This five-part series explores five stages of healing, restoration and freedom in Christ. When we talk about how we BUILD more room for God, so often we refer to the sacrifice and letting go of our good stuff – our time, our energy, our finances. But God doesn’t just want our good stuff. He wants our brokenness too. And sometimes we want to hold onto our brokenness and not give it over. We at CSC are in a journey of sacrifice and BUILDing as we raise funds and expand our physical space to accommodate growth in our discipling ministries to children, youth, young adults, seniors and marginalized communities. But we also want this to be a church-wide journey of spiritual growth and healing.

CSC offers many healing discipleship ministries and courses to help people walk in freedom from the things that are holding us back from living life to the full in Christ (John 10:10). Construction of NW Campus and expansion of Central Campus will allow for the various sized multi-purpose spaces needed to optimize the ministry environment for people walking on journeys of spiritual growth and healing. In the spirit of James 5:16, the new spaces will provide discrete and confidential places for people to work in safe community through spiritual barriers like addiction, deep emotional wounds and trauma.

Part 2: Making room for God to renovate

Once we give Jesus access to the rest of our house (see Part 1) the true healing journey is only beginning. One thing facilitators and graduates of Freedom Session and Encounter God have noticed is that people may come in to manage a specific issue in their lives – like anger, addiction, guilt, etc. – but it’s almost always just a symptom of something deeper.

“That’s why you go through all the rooms of your house – you purge, you clean, and you burn,” says Pastor Greg Grunau, Pastor of Spiritual Development. “This comes down to changing negative behaviours, attitudes, habits and any other areas in our lives that we have allowed the enemy to have a foothold.”

Ultimately this next phase of God’s renovation in our lives includes identifying negative habits and behaviours and building new ways of thinking. “First, we break any agreements we’ve unknowingly made with the enemy, giving the enemy a foothold in our lives” adds Pastor Cam Harris, Pastor of Healing Discipleship. These agreements could come in many forms – through traumatic events, occultic practices, addictions, unforgiveness in our relationships, and even family of origin generational blessings and curses. “So rather than just focusing on the mind, we want to also connect to heart issues. It’s about healing in all those domains of being, because they are all connected.”

It comes down to BUILDing new ways of thinking, reflect Pastor Greg and Pastor Cam. They note Romans 12:2. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

“That means we purge all our rooms, clearing out what is bad or unnecessary, and making space for God to BUILD something new. It is God doing the building,” adds Pastor Greg. “There are some things that we must do but we work with Him. We clear out what is bad or unnecessary. But He is the primary forgiver and restorer, builder and project manager.”

“This renovation is about building new thought patterns over time,” says Pastor Cam. “He does the work, but we have to participate with Him. He’s not just going to touch us on the forehead and create a new way of thinking. We have to join in with Him by going through the rigorous process of taking our thoughts captive.”

Rhonda came to Freedom Session in 2018 seeking healing from rejection and self-esteem issues. These issues ultimately stemmed from being given up for adoption as a newborn infant, along with other various perceived experiences of rejection that occurred throughout her life.

“I thought I had an accurate idea of what my root issues were coming into the program,” said Rhonda. “I came to understand that my issues were not, however, primarily about experiences of wounding from others but rather how those experiences shaped my relationship with God and how I saw myself.”

For Rhonda, giving Jesus access to all the rooms of her house meant surrendering to His will and letting him into all the areas of her life. Through Freedom Session homework, group teaching, supportive relationships, and prayer, she explored more deeply the ways she had been wounded in relationship with others and the ways that she had hurt both herself and other people.

“My heart began to open through the comprehensive process of reflection that Freedom Session offers, to process pain and to allow myself to be loved through it by God and by the people he brought around me,” said Rhonda.

For her, the process of purging, cleansing and turning away from the things that were contributing to her feelings of brokenness meant letting go of anger at God and the false belief that He had not been there for her or had not protected her in life.

“I had to release self-hatred and feelings and habits of self-destructiveness,” said Rhonda. Examples included denying herself her heart’s desires and continually convincing herself that she was unworthy of love. “I had to give up the victim mentality and the false belief that life is against me, that I am powerless in much of life, and that I am on my own.” Rhonda had her eyes opened to her own sinfulness and realized that she had, in fact, hurt many people in her life. “I then had to release the guilt associated with that. I had to release anger and grief for the ways I had felt hurt by others. I had to release expectations of what my life was supposed to look like. I had to release the question of “Why?!!” and understand that some suffering I have brought on myself, and some suffering has purely been a result of others’ sin or is from the evil one and is not because God orchestrated it or meant it for me.”

Ultimately Rhonda had to give over the whole house – her heart, her soul and her life – for God to manage. That meant being more discerning about the influences she had exposed herself to, such as TV, movies, books, music, environments and certain people. She had to be more discerning about how her money, time and talents were used.

“I released my need to people-please and am staying centered on what God wants of me and thinks of me,” said Rhonda, adding that this included releasing pride. “I have felt real transformation begin to take shape in my life through Freedom Session. My heart is now wanting to trust again. It is letting people in, and allowing myself to be known, loved and accepted for who I am. This is a whole new experience for me.”

Today Rhonda feels desiring of and deserving of supportive Christian community. She feels like she is part of a family after many years of longing for a sense of belonging.

“In relationships in my life I find myself showing up and entering in more authentically and being open to whatever beauty God wants to reveal. I’m allowing myself to be led by Him. I am serving in the church and giving back in all parts of life more deeply than I ever have. Most of all I know that I am loved, accepted, forgiven, cherished even, by God and that He will never forsake me.”