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WELCOME!

Welcome to Recovery, Light, and Life... I'm Chris Epson... If you are new here, you might be thinking "I really don't have an addiction.  Why would I be interested in reading this?"  That's a great question, and the answer is...you probably do.  Everyone has something they go to when life gets too hard, when the stress and pain is too much, when they just don't feel good enough, or when they are just living unconsciously.  It might only be diet Coke, romance novels, gaming, or food.  Maybe it's anger.  Maybe it's shopping.  I believe that we are in recovery from mortality and all the challenges that come with it.  Life is hard and it's intended to be.  But...life is also full of joy and love and peace and progress and Grace and growth and deep relationship with God and other broken people just like us.  So how do we experience more of that?  If we are, in fact, all living in recovery, th...
Recent posts

Love is Curious...Tell Me more

  "Love Does"           Bob Goff "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling symbol.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."           Paul writing to the Ephesians "...Scripture is clear that God desires to produce in us a passionate pursuit and love for everyone around us.  We demonstrate the depth of our love for Him through the depth of our love for others.  Christianity is not a religion of cliques, comfort zones, or isolation.  Rather, it is a personal relationship with a God who loves people and longs to fill us with His love for others....

Connection...the Continuing Adventure of Family

  "The brochure is a lie." "We may eventually learn that what's most important in this life is not overcoming weaknesses, but learning to love those who have them.  It's the relationships that matter."           Joseph Grenny "I believe people come into our lives as a blessing or a lesson, and it's up to us to figure out which is which."                                                                                                                    From the movie "Mrs. Miracle"                                   ...

Making Peace...

  "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."           Phillipians 4:6-7 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:  not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."           Jesus...John 14:27 When I was at Desert Solace, one day I read those two verses in Phillipians, and since I was just beginning to see things with new eyes, the idea of a peace that passes all understanding just jumped off the page at me!  Imagine...experiencing a personal peace that cannot be understood!  That cannot be explained!  That cannot be defined!  What!?  And I remember thinking right away, "How?"  Something like that seemed so out of reach for me, and...

Bring the Spirit...Music!

K-LOVE CONCERT AT RED ROCKS IN DENVER...AUGUST 2023 THE MILLENIAL CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA IN PALMYRA, NEW YORK...JUNE, 2024 "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me...Wherefore lift up your heart and rejoice."     Doctrine and Covenants 25:12-13 "And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting praise."      Doctrine and Covenants 45:71 "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing."      Psalm 100:2 "I need music like I need water."      Amy Grant "The Truth" by Megan Woods How many times can you hear the same lie b efore you start to believe it? The enemy keeps whisperin' to me,  I swear these days, it's all I'm hearin' I used to know who I was, n ow I look in the mirror and I'm not so sure Lord, I don't wanna listen to the lies any mo...

Spiritual Connection and Recovery...Why Church

  "The opposite of addiction is connection" "An exalting (church) community isn't just a group with whom to believe, it's an intimate bond with those who help us to become...An exalting community thrives or fails depending on how people show up in two moments:  weakness and disbelief."           Joseph Grenny "For where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."                                                                  Jesus...Matthew 18:20 "As church attendance numbers fade across the nation and online services become very convenient, it's important to remember why church attendance for you and your family matters so much.  You can't serve from your sofa.  You can't have community of faith on your sofa.  You can't experience the po...

A FRESH VIEW...

"Without the Redeemer, the inherent hope and joy evaporate, and repentance becomes simply miserable behavior modification."           Elder Dale G. Renlund "The invitation to repent is an expression of God's love.  Saying yes to that invitation is an expression of ours."           Tamara W. Runia "I suspect that discovering what a Christian life looks like depends a lot on discovering the fact that repentance is a practice of joy, that this is something that you want to take up all day long, every day, as a way of engaging the world, rather than something that you want to avoid at all costs as a last resort, in light of your own imperfection."                                                                                  Adam Mil...