August 22, 2025 • 27 mins
What if the place that almost destroyed you is where God planned to meet you?
In this raw, powerful kickoff to Season Two of Rooted & Recovered, Dan unpacks the moment everything fell apart—and how grace met him there. Rock bottom isn’t just the end of your rope… it might be the beginning of your calling. Because while the world saw wreckage, heaven saw a meeting place.
This episode is for the ones who are still bleeding but still showing up. For the ones who know what it’s like to cry out in the dark. For the addict with six hours clean and the believer with six years of doubt. This isn’t about pretending you’re fine. It’s about realizing that God showed up in the dirt and called it holy ground.
Key Highlights:
- Why your lowest moment may be your launching pad
- Moses and the burning bush: A story of failure, fire, and calling (Exodus 3:1–5)
- Grace doesn’t avoid the wreckage—it invades it
- Why your scars have sound—and your story has weight
- What if the dirt wasn’t a grave, but a garden?
Scriptures Covered:
Exodus 3:1–5 • Romans 8:28 • Psalm 34:18 • 2 Corinthians 12:9
Final Truth:
You didn’t just survive rock bottom. God met you in the wreckage and called it holy ground. Stop running from what happened. Let grace rewrite what it means. Because what almost took you out may be the very thing that God uses to set someone else free.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This world doesn't hand outhealing.
It offers quick fixes, cheappies and empty promises, but
real recovery, it takes roots.
Roots that dig deep into truth,into identity, into the
unshakeable grace of God.
We're not here to sugarcoat thestruggle.
(00:22):
We've lived it addiction.
Shame, relapse, regret.
But we've also seenresurrection.
We've seen what happens whenbroken people get anchored in
something real rooted andrecovered is more than a
podcast.
It's a battleground for thesoul.
A place where scars tellstories, where scripture speaks
(00:43):
louder than shame, where freedomisn't just a word.
It's a war we win daily.
So if you're tired of surfacelevel answers, if you want truth
that convicts, hope that heals,and conversations that cut
through the noise, you're in theright place.
Welcome to Rooted and Recovered.
Dan (01:07):
Welcome to another episode of Rooted and Recovered.
I am your host, Dan Pyles, andI'm so thankful today that you
have taken the time out of yourbusy schedule to hang out with
me here for a little bit,allowing me in your car, uh, in
your ear, wherever you'relistening to this podcast today.
(01:28):
I just wanna thank you from thebottom of my heart, uh, to
giving me that opportunity tohang out with you for a little
bit.
Um, I'm excited to be back inthe studio recording once again.
Um, I know we've taken a littlebit of time off in between
season one, but we're back inthe studio.
We're recording season two, andI'm excited, uh, for today's
(01:51):
episode.
It's titled Rock Bottom.
Holy ground.
Now, that might not make senseto you right now, but if you'll
hang out with me for just amoment, I promise it will make
sense.
But let me ask you something,and I, and I don't mean this as
a slogan or or some cutespiritual bumper sticker, but
(02:14):
what if the moment that almostbroke you was actually the place
God planned to meet you?
Now, a lot of people havedifferent names for that, but
let's just call it for what itis we, we call it our rock
bottom.
That moment where everythingfalls apart, when the people
that you thought would staywalked out, uh, when the
(02:36):
addiction got louder than yourhope, when shame wrapped around
your soul like a chain and said,this is who you and I will
always be.
You've been there.
I've been there.
And if we're honest, we didn'tever think that we was gonna
make it out.
But what if.
Hang with me for just a moment.
What if right there in thatlowest, dirtiest, darkest place,
(03:00):
God wasn't absent?
He was waiting, waiting for themasks to fall off, waiting for
the noise to fade, waiting forthe end of yourself to become
the beginning of his grace.
We call it rock bottom, butmaybe God.
Calls it holy ground becauseit's where your pride dies and
(03:24):
his presence shows up.
This episode, family, and thisentire season is for the ones
who barely made it, the ones whoare walking through addiction,
through relapse, throughself-destruction, through
disappointment and despair, andsomehow.
By nothing but grace, you and Iare still breathing.
(03:50):
We're still fighting.
We're still showing up, and weare still standing.
Guys, this season isn't for thepolished.
It's not for the perfect.
It's not for the people who havenever messed up.
This season is for the realones.
The ones who know what it's liketo be face down in the mud,
(04:12):
crying out for mercy.
The ones who thought it wasover, but found out Grace writes
a better ending.
So if that's you.
Don't just tune into thisepisode.
Don't just tune into this thisseason, but lean in and listen
and grow from it.
Because we're about to talkabout what recovery really looks
(04:33):
like when it's rooted in truth.
We're gonna talk about the scarsthat still ache in our lives,
the battles that are stillraging in our lives, and the God
who has never.
Walked away.
Amen.
And we're gonna say this loudand clear.
From day one.
We didn't survive at all to sitquiet.
(04:56):
Family.
We were restored for a reason.
So let's find it together.
What this season about is realrecovery, real grace, and real.
Talk this season isn't aboutspiritual fluff.
