Why Should We Invite Others Along Our Recovery Journey?

When we detach ourselves from God and others because of the fears that rule our hearts, the only thing we accomplish is the perpetuation of the enemy’s purpose for our lives. Satan, the father of lies, thrives on stealing, killing, and destroying. If he can get you to believe that no one, including God, could love you if they really knew the truth about you, then he has succeeded in his agenda for you. When you build a wall of secrets around your heart and life to protect yourself from rejection, you inadvertently cut off the supply of the only thing you really want—unconditional love. No one can get in to hurt you, but you can’t receive life-giving supplies either. And that brings us down to the biggest false belief driving this whole mess: I can’t trust God or anyone else to meet my needs; I can only depend on myself…

…If you are going to eradicate patterns of sin that have dominated your life, you must begin to expose all of the secret places of your heart and your secret thoughts and behaviors to God and to other safe people. That’s the first thing to do in preparing the site—calling for help. Secrecy kills; honesty heals. And I want to add something very important here: Telling your secrets to God is not enough. You must involve other people. Why? The Bible tells us that healing only comes in relationship (“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”–James 5:16).

– Troy Haas, Building for Freedom