Celebrating Life in Recovery

Belief

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Alvy Quispe

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Series Code: CLR

Program Code: CLR000115A


00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues
00:03 related to addictive behavior.
00:05 Parents are cautioned that some material
00:06 may be too candid for younger children.
00:11 Welcome to Celebrating Life in Recovery.
00:13 I'm Cheri your host and today
00:15 we're gonna talk about on faithfulness,
00:18 resentment and the power of belief.
00:22 Come join us in the café, it's gonna be amazing.
00:53 Welcome, you know, this season we're doing--
00:55 we're going over the book Celebrations as our main thing.
00:58 And it was really funny to me
01:00 because I'm looking at this incredible stuff,
01:03 you know, like you know Celebrations,
01:05 the book is amazing, has some great stuff
01:08 and it have things that acronym is C is choices,
01:13 E exercise and liquids, environment, belief,
01:17 rest, air, temperance, integrity,
01:20 optimism, nutrition, social support.
01:23 And I'm thinking, why didn't I cover that
01:25 like in season one and so, so I feel like God said
01:28 because you were in rebellion.
01:30 It was no way you couldn't cover that in season one
01:33 because I really thought that I don't need all that stuff.
01:37 What I need is just to stop doing heroin
01:39 or what I need is to work on my insecurity, on my anger.
01:43 However, my whole family has a generational thing
01:46 where we never felt good enough
01:48 and I need to work on some of that kind of stuff
01:51 and I definitely need to work on my relationships
01:52 because my poor husband,
01:54 he's from a more normal family and I just like drama.
01:58 So I'm working on all that kind of stuff
01:59 and when somebody said, look at diet
02:02 and you should exercise and may be drink some water
02:04 and I'm like whatever.
02:05 You know and I think because of the rebellion in me,
02:09 that the rebellion in me just said,
02:11 you know, I just push that aside
02:14 and now I'm years into recovery man,
02:17 and you know I used to be embarrassed to say
02:19 how many years but over 30 years into recovery
02:21 and somebody out there I prayed
02:23 that you're standing up and shouting for joy for me
02:25 because that's a long time and it's incredible.
02:28 There are people in families that just,
02:30 they just long for their kids to get a day.
02:34 And so I'm 30 years into recovery.
02:36 Now I'm looking at how much easier
02:40 would my recovery have been
02:42 if I would have worked on somebody's issues
02:44 and so that's what we're covering at this season.
02:46 And today we're on a topic
02:48 that a lot of people kind of skip over,
02:52 or they do it in a way that is not--
02:55 they do it in a way that is kind of superficial.
02:59 So I'm going to try to hit belief
03:02 'cause that's the word
03:03 where we are right now is belief.
03:05 Anyway that we'll cover, we cover it in a broader sense.
03:09 So belief is gonna be one thing.
03:11 It's definitely, you know, belief in God, belief in--
03:14 there is a God that cares about you that-- initial thing
03:17 that He can restore you to sanctity.
03:19 There is a God that not only delights in you
03:21 but really delights in the fact that
03:23 He has a plan for you
03:25 I mean that-- He has a plan for your life.
03:27 When I came off the streets, I came off the streets
03:29 and I'm illiterate and I'm heroin addict,
03:32 I've been on the streets for ten years.
03:34 I was in a lifestyle that if you could lie, manipulate
03:37 and rob somebody of their entire mortgage payment,
03:40 people would be going like give me five, good job.
03:42 You know, I mean, it really was the whole different thing
03:45 and so I have a belief in a God
03:47 that says I can rewire you, you know.
03:49 Wow!
03:50 You know, how incredible is that?
03:52 I have a belief in a God that says,
03:54 you know, what I can feel you with my spirit,
03:58 with the Holy Spirit and literally teach you
04:01 and mentor for you and do all that kind of stuff
04:04 and I'm like how incredible.
04:05 So I have to have that basic belief.
04:07 I have to have a belief there's a way we can communicate.
04:10 You know, I want to be able to say
04:12 is that I could talk to God.
04:14 I can pray,
04:15 I can open up the Bible which for some of you,
04:19 you just think that's lame or whatever.
04:22 But I'm telling you
04:23 there is something alive about that book.
04:25 I mean, you can open it up and it's so relevant
04:28 to where you're going to that very moment.
04:30 It's just an incredible thing
04:32 but I have to have belief in that.
04:34 And I'm gonna tell you a story
04:35 where it really hit me hard that I was doing this talk
04:40 and I am at a church and it's midnight,
04:44 I mean, you know, we did the event,
04:46 the talk was over about 9 o'clock.