It's not about performance,faith.
It's not about Sunday masks orhighlight reels with Bible
(05:20):
verses in the captions thisseason.
It's for the ones who walkthrough hell and still believe
Heaven has a plan.
It's for the ones who are stillbleeding but still showing up.
It's for, it's for the ones whodon't need another filter, they
need a solid foundation.
(05:41):
They don't need another.
Pep talk, but they need power.
They don't need more noise intheir life, but they need truth.
That breaks chains in familyover the next 12 weeks.
We are going to go theretogether.
We're not going around it.
We're not going under it.
We are going to go right.
Through it.
Guys this season is for the oneswho've hit rock bottom and
(06:04):
realize God was already therethis season.
It's for the one who wonders canI ever get back.
What I lost this season is forthe ones who, who are tired of
pretending this is for the oneswho have been clean for a year,
but still wake up fighting thosesame demons.
(06:28):
It's for the parent crying outover their prodigal child.
It's for the spouse who hasstayed even after the betrayal.
It's for the addict with sixhours clean, and the believer
with six years of doubt.
See guys, you don't need aplatform.
You don't need perfection.
You just need a pulse and alittle bit of faith.
(06:51):
That grace is still enough.
Guys, this show isn't forperfect people.
It's a space for those stillhealing, still hoping and still
fighting.
And if that's you family, youbelong here.
So let's talk about it.
Let's heal and let's recovertogether.
(07:12):
Let's walk this thing out forreal.
You see rock bottom.
Isn't where God left you family.
It's where he found you.
Now let that sink in for what Ijust said because if you have
ever hit a point so low that youthought, there's no coming back
(07:32):
from this family, you are notalone.
I've been there and millions ofother people in their recovery
journey have.
Felt the same thing that you'refacing right now, guys, rock
bottom.
It's a strange place.
It's dark, it's humiliating, itstrips you of everything.
(07:52):
People stop calling you hope.
What little hope you and I didhave.
It begins to grow quiet and youdon't even recognize that
reflection in the mirroranymore.
But see, here's what religiondoesn't always tell you.
Rock bottom.
Is a sacred space because wheneverything else was gone, God
(08:15):
remained.
He didn't wait for you to crawlout.
He climbed down into the pitwith you, not to condemn you,
but to resurrect you.
You see, you didn't find God.
He found you in the ashes ofeverything that you thought that
he wouldn't.
Touch.
(08:35):
I'm reminded of a Bible story inthe book of Exodus, uh, chapter
three.
Uh, and I'm not gonna read it,but it's, uh, I encourage you to
go to the Bible and read inExodus chapter three, uh, verses
one through five, and it tellsus that God met Moses in a
burning bush in the middle ofnowhere.
(08:56):
Moses wasn't in a palace whenGod spoke, Moses wasn't on some
platform guys.
He was in the wilderness.
He was running from his past.
He was hiding from his failures,and by this time he was
convinced that his story wasover.
But God, my friends had adifferent view.
(09:17):
And don't miss this.
The bush was on fire.
But it wasn't consumed.
Why?
Because that's what Grace does.
Grace Burns through everythingthat isn't eternal, but it
doesn't destroy you.
What it does is it refined you.
You see the fire of failure.
(09:39):
It didn't finish you.
What it did is it revealed thecall that couldn't be burned
away.
'cause God told Moses, he, hetold him, he said to take off
your sandals because the placewhere you are standing is holy
ground.
Where was he standing at?
This man was standing in thedirt in the desert, surrounded
(10:02):
by nothing but sheep in silence.
Why was it holy?
Because God showed up there.
You see, Moses didn't feelready.
He didn't even want to speak,but God had a plan and it
started at his rock bottom.
Yes.
Moses even argued with God.
(10:23):
He even tried to say he wasn'tqualified.
He tried to say, I'm, I'm slowto speak.
He even went at to one point andtold God to send someone else.
Does that sound familiar?
Maybe we've said the same thing.
God, how can you use me aftereverything that I've done?
(10:45):
God, how can you use some bustedbroken mess like this because I
have failed you so many.
Times, maybe you're early inyour recovery and, and you, you
might be looking at yourselfand, and, and comparing yourself
to other people, and you say, Idon't have the background, I
don't have the strength.
I, I don't even know where tostart.
(11:06):
But guys, God's plan.
Doesn't start with yourqualifications.
It starts with your surrender,because God doesn't need
polished people.
He uses broken ones who willstop hiding, and you don't need
to be impressive to beimpactful.
You just need to be available.
(11:29):
Family.
Your worst moment wasn't theend.
It was a setup.
That thing that you thought wasgoing to destroy you in your
life that night, that binge,that betrayal, that breaking
point.
Yes, it was real, but it wasn'tthe end.
It was the moment that Godplanted the seed.
(11:50):
You thought you were beingburied, but in God's hands, the
dirt was a garden.
And here's the beautiful part,family.
He's not done restoring what youlost.
He's giving you and I somethingbetter than we even ever, even
thought of or even could evenimagine, or to be real with you
(12:12):
even more than what we deserved.
