When God Rewrites a Life: Five Years of Freedom

Surrender Is Stronger Than Shame

Five years ago, shame was running Stephanie’s life.

It told her this was just who she was.

It told her she had already messed up too much.

It told her freedom was for other women — not her.

Maybe it’s been telling you the same thing.

This week, we celebrated Stephanie’s five years of sobriety — five years of freedom that began with one brave, surrendered yes.

But her five years are more than a milestone. They are part of the reason the doors of Selah House Recovery are open at all.

Because when addiction shows up in your own family — not once, but twice — God plants something deeper than heartbreak. He plants vision. He plants courage. He plants a place that didn’t exist before.

Today, Stephanie leads inside Selah House Recovery, guiding women toward the very freedom she once believed was impossible.

That’s what happens when surrender becomes stronger than shame.

One family. One mission. Freedom looks good on us!

We Celebrate Milestones — But This One Is Personal

At Selah House Recovery, we acknowledge every milestone.

Birthdays. Anniversaries. Babies. Small wins. Big wins.

And yes — there is always cake. It’s practically a house rule.

But sobriety anniversaries carry a different weight. They represent battles fought quietly. Tears no one saw. Decisions made when staying defeated would have been easier.

Five years ago feels like yesterday, and like a lifetime ago — all at the same time. Because f you see Stephanie thriving today, you might be amazed at how completely God can transform a life.

I’m not amazed.

I see it all the time.

Addiction is often a slow fade back to where you swore you’d never return.

Recovery can feel like a crawl forward — inch by inch — toward the woman God always intended you to be.

So let me ask you:

What are you looking ahead at?

Who are you following?

Who is speaking into your life?

And eventually — who will you lead?

Because this recovery journey isn’t self-improvement.

It’s surrender.

And surrender changes everything.

The House Surrender Built.

This Is Why Selah House Exists

At Stephanie’s celebration, there was a young woman sitting among us — laughing, engaging, more alive than she had been just a few days earlier.

After the party, I found her.

When I asked if she enjoyed it, she smiled and said yes. Then she said something that brougth me to tears, again.

She told me she looks up to Stephanie. She wants to be like her.

That is the power of proximity.

That is the power of community.

That is the power of what God can do when women are surrounded by other women who have walked through fire and come out refined.

This is the community I once searched for.

It didn’t exist for me.It didn’t exist for Stephanie.

So with Gods leading, we built it.

As we walk daily in the Fruit of the Spirit in this new life called Recovery, we become God’s workmanship — living proof that shame does not win, addiction does not win, and the enemy does not get the final word.

We become evidence of Ephesians 3:20 in real time.

Now Let’s Be Honest

I believe in what God can do.

I believe addiction does not get the final word.

I believe in the program He led us to build at Selah House Recovery.

And I believe in you.

Yes — you.

The one who keeps saying, “Soon.”The one who thinks one more week won’t matter. It will.

The one hoping things will somehow change on their own.

They won’t.

Freedom does not begin when you feel ready.It begins when you surrender.

You are not too far gone.You are not too late.And you are not the exception to God’s power to redeem.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…”— Ephesians 3:20

Stop wrestling the same cycle.

Make the call. 616-797-1240

Not next month.Not after one more failed attempt.

Today.

Your Community is waiting and so is the celebration.