Weekly Check-In: Learning to Live One Day at a Time.

 

Weekly Check-In: Learning to Live One Day at a Time

I just wanted to take a moment to check in with everyone.

I’ve kind of settled on doing this type of post about once a week — not because everything is always going well, but because it helps keep me honest, grounded, and connected. Life right now isn’t neat or predictable, but it is real.

This past week, I had the opportunity to give my testimony at ARM (Addictions Recovery Ministry) here in Ottawa. I won’t pretend I wasn’t nervous. I didn’t really know what kind of reception to expect. Sexual sin isn’t a topic most people are comfortable with, and my testimony wasn’t short — about thirty minutes.

But something important happened.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I actually owned my story. I wasn’t hiding. I wasn’t minimizing. I wasn’t performing. I struggled at times to keep my composure, but I kept going. And the response I received was nothing short of grace.

I can’t thank the people at that meeting enough for the compassion they showed me.

I feel freer than I have in a long time.
Free because I don’t have to hide anymore.
Free because I am not defined by my worst mistakes.
Free because I was bought for a price.

“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
— 1 Peter 1:18–19 (NLT)

That freedom doesn’t mean life is suddenly easy. It means I’m no longer pretending it is.

Something else hit me this week — hard, and in a good way. I wrote this to someone the other day, and I haven’t been able to shake it since:

“Living one day at a time and enjoying one moment at a time.
Accepting hardships as a pathway to peace.
That’s how I’ll do it.”

I can’t believe that the answer to so many of my problems has been sitting in a prayer I’ve said hundreds of times — the Serenity Prayer. I’ve spoken those words for years without really living them.

How profound is that?

God never ceases to amaze me.

There’s a verse that’s been quietly walking alongside that prayer for me lately:

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
— Matthew 6:34

That’s not resignation.
That’s permission to breathe.

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Looking Ahead to the Coming Week

As best as I can see it right now, here’s what the next week holds:

• Attending one of my roommate’s one-year sobriety celebration

• Whitestone on Tuesday

• Work on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

• Men’s Bible study with New Connections Ministries on Thursday

• Men’s Bible study at Peace Tower Friday morning

• No counselling this week — I’ll be back on February 6th

• Church on Sunday

Nothing flashy. Nothing heroic.

Just faithfulness — one day at a time.

Thanks to everyone who continues to walk with me, pray for me, and encourage me. It matters more than you probably realize.

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