A wondrous part of recovery begins in Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4: Sanity because you stop repeating your disastrous habits and behaviors. You learn to turn your fears over to God and trust that your life is safe with God.
Celebrate Recovery lesson four is important because you now show your trust in God through faith. In this lesson, you find comfort as you stop being afraid.
In Celebrate Recovery lesson four: Sanity, we continue to go through Step 2 in Alcoholics Anonymous and Celebrate Recovery; we also continue through CR’s principle 2.
Remember, as you go through this lesson, you have already stepped out of denial, realized your powerlessness, and learned to hope in God. (You did these things in the previous lessons).
Be sure to read Celebrate Recovery Lesson 1 – Denial, Celebrate Recovery Lesson 2 – Powerless, and Celebrate Recovery Lesson 3 – Hope before this article, so you’ll be ready to move on to this lesson. All of these lessons have additional study questions for your step study.
Don’t know what a step study is? We’ll cover that in this lesson. You do not have to be a part of any group to grasp this lesson. I recommend joining Celebrate Recovery – a Christ-centered recovery group for anyone with hurts, habits, and hangups.
Please note: You don’t need any prior training or experience to understand this lesson. You don’t even need to buy the study guide, but I would recommend it. Just grab a pen and paper to write down the answers to the questions in this article!
I’m excited to help you on your road to recovery with this Celebrate Recovery lesson! Let’s get started!
What is Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4: Sanity?
Celebrate Recovery principle 2 is to earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover. Step 2, which goes with this principle, states: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. – Matthew 5:4
For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. – Philippians 2:13
| Lesson | Principle | Step | Bible Verses |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | Matthew 5:4; Philippians 2:13 |
Celebrate Recovery enjoys using acronyms, so with lesson 4, we use the acronym for SANITY, which explains the gifts we receive when we believe in Jesus Christ. This comes straight from Celebrate Recovery lesson four.
- Strength
- Acceptance
- New Life
- Integrity
- Trust
- Your Higher Power, Jesus Christ, loves you just the way you are!
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What Does “Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4” Mean?
As mentioned in previous CR lessons, Celebrate Recovery uses step studies that are similar to Bible studies. During a step study, you get together with a group of people weekly for several months to study the CR curriculum.
Celebrate Recovery is a 12-step, Christ-centered recovery program for anyone with hurts, habits, or hang-ups. Truthfully, we all have pain! Whether you’ve faced addictions or just need some support and encouragement in your life, Celebrate Recovery might be the best solution for you!
The CR lessons in these articles are straight from John Baker’s Celebrate Recovery Participant’s Guide. The first 6 lessons come directly from Stepping Out of Denial into God’s Grace: Participant’s Guide 1. Usually, you can buy the study guide in your step study when you join.
The Celebrate Recovery guides were created by Rick Warren and John Baker as a part of the CR curriculum. This curriculum is based on the Beatitudes. As you learn about Celebrate Recovery’s 8 principles, you will better understand these scriptures from the New Testament.
What is Sanity?
According to Collins Dictionary, Sanity is a person’s ability to think and behave in a normal and reasonable way. Webster’s Dictionary says it’s being of sound body and mind.
In the last CR lesson, we talked about the power of hope and what it can do for us. In this lesson, we learn that sanity is all about making decisions based on the truth of God’s word. In fact, we receive gifts when we believe that Jesus Christ has the power to restore us to sanity!
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love, and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)
What is Insanity?
Insanity occurs when you do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result every time. I’m sure you have been in a situation with a habit or addiction where you felt that repeating that behavior would produce different results over time. Instead, you probably learned it was all pointless.
Maybe you learned a lesson from your insane behavior. You might have learned over time that doing the same thing over and again would not give you different results. Maybe you trusted a friend with a secret, only for him or her to gossip about you. Later, you repeated this behavior expecting him or her to do something different, but they did not.
This can be quite frustrating! Don’t be too hard on yourself. We’ve all been there. It’s easy to expect others to change, but as we learned about control and powerlessness in previous lessons, we cannot control other people.
We have no power there. Our influence only takes us so far. It’s often wiser to focus inward than to think you can influence others.
Remember to trust in God and not depend on your own understanding when you are doing insane things. If you do this, you will bear fruit, and you’ll prosper rather than fail over and over again!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. – Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
How Can We Trust God More?
There are some simple things you can do to build a relationship of trust with the Lord.
- Join a CR step study!
- Study the Bible!
- Join a group Bible study!
Recommended: What is a Bible Study?
Related: What is the Importance of a Bible Study
When you study the Bible, you are listening to what God has to say to you! This is a crucial part of communication with anyone; wouldn’t you agree?
