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August 12 – Looking Back to Move Forward · The Daily Ripples Podcast

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  Welcome back everybody to the Daily Ripples Podcast.
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  I'm Pastor Mike and I've got with us Corey as always
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  and our guest this week, which is Paris. And we're going to jump
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  right in with our devotional today titled Looking Back to Move
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  Forward. The Stone. I cannot move fully into
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  peace until I'm willing to face the parts of my past that
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  still stand in the way. Ripple 1: Practical.
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  Today, I will look honestly at where I have been at fault. Avoiding the past
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  may feel easier, but unresolved harm often continues to shape the present.
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  Courage grows when I face what needs to be addressed rather than pretending it
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  no longer matters. Ripple 2 is spiritual. As I
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  face my past and make amends where possible, the Holy Spirit gives me the courage
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  to continue moving forward in freedom. The Father invites me
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  to walk in truth, not denial. And Jesus teaches me that healing
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  often begins with honest confession and reconciliation.
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  Now, guys, as I was reading this one,
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  I was thinking about, especially when I read fresh
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  this time about avoiding the past may feel easier, but unresolved
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  harm often continues to shape the present. And I immediately
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  in my mind, as I was reading that again, went back to where I
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  was basically this time last year,
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  you know, in 2025, right? I was in the midst of
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  probably one of the deepest depressions,
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  you know, of my life. It was all over some
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  unresolved, you know, family relationships that I
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  didn't think I could do anything to
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  improve them, or I, I didn't think that I had a part
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  other than trying to wait and be patient. And so here I am trying
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  to pray for the patience of Job to sit down and go
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  through this persecution. Meanwhile, I'm going to all the
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  things that the world has to offer, the therapist and the mental health medicine and
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  changing prescriptions and things of that nature.
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  But there came a point to
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  where— and I would also, just to back up a little bit, I would also
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  try to look at it, and I would do this on a daily basis,
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  try to You know, I was constantly praying the Serenity Prayer because I was not
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  at peace. You know, as the stone was saying, I couldn't
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  move fully into peace with what I had going on at the time. But I
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  was trying to get to peace by praying the Serenity Prayer and thinking, well,
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  this relationship, I have to accept it as a thing that
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  I cannot change. Well, what really was going on and why there was such conflict
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  in me is because it was the thing that I was supposed to be
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  having the courage to do. I had it in the wrong category in my Serenity
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  Prayer. And so when I finally got to
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  the place where I could see that clearly, and this was very late in
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  2025, I was
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  able to then reach out to those people that honestly
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  that I had harmed at various times and kind of do this thing all
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  over again and met with them and started
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  to start to build the building blocks to kind of try to reconcile that
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  relationship back. And that's why no
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  matter how much I was doing for a congregation, no matter
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  how much I was doing for other people in recovery,
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  whatever gifts I was trying to bring that God had given me to those
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  environments were falling flat. And the reason why
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  is exactly what Jesus taught in Matthew, the 5th chapter.
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  And this is in verses 23 and 24. He's telling them
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  to first go and be reconciled to others and then come and offer your gift,
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  you know, in the temple, right? So Jesus is saying, before your gift is accepted
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  and going to be used properly, be reconciled to the people that you've harmed,
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  that you are withholding forgiveness against,
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  and things of that nature. So once I started doing
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  the hard work and the scary work of trying to reconcile and
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  try to heal that relationship a little bit, Then I started
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  to feel more peace and got to where— because where I am today, I would
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  say today I'm at peace. Yeah, there's still work to be done, but I'm having
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  the courage to face that every day. And I'm not trying to slide it off
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  into the acceptance category where I don't have to do anything. Huh.
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  What do you think, buddy? Man, yeah. I mean,
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  you know, I was looking at the Bible verse, right? Romans 12:2.
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  It said, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.
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  By the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern
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  what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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  You know, and that's the thing I get when, uh,
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  you know, listening to what you just said,
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  you know, about when you— I
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  believe you said, um, I may have got it wrong, but, um,
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  about being looking at the past. Make it feel easier, right?
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  Yeah. Yeah. And then resolve on the harm from the people we have
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  that continues to shape the present. And that's the thing we have to do.
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  We have to transform what we thinking. We have to transform
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  our old self into something new. And that's what that verse
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  spoke out to me about.
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  Well, even in that, to dig into that verse a little bit, it says,
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  be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So it's not even that I have
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  to, because I can't transform my own mind. Exactly. But my mind can
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  be transformed when I renew my mind. Exactly.
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  Renewing my mind sometimes is taking different actions. But you know, I was talking to
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  a friend of mine today and I asked him, I was like,
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  what's the difference between atheist and agnostic, right?
