Celebrate Recovery - Lyons

01/28/2026

There is a verse tucked quietly into Scripture that most people pass right over…
but once it settles into your heart, it changes how you see God forever.

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness;
He will quiet you by His love;
He will exult over you with loud singing.”
— Zephaniah 3:17

Read that again. Slowly.

The God of the universe…
rejoices over you.

Not tolerates you.
Not puts up with you.
Not waits for you to get it all together.

He rejoices over you.

And the part that breaks me every time?

“He will quiet you by His love.”

Not with answers.
Not with explanations.
Not with discipline.

With love.

The kind of love that stills your racing thoughts.
The kind that calms the ache in your chest.
The kind that says, You don’t have to carry this alone anymore.

And then — as if that wasn’t enough — Scripture says He sings over you.

God doesn’t just watch you from a distance.
He doesn’t just guide you from afar.

He leans in.
He delights in you.
He sings over your life like a Father watching His child sleep.

So when you feel unworthy…
When you feel like you’ve failed too many times…
When you wonder if you still matter…

Remember this:

The God who made the heavens
stands near you,
rejoices over you,
quietly holds you,
and sings your name in love.

And if that doesn’t change the way you see yourself…

Nothing will.

01/27/2026

We are His children.

01/26/2026

Tonight’s lesson will be over powerlessness. This coordinates with Step 1 of the 12 steps.

Step 1: “We admitted we are powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had became unmanageable.”

Principle 1: Realize i am not God. I admit I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.

If this is you, the real first step is showing up.
You are welcome here. 💙

01/25/2026

More than 900 inmates in an Oklahoma prison surrendered their lives to Jesus during a massive revival.

A powerful revival recently swept through an Oklahoma correctional facility, where over 2,100 inmates gathered to hear the Gospel. In a single service, around 900 men raised their hands in surrender, publicly choosing to follow Christ in a moment many described as overwhelming and life-changing.

The outreach was organized by Victory Church Tulsa, led by Pastor Paul Daugherty, and was built around a simple mission: show up with love. Volunteers brought burgers, Bibles, worship, and the message of hope. More than 1,000 meals were served, and 41 inmates were baptized on site, some for the very first time.

Witnesses described hardened men, many incarcerated for violent, s*xual, or drug-related crimes, breaking down in tears, hugging one another, and praying together. One especially moving moment came when two men recognized each other as former church members from decades earlier. Embracing, one told the other, “God loves you,” a reminder that no past is too far gone.

Organizers say this revival is part of a growing movement spreading through Oklahoma prisons, as more facilities open their doors to faith-based outreach. Behind bars and razor wire, hope is still taking root. As many attendees put it, prison walls may be strong, but they cannot stop what God is doing.

More of this please. 🙌

01/24/2026

As I sit here before church starts, a gentleman came up to me and told me about his son, who is struggling and currently incarcerated.

After our conversation, it really had me thinking.

So listen to what I’m about to say.

Most people think addiction is about substances and alcohol.

That’s the headline version.

That’s the surface-level explanation that makes everyone else feel safe—because if addiction is just about substances, then all you have to do is avoid them and you’re good, right?

But that’s b.s.

Addiction has very little to do with substances.

And that’s uncomfortable to hear, because it means the problem isn’t out there—it’s in here.

People get addicted to way more than chemicals.

They get addicted to people.

To chaos.

To validation.

To toxic relationships.

To work.

To s*x.

To approval.

To adrenaline.

To distraction.

To anything that gives them even a temporary escape from themselves.

Addiction isn’t picky. It’ll use whatever works.

And here’s the part that really messes with people’s heads: the substance isn’t the problem.

I’ll say that again, because it matters.

The substance is not the problem.
It’s the solution.

Yeah, it’s a solution that destroys your life.

It wrecks your body, your relationships, your finances, your future.

But it works. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do—it numbs.

It quiets the noise.

It gives relief, even if it’s temporary and even if it comes with consequences.

So if the substance is the solution, what’s the real problem?

It’s underneath all of it.

The real issue with addiction is a deep discomfort with being yourself.

A profound unease in your own skin. It’s like being allergic to your own thoughts.

Your own emotions.

Your own silence.

It’s that feeling of being permanently out of place.

Lonely in a crowded room.

Surrounded by people but never really connected to them. Always wanting to belong, but constantly feeling apart—like you’re watching life through glass instead of actually living inside it.

That gnawing feeling—that’s what the substance or behavior is trying to shut up.

And when people say, “Why don’t you just stop?” they completely miss the point.

Because if you take away the coping mechanism without addressing the pain underneath, you haven’t healed anything.

You’ve just stripped away the only survival tool that person knew how to use.

That’s why recovery isn’t just about abstaining.

It’s about rebuilding a relationship with yourself.

Learning how to sit in discomfort without running.

Learning how to feel without numbing.

Learning how to exist without constantly trying to escape your own mind.

That’s the real work. That’s the war. And that’s why recovery isn’t easy, quick, or clean.

Addiction isn’t a moral failure. It’s not weakness. It’s not a lack of willpower.

It’s a human being trying to survive pain with the tools they had at the time.

And healing doesn’t start when the substance is gone.
Healing starts when you stop running from yourself.

— j. anthony |

01/20/2026

January 20th devotion.

01/20/2026

Powerful testimony tonight.

Celebrate Recovery Testimony Ron New Covenant Church

01/19/2026

Celebrate Recovery Tonight
Meal 5:30-6:30
Meeting 6:30
It’s never too late to start healing. 🕢

01/16/2026

God,

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to Know the Difference.

Amen

01/13/2026

Healing is when you stop telling the story that broke you and start living the story that rebuilt you.💙

01/13/2026

Over 30 people showed up for our first Monday night of 2026!
WOW!! Keep coming back, it works if you work it!

01/11/2026

YOU CAN SIT WITH ME!!!!

You got hammered at the bar on Saturday but came to church on Sunday…. You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

You’re a drug addict but came to church on Sunday…. You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

You’re divorced, and the last church you attended condemned you for it…. You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

You’ve had an abortion and it’s slowly eating away at your heart, but you came to church on Sunday…. You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

You’ve been unfaithful to your spouse but came to church on Sunday…. You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

Here’s the thing, people don’t come to church on Sunday for you to sit in the pew and quietly judge them because you feel that you’re somehow better than them.

People come to church because in their deepest, darkest, most painful moments, they heard about a man named Jesus who could save their soul and they’d like to know Him.

Mark 2:17.... On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous...

🖤 Love, Heather...