Another critical part of having a relationship with God is talking to Him through prayer. This means being humble and open. Prayer can vastly change your life for the better. Consider implementing prayer by using a prayer journal, or just write your prayers in a notebook!
If you want, there is a Celebrate Recovery Study Bible available that you can purchase to help you read and study the Word of God and work on your recovery – at the same time.
Celebrate Recovery Lesson Four Highlights
Lesson 4 Notes
We’ve covered how to step out of denial, how to admit you are powerless, how to accept that God exists and that He loves you, and how to have hope that your faith will lead you through any battle you may be facing.
We’ve just talked about what it means to be insane, and we’ve all been there. Trusting God is a crucial part of getting out of unhealthy patterns or routines.
As we talk through these points of Celebrate Recovery’s lesson four, I encourage you to talk to your new CR friends in your step study or CR small group about each of these points, as they can provide you with direct positive feedback and encouragement!
Related: Celebrate Recovery Serenity Prayer
Let’s dive into the acronym – Sanity!
Strength
With the help of Jesus Christ, we are able to face our fears – all of the things that have caused us to fight, flee, or freeze.
God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. – Psalm 46:1 (TLB)
Remember, as we are looking at sanity, we realize that our mind and body have acted in unreasonable and abnormal ways in the past. Instead of looking for new solutions, we repeated actions hoping for different results, which is insane!
My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength; He is all I ever need. – Psalm 73:26 (GNB)
Acceptance
With acceptance, it’s important that we have realistic expectations of both ourselves and others. This means that we need to not try to control the lives of others, work toward being more open to other people, and accept God’s plans for our lives.
Accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ has accepted you. – Romans 15:7 (GNB)
New Life
In this lesson, we realize we are given a second chance at life! We are no longer stuck living the lives we were once living.
We can change with the help of Jesus Christ!
When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (TLB)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you. – Romans 12:2 (TLB)
Integrity
With integrity, we learn to follow through on our promises so that other people can eventually trust us once again. As we work to build the trust of others back, we can begin to trust ourselves and believe in what we can accomplish on our road to recovery!
Doesn’t it feel great to be on that journey to build that trust with others?? It’s a beautiful thing to be given a second chance – when it happens!
Please realize that we don’t all get a second chance with every person in our lives; some bridges are just burned, unfortunately. However, that’s what’s great about building new relationships in your life. You can do this at CR!
Nothing brings me greater joy than hearing that my children are living in the truth. – 3 John 4 (PH)
Trust
Recovery is a time when we also begin to trust our relationships with other people and with Jesus Christ – our Higher Power! Think about how you once were quite mistrustful and are now beginning to have new hope in others. Also, think of all the ways that having faith in Jesus has changed your life!
It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the Lord, you are safe. – Proverbs 29:25 (GNB)
But this precious treasure – this light and power that now shines within us – is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own. We are pressed on every side by troubles but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. – 2 Corinthians 4:7-8 (TLB)
Your Higher Power, Jesus Christ, loves you just the way you are!
Accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior means that you are forgiven for whatever you did in your past! It’s a beautiful gift that we are blessed to receive!
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8
Remember that in the past, you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel, and you had no part in the agreements with the promise that God made to His people. You had no hope, and you did not know God. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death. – Ephesians 2:12-13 (NCV)
Regardless of where you are in your life and your faith journey, God is with you. You are never alone!
And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
Remember that not only is God with you through each step of your recovery, but He is blessing your life in ways you may not know. Have faith, and you will prosper!
So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time. – Matthew 6:34 (TLB)
Principle 2 Prayer
Dear God,
I have tried to “fix” and “control” my life’s hurts, hang-ups, or habits all by myself. I admit that, by myself, I am powerless to change. I need to begin to believe and receive Your power to help me recover.
You loved me enough to send Your Son to the cross to die for my sins. Help me to be open to the hope that I can only find in Him. Please help me to start living one day at a time.
In Jesus’ name, I pray,
Amen
Check out the Celebrate Recovery Serenity Prayer for more inspiration and memory techniques for memorizing prayers like this one!
And this is the secret: that Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory. – Colossians 1:27 (TLB)
Lesson 4 Questions
- What things have you been doing over and over again, expecting a different result each time (insanity)?
- What is your definition of sanity?
- How have your past expectations of yourself or others been unrealistic? Give examples.
- In the past, how has trusting only in your own feelings and emotions got you in trouble?
- How can your Higher Power, Jesus Christ, help restore you to make sane decisions? How do you get a second chance?
- What areas of your life are you ready to release control of and hand over to God? Be specific.
These study questions came directly from the Celebrate Recovery Study Guide. Be sure to discuss them with your step study group or small group at Celebrate Recovery. That is the place to share! Remember that the friends you make at CR have gone through their own battles and are there to listen to what you have to say.
