Running to save Haiti

The Star Tribune recently ran a story about Tara Livesay, a Minnesotan who moved her family to Haiti four years ago to help residents there.

'When we saw all the poverty in Haiti,' Livesay said, 'we decided there was more to life than having two cars, a boat and a cushy life. God was asking us to leave our comfort zone and do something to help here.'

One of the ways that Livesay is helping Haitians is by running the Twin Cities Marathon. In fact, she secured about $53,000 to aid malnourished children, getting pledges from people in 42 states and eight countries.

Freedom from addiction

In "Life's Healing Choices," John Baker lays out eight choices that will change your life. Baker says, "Happiness is a choice -- and you can choose it one choice at a time":

1. Realize I'm not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.
2. Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.
3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ's care and control.
4. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
5. Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.
6. Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I've done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.
7. Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.
8. Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.

So far I have read the chapters on the first three choices. During that time, I have realized that I am addicted to anger and I need to recover from that. "Life's Healing Choices" already is helping me through the recovery process.

A murder averted

My church small group currently is going through the book "Life's Healing Choices: Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-Ups, and Habits." The book features a foreword by Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life." John Baker, the author of "Life's Healing Choices," founded Celebrate Recovery, one of the most successful ministries in the history of Saddleback Church, where Rick Warren is the lead pastor.

There are some very moving stories in the book, including this one by Mary, who struggles with abuse, anger, eating disorders, and codependency.

Soon my husband told me how unhappy he was and that it was all my fault. I agreed and felt he was right. He did, however, agree to go to marriage counseling. But during that first session, my husband told me he had been having another affair. This was when I hit bottom. This was too much for me, and I lost all sense of reality. I could see no reason why he should keep on living. When we got home, he went right to bed. I was hysterical, crying. When I knew he was asleep, I took the biggest knife we had, braced myself against the wall, and held it up above his neck. For some reason I thought, 'Maybe God doesn't want him dead.' I had not thought about God in years. So I asked God aloud, 'God, it's Mary here. You know all about my situation and that I am about to kill my husband. If You don't want me to do this, then You have to give me the power to put this knife back.' The next thing I remember is feeling as if a person were hugging me from behind. I cried all night on the bedroom floor. That night I was completely emptied of myself. I asked God to fill my empty body with Himself and to show me where I could learn about Jesus. I didn't know it then, but I was making the second choice in my journey toward healing. (pp. 58-59)

Mary and her husband ended up getting a divorce but she now understands that God fully accepts her for who she is.