmmaker Justin Hunt tactfully examines the impact of pornography on societies around the globe, from how it affects individuals’ brains, to the increased exposure of youth due to modern technology, to how porn literally can tear a family apart.

Dinner is available for purchase before the film, and a free dessert reception with the director will take place after the film.

About The Film

  • Addicted to Porn does not include any provocative imagery.
  • The film is narrated by James Hetfield, co-founder of Metallica.
  • Learn more about Addicted to Porn on the film’s official website.

Cost & Registration

  • $5 per ticket
  • $10 per ticket with dinner included
  • No charge for dessert reception
  • Registration for dinner and the movie is now available and will continue until Wed, Sep 27

Schedule

  • 5:45–6:45p — Dinner available
  • 7–8:30p — Film screening
  • 8:30p — Dessert reception

Register here: http://houstonsfirst.org/event/addicted-to-porn-chasing-the-cardboard-butterfly-film-event

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Are You A People-Pleaser or Respect-Receiver?

Galatians 1:10 – “ “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.””

A woman complained to me (Dr. Cloud) about a coworker who would always interrupt her while she was trying to get her job done. She acted as if her tendency to be behind in her work was her coworker’s fault.

“Why do you talk to her?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” she replied.

“When she comes in and interrupts, why do you get into a conversation with her?”

“Well, I have to. She is standing there talking.”

“Why don’t you just tell her that you have work to do, or close your door and put up a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign?”

The woman looked at me with a blank stare. To have choices and to have control of her own behavior was a concept that hadn’t occurred to her. She felt that if something happened “to her,” then that was the way it had to be. There was nothing she could do to change it.

When I suggested that she had many choices, she quizzed me about them. I gave her five or six suggestions, from talking to the woman about the problem, to talking to a supervisor, to asking to be moved to another area. This was a totally new way of thinking for her; she had never learned that she was free to make choices in relationships and in life.

Have you ever been in a relationship with a “victim”? Victims feel as if they have no choices in life. Life is something that happens to them, and whatever comes their way is their lot.

Joe was such a victim. His company was imposing some new policies that he found difficult to handle, and he was very depressed about the changes.

“What are you going to do about it?” I asked him.

“What do you mean, do about it?” Joe asked.

“I mean what are you going to do about your being stuck in something you don’t like?”

He just looked at me. It took a long time before he realized that he could choose to get his resume out to some other firms and not be a victim to the fifty-hour workweek he hated.

Adults and children raised with good boundaries learn that they are not only responsible for their lives, but also free to live their lives any way they choose, as long as they take responsibility for their choices. For the responsible adult, the sky is the limit.

We live in a society of victims. People today act as if they have no choices in life and that everything should be done for them. If it’s not, they can’t do it themselves or make changes. This presents a big opportunity for the future: If you learn to take control of your own life, you will be so far ahead of everyone else that success in life is all but guaranteed!

This devotional is drawn from Boundaries with Kids, by John Townsend and Henry Cloud.

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When the Storms Come

From: NonUnknown.com

Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts rising
‘Cause even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water

“Washed by the Water” – NEEDTOBREATHE

It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. – Luke 6:48 (NLT)

I apologize now for the analogy, but it is Jesus who used it, not me. In Luke chapter 6, Christ talks about our foundations. He specifically mentions digging deep to lay a foundation on solid rock. I was at a men’s meeting this week. The speaker, a man I know in recovery, was speaking primarily to an audience of about seventy men about digging deep. He referenced Luke 6:48 as to why its important to lay a foundation on solid rock.

I really liked how he focused on what you do before you lay a foundation. You dig deep. Much like many of us have been doing during this time after a catastrophe. We have physically been helping others or ourselves dig deep to clean out all of the junk before we rebuild on a solid foundation. We have emptied out the ruin from houses, saturated and mildewed by the flood and the storm. So we can prepare for the next storm.

Just before verse 48, as I look back into Luke, Jesus was making a point. He was giving an example of what it looks like when someone comes to Him, listens to His teaching, and then follows it. They dig deep, clean up their mess, build on a solid foundation. Verse 49 describes what happens when someone builds with no foundation. When they are self sufficient. When the storms come, they can’t handle them and are washed away.

Most of my life I have been self sufficient. I thought I could handle the storms. I hoped that none would come and I would acted surprised when they did. I missed the points Christ made. I missed that He didn’t say “if” the floods of life come. He said “when” the floods of life come. I missed that he instructed us to dig deep, find a firm foundation. I came to Him, I just didn’t do the rest. I didn’t listen to His teaching and make it my life’s work. I didn’t have a firm foundation. Then the storms came, the flood waters rose, and I was washed away. Every time.

I seek daily now to implement the directions Christ gave us in Luke 6. Each day I come to Him through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with my brothers in Christ. I listen to His teaching through studying His word and seeking direction from His teachers. I try to follow it daily. I am broken in a broken world. I have to daily dig deep and clean out my house and reset my foundation. My foundation is able and strong. Even though I am not.