04:48 And at 9 o'clock people started doing one to ones
04:51 and we're praying together.
04:52 About midnight somebody comes up to me and says,
04:55 Cheri, there is a little girl here
04:57 that waited to talk with you.
05:00 And I thought a little girl, you know
05:01 and I thought, you know, how old she seems.
05:04 She said about ten and I'm thinking about ten.
05:06 Are you kidding me?
05:07 So little girl about ten years old
05:09 it's midnight, I'm feeling bad for her parents
05:12 because, you know, she probably kept them there.
05:15 And so I said, let's put her in front of the queue.
05:17 Let's put her absolutely she can come in
05:19 and so she walked in to the office
05:20 and I'm in the pastor's office
05:22 and she was very tiny, there's quite little thing,
05:24 she looked like a little cherub.
05:26 And, you know, how some kids are like that,
05:27 you just look at them
05:28 and you'd say you are so darling.
05:30 And I didn't want to sit on the chairs
05:32 because I felt like she was-- you know,
05:35 I was just so much taller than her,
05:37 so I sat on the floor
05:38 and she sat on the floor with me
05:39 and she sat down and she said
05:43 I'm in foster care and I thought, oh.
05:45 You know because everything
05:46 I just thought about her is this little cherub.
05:48 I realize her life is not as sweet as I thought.
05:51 It's not as easy as I thought.
05:52 She's probably gone through some pretty tough things.
05:55 I'm in foster care she says
05:56 and my mom's in prison for prostitution
05:59 and I thought oh, man.
06:01 And now I just want to hold her
06:03 'cause I don't know about you, but I know that life.
06:07 I know what it feels like to have
06:08 that twisted stuff around you even as a child.
06:11 Her mom taught her how to be a prostitute
06:14 when she was three and four years old,
06:15 really groomed her to
06:17 because she got more money for her than for herself
06:19 and so she talked about that kind of stuff
06:22 and then she looked at me and she said,
06:23 you know, I like your story.
06:25 And she said, I'm really good at what I do, she said.
06:29 And I thought oh, and then, you know,
06:31 and I'm just begging God.
06:33 God give me an answer for this kid
06:36 because I really believe she's good at what she does.
06:38 She goes in to foster care, it's with an Adventist couple,
06:41 so very Christian couple.
06:43 And they put her in an academy, a Christian school.
06:47 And she says I find all the nasty guys right away.
06:51 And I started to come on to them,
06:53 so I could get what I want and she went on and on.
06:56 And I still don't know what to say to her yet.
06:58 And so, finally God just gave me
07:00 what to say to her and I said.
07:02 I said you know Alvy,
07:04 do you think I was good at what I did?
07:06 You know, do you think,
07:07 Alvy, I was on the streets from the time
07:09 I was 13 years old and survived 10 years.
07:11 Do you think I was good? And she said, yep I do.
07:14 And I said, do you think I'm good at what I do now?
07:17 I traveled all over the world.
07:19 I get to tell people about recovery.
07:21 I get to tell them about the God
07:22 that's crazy about them.
07:24 I get to give them hope that there is a different life
07:26 that they can step out of all that kind of stuff.
07:28 Do you think I am good at that?
07:30 And she said, yes I do.
07:32 Because I mean, she just experienced some of that.
07:34 And I said, Alvy, you could be good at either one.
07:38 You could follow your mom right to prison
07:40 or you can let God change you
07:42 and be really good at that change
07:45 and she got it.
07:46 That quick.
07:48 I watched this kid get it and I wanted to cry.
07:50 I wanted to grab God and kiss him on the face
07:52 and say it's incredible
07:54 what you can do with faith and belief.
07:57 And the fact that we could change
07:58 and know that no matter what has plagued us?
08:01 What has followed us?
08:02 What we're dealing with that I know there is a God
08:06 that can change that completely.
08:09 And so today we're talking about belief in a bigger sense.
08:11 I mean belief changes what people do in surgery.
08:14 I mean you could pray for somebody
08:15 across the country that just had surgery
08:17 and there are studies that say that they heal faster.
08:20 Shut up how cool is that, not only did they heal faster
08:23 the person doesn't even have to know.
08:25 They did studies with the doctor that pray,
08:27 didn't even have a Christian background
08:29 but just praying, knowing I believe
08:32 that there really is a God that response to that,
08:35 that the person actually gets well
08:36 and does the recovery faster.
08:38 So belief is a big deal.
08:40 I'm gonna introduce to you guest today
08:42 that had to hold on to a belief that wasn't evident for years
08:49 before she got to smile.
08:53 So stay with us, you're gonna love this story.


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Revised 2014-12-17