He will not break the bruised reed nor quench the dimly burning flame. He will encourage the fainthearted, those tempted to despair. He will see full justice given to all who have been wronged. – Isaiah 42:3 (TLB)
Additional Celebrate Recovery Resources
A Celebrate Recovery Video – Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4: Sanity
In this video by Johnny Baker, Celebrate Recovery lesson four on Sanity is covered.
Free Recovery Lesson 4 Study Guide
Enjoy the free additional study questions for Celebrate Recovery lesson 4 in my Recovery Study Guide. Use them in your small group or step study to engage with one another even more regarding this lesson! This is NOT an official CR study guide; I created these questions to go with this lesson, though.
My Story – In Regards to Celebrate Recovery Lesson Four
My name is Michele. I’m a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and I struggle with workaholism, anxiety, perfectionism, and codependency. I celebrate recovery from addictions to alcohol and men.
The main thing that I struggled with when I was going through CR was my love life. I would continue to repeat my dating mistakes over and over again, expecting different results – like an insane person!
The fear I faced in this lesson was the loneliness I felt when I wasn’t in a relationship. (I took a sabbatical from dating during my recovery). When I felt empty before recovery, I would run toward an addiction to fulfill me, such as fighting for a guy who was wrong for me. Instead of facing the emptiness that I felt, I’d expect a bad dating relationship to “complete” me.
I learned that I really had nothing to be afraid of since God was on my team! I would be okay as a single person. Since my feelings often led me to guys who were bad for me, I decided to change. I filled my life with church, Celebrate Recovery, Bible study, prayer, and making Christian friends.
So, I decided to hand over my addiction to men over to God since I knew He could handle them. I realized that my addictions were causing me problems in all areas of my life – from my finances to my career choices. Everything centered around my love life, and that needed to change!
I hated being dependent on men for my happiness and wanted to rely on God instead of other people. I decided that the time that I spent alone, feeling empty, would not seem so awful if I filled it with God. There’s nothing wrong with being “addicted” to God, right?
What I Learned from Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4 – My Takeaway
My key takeaway from CR lesson 4 on sanity was that I was acting insane by dating the same type of guy, expecting different results each time, and needed to change my ways, or the outcome would never change. It was affecting my whole life in negative ways! I turned over a new leaf, and my life changed – for good.
My Tips on Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4
- Make new friends. People from our past are often not good for us.
- Turn your fears over to God and let Him take control of your life.
- Find a church home to attend – somewhere you can fellowship and meet new people.
- Continue going to Celebrate Recovery meetings and encourage new members!
- Focus on others. How can you give back to your community and make a difference?
- Study your Bible and pray daily. Consider using a prayer journal to record your prayers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Serenity Prayer?
The Celebrate Recovery Serenity Prayer is as follows: 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. This prayer is also used in Alcoholics Anonymous.
What are the 8 principles of Celebrate Recovery?
The Celebrate Recovery 8 principles are based on the Beatitudes in the Bible (Matthew 5).
- Realize I’m not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.
- Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.
- Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.
- Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
- Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.
- Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.
- Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.
- Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.
What are the 12 steps in Celebrate Recovery?
The Celebrate Recovery 12 steps are based on the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
- We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
- We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.
- We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.
- We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- We continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Who goes to Celebrate Recovery meetings?
Anyone can attend Celebrate Recovery meetings. You don’t need to be religious or have an addiction or problem that needs to be addressed. In fact, anyone with hurts, hang-ups, or habits can attend a Celebrate Recovery meeting!
How can you trust God?
Have faith that God has your best interests at heart. He has a plan – something that only He understands, so you may not always agree with the direction your life takes, but continue to trust God. In the end, it will all turn out the way it should. Study your Bible and remain faithful even when you feel like giving up.
Conclusion
We’ve covered a lot in regards to Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4: Sanity.
- What is Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4: Sanity?
- What are Sanity and Insanity?
- How to Trust God More
- Notes, Questions, and Prayers from the CR Study Guide
- Additional Celebrate Recovery Resources
- My Story and Tips in Relation to Celebrate Recovery Lesson 4
- Frequently Asked Questions
- And More!
I hope you have learned to break free of your insane ways and know how to trust God in your life more. Be sure to download your free Lesson 4 study guide in the shop!
Make sure you get the free Serenity Prayer art printables in my shop!! They are beautiful!
Please feel free to share your testimony or questions in the comments. We benefit from each other’s success stories!
If you could, help me with this ministry by sharing this post with others and on social media. Let’s unite to help others on their roads to recovery!
I look forward to sharing the next Celebrate Recovery lesson with you – Celebrate Recovery Lesson 5: Turn! Sounds exciting!