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  And he was breaking it down to me. 'Cause I'm working with
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  a guy now that, you know, he's a very,
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  he's atheist and he just, don't want to
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  believe. And I was like, I had to ask
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  him one day, I was like, do you believe that I believe? You know,
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  when I asked him that, he was like, hmm. He looked at me and said,
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  yes. I said, okay, well, you can use that. Because the only thing we
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  need is the willing part of it. I know I'm going off the topic of
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  the, you know, looking to our resentment,
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  but that's what got me to the
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  part of transforming our minds. And that's what I thought
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  of when I came up. Yeah, I think, you know, well, it's a good time
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  for me and him to talk as well about that, right? So because like,
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  you know, you know, I love working with an atheist or someone
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  highly agnostic. Yeah. Because man's like,
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  you know, the deal is, is, and like, I don't, I don't know where
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  it says, you know, the whole like, if you believe, I believe thing,
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  but I just haven't found that in the literature in a while.
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  Well, I mean, you know, this'd be his throat.
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  But what I will tell you is on Second
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  Step, came to believe that a power greater than ourselves
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  could restore us to sanity. Yeah. And that's what his verse was saying, right?
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  Yes. And so dude has to know he's insane first,
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  right? Yeah. Yeah. That has to— that's because that creates
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  the willingness. Because if there's not— if there's not insanity then
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  there's no willingness. But if I came to believe that you guys
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  have been restored to sanity or came
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  to believe that this program can restore me to sanity, right? Because if I just
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  use kind of, if we just go through the work, let's just see what
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  happens on the other side. Let's not worry about, because also
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  in the long form of the Fifth Tradition, the group is also considered
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  a spiritual entity. So, you know, for less— for
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  people that are so hesitant about that, use the group, right? Because that
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  is a group of people that is represented in our traditions and
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  in our literature as a spiritual entity. We find as time goes on,
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  maybe when the 5th set promises start happening, happening and
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  all these things, yeah, points of views change. I know 2 dudes I used to
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  sponsor, right, that were Muslim. And, you know, one of them's got a Bible
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  right in front of him right now, didn't eat bacon. It's a crazy thing.
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  But what I was thinking about
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  is on page 78, it says, and I think
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  about faults and it's part of page 77 and 78,
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  it gives us complete instructions of this. So on 77
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  and 78, under no condition do we criticize such a person or argue.
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  Simply we tell him that we will never get over drinking until we have
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  done our utmost to straighten out the past. I think that's a scapegoat a little
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  bit. You can use that. Because it's in the book. But I think,
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  hey man, I'll never get over my drinking. I'm here to make amends.
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  I think your boss,
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  Paris, he has more of the viewpoint of— he
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  has like, I forgot how he says it, but it's like, hey man, I've been
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  running through my life selfish and self-centered and you
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  got hit in the middle of it. And what can I— pretty much. But it's,
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  let's, Like, I think, you know, not involving the drinking,
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  because I feel like drinking is like a scapegoat or making amends to
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  people. But then it goes on to say, we are there to sweep off
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  our side of the street, realizing that nothing worthwhile can
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  be accomplished until we do so. Never try to
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  tell him what he should do. His faults
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  are not to be discussed. And when I think about that word, you know,
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  I talk about it a lot. We resolutely look at
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  what we have done, right? And that's with determination.
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  And so for me to do that with determination, I have to completely
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  set aside. Am I willing to set aside everything that's ever happened in my life?
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  With my birth mother, I was. I was telling a
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  dude, it was so cool, a dude at work, we were talking about moms and
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  stuff, and he's been going through it with his mom and for
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  a long time about some stuff about the past. And this dude's a lot older
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  than me too. And I was telling him, you know, man, I said, you know,
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  my birth mother, when I— because I viewed this lady, because I never
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  got the— I never got the— I sent a letter when I was 18
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  because I wanted to meet her. And I sent another one. And I
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  was like, man, you know, I— and by this time, you know, as I
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  got older, at this time I've played with this thought of these couple letters that
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  She's thrown them away. She, you know, she's, you know, all these different things
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  when, you know, the case could have been that she just didn't get them.
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  Yeah, she was moving around a lot in that trailer park anyways.
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  So even if she stayed in one place with the Postal Service being what it
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  is, right. And, you know, but so like, and I told
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  him that and I said, man, like, you know, the biggest, the most peace
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  and the most, you know, where I felt God was
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  when I went to that hospital parking lot and made
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  amends to this lady for selfishly wanting her
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  in my life. And, you know, because I wanted her to come save
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  the day because I couldn't take care of myself. And, you know, and I went
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  through some things that, you know, how I talked bad about her,
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  you know, to different people. And, you know, it just, you know, because like,
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  you know, that's what I did. And, you know, I didn't even know this woman.
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  But I'll tell you, me not knowing this woman and that woman being dead at
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  that time, I found peace. And I was one
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  with that. So I think when we can set aside
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  anything we think these people have done and just look at our
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  faults, that's where the peace comes. Anyways,
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  it says that as I face my past and make amends where possible,
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  the Holy Spirit gives me the courage to continue moving forward in freedom.
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  And that has been what has
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  given me the courage over this past year to keep moving forward in freedom
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  as well. It's just knowing that,
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  because I had to first listen to the wisdom, again, of the Psalms.
