Celebrate Recovery Series

When the television star of MASH, Alan Alda, was 8 years old, his dog died. As they were burying the dog, Alan’s father tried to stop him from crying. So he said, “Maybe we should have him stuffed.” And that’s exactly what they did. They kept the stuffed dog on the porch, and deliverymen were afraid to make deliveries (Newsweek, 2-28-05, p. 69; www.PreachingToday. com).

That story inspired the title of Alda’s book, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, and it illustrates the need to move on after a crisis, to accept the change that has come, and to make a better life because of it.

The question is: How? When something terrible happens, how do you get on with your life? How do you recover and move on? How do you make a better life because of it? How do you move on after the death of someone you love, or after a diagnosis of cancer, or after you lose your job? Well, If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 9, Genesis 9, where Noah and his family rebuilt their lives after a world-wide flood.

Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (ESV).

What is God doing here? He is giving them hope for the future. Look down at verse 7

Genesis 9:7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it (ESV).

God is telling them, “You are not going to die in this strange new world. You are going to have children, grand children, and great-grandchildren, who will fill up the whole earth. After the terrible tragedy of a world-wide flood, God is giving Noah’s family something to look forward to. He is giving them purpose. He is giving them hope for the future.

And that is absolutely necessary, if you’re going to recover and rebuild after a crisis. You need hope. You need purpose. You need the assurance of a positive future. Otherwise, you’ll just curl up and die.

Singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken talks about boarding an early flight to Florida for a “music gig.” From a west-facing window, she says, “I found myself ruminating over some troubling circumstances that were pending resolution.”

It was dark as they ascended through heavy clouds. Most of the window shades were closed in the cabin. A little time passed, then someone on the east side of the plane opened their shade across the aisle from her. The morning sun shot a blaze of pink light across her face, and the sunlight lifted her spirits.

She looked back to see the view out the west-side window. It remained predominately dark. She had been so wrapped up in her tiny scope of vision that she hadn’t realized the sun had crept over the horizon. One side of the aircraft was glowing with light, the other was still in the shadows.

McCracken comments, “Perspective has a way of shifting our experience. On any given day, I could make a list of my anxieties, but the morning light shining on the east side of that airplane reminds me that I could just as easily make a list of the good gifts that God has given me. Sometimes I choose to look out the dark side of the plane, into the shadows, and I focus on what is broken or needs repair. This is essential to know… but I can get stuck there.”

She continues, “But no matter which window I looked out, all the while I was strapped safely in the window seat of that airplane. And all the while the pilot continued to steer the plane toward our destination. In spite of our shifting perspectives, we have a destination. God has gone before us to lay out a good plan for our lives (Jer. 29:11, Isa. 30:21) —Sandra McCracken, “Finding Grace in the Sunrise,” Christianity Today magazine, October 2019, p. 28; www.PreachingToday.com.

God has promised: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That’s not just a Christian cliché. It really is true! If you know Christ as your Savior, God really does have a wonderful plan for your life.

Count on it. Anticipate it. Look forward to it. My friends, if you want to recover and rebuild after a crisis, that’s where you must begin. The fact that you’re still around means that God is not done with you yet. So depend on Him. Believe Him.

TRUST HIM TO PROVIDE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

More than that…

TRUST GOD TO PROVIDE HELP IN THE PRESENT.