God
wants to bring healing and hope to the people of Mexico; He sees first
hand the depth of their suffering. Levels of stress in the family are
associated with violence, abuse, hunger, depression, victimization,
neglect, poverty and the list goes on. We believe the Celebrate Recovery
program can be used as a tool to help transform Mexico from a nation
filled with oppression into a nation of hope in Jesus Christ.
Many people think that recovery is only for drug addicts and alcoholics -
people whose lives seem out of control; but that's just not true. We've
all blown it, we've all made mistakes. We've hurt ourselves, we've hurt
other people and others have hurt us.
Celebrate Recovery is a biblical based recovery program. The goal of the
program is not simply to recover from past sins and hurts but to become
Christlike in our character.
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October 14 was the 3rd annual Celebrate Recovery Information Seminar.
Our Guest Speakers Cesar and Olga Villarreal were fabulous! The
information given, the testimony shared, the questions answered ... all
of it made for a great day.
Thank you Cesar and Olga for spending the day with us and sharing what God has taught you over the years.
We look forward to October 2018!!
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Many
sets of hands were involved in the planning and preparing of this
event. Welcoming table, Information table and Food table ... all were
important, all were appreciated.
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 ~
The Celebrate Recovery worship team opened the day and brought us to
the foot of the cross where true healing happens. ~ Cesar walked us
through our handout and explained how to set up a Celebrate Recovery
program in our local church. ~ Olga gave her testimony and shared how
Celebrate Recovery has been a tool for her in overcoming her past. ~
Thank you to Sergio and Karla for translating throughout the day.
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Testimony from Cesar, our main speaker at the Information Seminar:
My name is Cesar and I am a faithful believer in Jesus Christ who struggles with addiction to drugs and sex.
My childhood was fairly normal or at least it was in my eyes. My father
was a hard-working man who was easily frustrated and quick to explode in
anger and violence. My mother was our protector as she wanted to
prevent us from going through the same violence she was witness to
growing up. I was insecure and had low self-esteem. I learned that
pleasing my parents meant I would not be screamed at. It didn’t matter
what I wanted to do, pleasing others became more important as it made me
feel accepted and loved. At age 12 a close relative much older than me
pursued me. At first he talked about women, sex and pornography, but
eventually he started to touch me inappropriately. I was totally
confused; I did not understand what was going on or why. I was afraid
to talk to my parents and I did not have the courage to say NO to this
family member. I was 14 when I started attending church with my mom.
Church was just another place to wear another mask. My life was still
the same, watching pornography, receiving visits from this family member
and looking for personal satisfaction.
In my second year of college, I met the woman who is now my wife. We
started dating in October 1994. I thought that with a stable
relationship my wounds and bad habits would end but I realized that I
could not stop living my double life and tried to end our relationship.
She asked for an explanation and all I could share was part of
my past; she accepted me and encouraged me to move forward together. In
August of 1999 we got married. We had our own business and after a
couple of years our first daughter was born and a few years later our
second; but little by little our relationship grew colder. I went to
work while she took care of our daughters and the house. Every day I was
looking for excuses to stay in the office longer and spend less time at
home. I thought I had control over my life; I had my own business,
provided for my family, and did what I wanted. Although I had given my
life to Christ at 14 and attended church, I was not willing to yield my
will to Him. My thoughts were on the things that selfishly satisfied
me.
One night in 2007 while I was coming home from “working late”, I spotted
a young woman on the side of the road. I offered her a ride and she
offered me sex for money – I accepted and we went back to the office.
She offered me a drug called Stone Cocaine. I tried it. This was the
beginning of a horrible nightmare for my family and I. After just 2
months of experimenting with the drug, I was an addict. I could not hide
my problems anymore and my wife confronted me. I finally recognized
that something was wrong. My wife began to seek help and insisted we
speak to our pastor. It was a long process where we tried everything
but nothing worked. After spending 2 months in a rehab center I left and
went back to using drugs.
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My wife took our daughters and moved out. I tried to fill the empty void
but all I managed to do was continue on with my self-destructive
behavior.
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2009 brought a
glimmer of hope. After sending in an application for a job, I was called
for a position out of the city. I went to see my wife and talked to her
about the opportunity to start over. She was willing to try again. It
wasn't easy as I relapsed a couple of times, but little by little our
relationship was restored. We joined a church and got involved in
ministry.
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Without a doubt restoration took time, time for our personal recovery and for our marriage to be restored, but it was worth it. Three years later we were blessed with the birth of our son.
I was growing deeper in my relationship with Jesus and felt that God
placed in me the desire to serve him full-time; I just didn't know how.
In early December 2012 I received a job opportunity in Mexico City; it
came with better pay and the opportunity to grow in an international
company. After much prayer I declined the offer only to receive the
news that the plant where I was working would be closing in less than 2
months. We moved back to our original home town at the end of January
2013. When I arrived at church, I spoke to the pastor about my past life
and about the desire to serve God. He told me about some materials
called Celebrate Recovery that he had and that he had been praying for a
couple of years for someone to take the lead of this ministry. My wife
and I read the materials and knew that this was what God wanted us to
do. God used Celebrate Recovery to change our lives. In September 2013
launched our first general meeting.
Our walk in CR has been incredible. We have been able to see God's love
and mercy working in the lives of many people. After almost two years of
CR meetings, God opened the doors to work with our city's judicial
system. In January of 2016 we began receiving in our CR group people
sent with an order by the Judge to work on their recovery. God is great!
We had to open additional Step Study groups because of the growing
number of people being sent to us. In October 2016 we made the decision
to leave our secular jobs to be involved full time in the ministry that
God has entrusted us, it has not been easy but we have seen God move all
around us.
This was not an easy decision. We have gone through many different
crises from time to time and my insecurities continue to surface and my
fear of not doing things right haunts me. I know I'm not perfect, there
are still many things that I have to work on, but I also know that the
One who started the work in me will conclude it. I know there is hope in
Jesus Christ, for anyone who feels that his life is lost. For the one
who has lost all hope, God can use even the most destroyed life if we
just let him work on it. I am grateful to God for the opportunity to
serve and share this testimony with you,
Thank you for letting me share.
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Thank you to all who were able to attend the Information Seminar -
it was a great day!
A new session of CR step studies will be
starting again soon at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. Please contact Karla
664-407-7086 for more information.
Celebrate Recovery is growing and we are so excited to have you join us.
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