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  And Psalm 139:23-24 says,
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  search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious
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  thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me
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  in the way everlasting. And so I had to spend that time
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  where I allowed God in to reveal, you know, through the Holy Spirit where my
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  anxious thoughts were residing and where they were at
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  times, you know, telling me lies, you know, telling me lies about
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  things that had to be accepted or not accepted about my part in things or
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  not my part in things. And, but spending that time, you know,
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  kind of communing with God was important.
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  To be able to move forward. And it says move
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  forward in freedom. And it has been a free experience.
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  I'm not nearly as bogged way down now as I was,
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  again, like I said, this time last year. And I've had multiple times and
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  multiple experiences through my time in recovery of that
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  same thing. I can remember early on I was at about
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  3 years sober and And I was
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  going through some tough stuff. I'm sure it was relationship-wise, you know, on the
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  dating scene as an adult and things of that nature. And I remember
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  being in one of those pity me, woe is me kind of places and not
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  really seeing, you know, some things that I needed to see.
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  And I talked to a guy who had 30 years more sobriety than I did.
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  And that's when he told me, well, come to this. He listened to me patiently
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  for a little bit and then he said, well, sounds like you need to join
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  me at, you know, so-and-so meeting at noon today. And while
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  you're there, be sure that you take the cotton out of your ears and put
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  it in your mouth. And I was like, well, dang, okay.
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  That's it. What seemed callous at the time,
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  though, is advice that never left me. Because it means that sometimes when
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  I'm focused on me, me, me, me, me, I'm not listening. And I'm not hearing
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  the guidance, the wisdom. I'm not hearing God speak to me through other people.
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  And in that process, I can also find revelation about the stuff from my
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  past that I need to address so that I can move forward and be free.
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  Pierce, you got a final word for us today? Yeah, you know, I was
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  going to tell Cora something. On page 47,
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  it says in the book, it said, I wish I had what that man has.
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  I'm sure it would work if I could only believe as he
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  believes. Now, he's saying
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  it in a way to where it's
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  not that I'm asking the question, right? I was
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  just asking the question, do you believe it? Like, I believe. So, you know,
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  I just wanted to confirm something. It's not an ego trip or nothing like that.
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  Now, don't, don't get me wrong. I just wanted to, uh— for those
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  watching at home, you just missed the, uh,
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  rebuttal play by Paris aimed at Corey regarding
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  having faith of another. So I
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  just hear things in meetings, like words like stinking thinking.
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  And you can believe if I believe and things like that. So yeah,
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  but, and I think that's okay, right? But I
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  think I have to stay out of that completely. And how it goes into
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  working with others, because I'm not, you know, I'm not in the business of getting
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  them to believe, right? I'm just with them.
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  I'm just in the business to carry the message. I'm not in
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  the business of focusing on what they believe in, how they believe in.
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  I ask them the question, right? I ask them the 40-page the question on
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  47 with the paragraph right below it. Because then, you know, because that paragraph where
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  you were talking about is an interesting thought because, you know, where you're talking about
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  if only I could believe what he, you know, what he does, right? Because I've
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  come into situations in my life, man, if only I went through what he went
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  through, man, I'd be better right now because like I'd have a bottom like
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  his. Yeah. No, you know, and so like you don't want to— I mean,
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  you don't want a bottom like, you know. And also the direction of
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  the question, I think, matters, you know. Uh, the reflection in the book was of
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  a guy saying, I saw what somebody else had and I wish that
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  I could believe as they believed. And that's a different direction of a question of
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  me going and telling somebody, well, just believe what I believe. You see what I
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  mean? That's me pushing my thoughts down versus me looking
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  up to somebody else and trying to follow their example. I just don't.
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  And I, you know, I'm a big person that— not a big person, but a
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  big part— you are a big person that likes to Because
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  I hear things and I've heard that for years, right? And I've heard
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  that for years of, hey man, I just, you know, my sponsor told me,
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  you know, if I believe and you believe that I believe, and I'm like,
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  man, like, I don't know. Like, what is it like? Because what if you really
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  don't believe? Yeah, then we're both screwed.
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  Yeah. But, you know, those are just some of my thoughts. But I mean,
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  you know, I think any spiritual work is spiritual work and I don't think it's
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  right or wrong. Neither. So no. And in all of that, you know,
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  the, the rebuttal and the back and forth we've had this episode, Corey, what you
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  just shared about that it's not your job to grow
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  faith in others, it's just your job to carry the message, right, is essentially what
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  you said. And that's the exact same as, um,
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  you know, the parables that, that Jesus gave repeatedly,
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  you know, throughout the Gospels. You know, just recently I was, uh, preaching and
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  going through Matthew 13, and it's You know, we're to sow the seeds.
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  We're not to be concerned on what type of path they fall on, and we're
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  certainly not responsible for the harvest, as the harvest is God's.
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  But we are still supposed to go out and sow the seeds. So that's
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  a good one to end on. I don't know who started today, but somebody needs
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  to pray. You did, buddy. You did. All right, well, here's our prayer for the
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  day. Father God, give me the courage to face my past with honesty
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  and hope. Through your Holy Spirit, Help me address what still stands between
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  me and the peace you desire for me. Shape my life
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  through the example of Jesus and lead me forward in freedom and grace.
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  Amen. Amen.