Addiction, brokenness, shame.
Family, they didn't bury you.
They became the soil where Godplanted something new You see,
God uses the very things thatthe world labels as
disqualifiers, divorce, relapse,addiction, prison depression.
(12:39):
He takes those things that theworld disqualifies us from and
people disqualifies from.
He takes those very things andhe redeems them into platforms
of grace.
Family.
You are not just a survivor.
You are a carrier of something.
Holy guys, grace, the almightypower of grace.
(13:04):
Grace grows best in dirt and youand I are the dirt.
Our story, your story is thevery ground where your ministry
is being born.
Guys, it is no accident.
You are still here.
There's a reason suicide didn'twork.
There's a reason that overdosedidn't take you out.
(13:27):
there's a reason you'rebreathing when others aren't.
Because God interrupted theenemy's plan with mercy, and now
you and I have a responsibilitynot to be perfect, but to be
real.
Why so we can let others see thecracks where his light breaks in
(13:48):
and broke through.
Family.
The people who fall the hardestoften carry the loudest.
Testimony.
Let me tell you something.
Let me encourage you withsomething.
Your story has weight, yourscars have sound, and what tried
(14:08):
to silence you will become yourmicrophone.
Why?
Because God never wastes pain.
So stop waiting till you have itall together before you speak.
Because the ones who've beenthere, the ones who have bled,
the ones who know what rockbottom feels like, you see they
(14:30):
speak a different kind oflanguage and when they talk the
hurting, listen, you didn'tsurvive all that for nothing.
You made it through so you couldmake it matter.
Family, God didn't deliver you.
And I just to sit in silence.
He rescued us to reach back forthe next one.
(14:51):
Still stuck.
And here's what's wild.
Even now, he's not done.
You are still in process.
You're still growing and you'restill healing, but that's the
beauty of it, because Goddoesn't wait for you to be
finished to use you.
(15:11):
He uses you while you're stillbeing formed.
You see, the enemy tried todestroy us, but Grace stood, you
and I back up.
We didn't climb out of that piton our own.
You and I were lifted by love.
You and I were rescued by grace.
And if God brought you this far.
(15:34):
Family.
He's not done building.
You are not a mistake.
You are a miracle in motion.
So let the devil regret forevertouching your life because now
you carry truth.
Now you carry fire.
(15:54):
Now you carry a testimony thathell can't silence.
Exodus chapter three, verse fiveis our, is our key Memory, is
our key verse for today that Iwanna talk about.
And we were just talking aboutthis just a few moments ago, but
I wanna share this with you inExodus chapter three, verses
(16:16):
five.
This is God speaking to Moses.
He says, don't come any closer.
God said, take off your sandalsfor the place where you are
standing is holy.
Ground.
Let's talk about where Godchooses to show up.
Because this moment familydidn't happen in a synagogue.
(16:39):
It wasn't in a temple.
It wasn't at the tabernacle.
It wasn't on some church pew.
There was no choir.
There wasn't an altar call.
There was no organ swelling inthe background.
It happened in the desert.
The driest place, the loneliestplace, the the kind of place
(17:00):
that feels forgotten, that thatkind of place that feels silent
and empty.
And it happened to a man who wason the run.
He was on the run from Egypt.
He was on the run from failure,and he was on the run from the
shame of a murder.
He couldn't undo.
Moses family was a fugitive.
(17:23):
A shepherd, a nobody but heavenstopped and spoke.
Notice what he said in thatscripture.
There family, God didn't say, goclean yourself up first and then
find me in the sanctuary.
He said, take off your sandalsbecause right here, right in the
middle of your mess, right inthis dirt, this desert is holy
(17:47):
ground family.
This.
Is the upside down power ofgrace, guys.
God doesn't wait for the settingto be sacred.
He makes it sacred by showing upin it.
And some of you need to hearthis right here.
You think because you're stillin recovery, that you're still
(18:08):
in therapy, that you're stillhealing, that you're still
struggling with, with triggersor shame that that somehow God's
waiting for you to graduate tosome level before he meets you
family.
He's not that busted motel roomwhere you cried your first real
(18:29):
prayer.
That's holy ground, that jailcell where you realize you
couldn't fix this by yourself.
That my friend is holy ground.
That detox bed where you feltlike you was dying, family that
is holy ground, that couch whereyou finally confessed your
(18:50):
secrets to someone who finallylistened to you.
That is holy ground.
Why?
It's not the place.
It has nothing to do with thepossessions in it.
It's because God was there'causegrace.
Family.
Grace doesn't avoid the mess.
Grace invades it.
(19:10):
This is what sets the God of theBible apart from everything
else.
He is not afraid of yourhistory.
He is not threatened by yourrelapse.
He doesn't cringe at your rockbottom family.
He steps into it.
He sanctifies it and you knowwhat he calls it?
(19:32):
Holy.
Family.
Grace doesn't need a stage.
It just needs a surrenderedheart.
So if you're coming into seasontwo and you're feeling tired,
you're feeling guilty, you'refeeling uncertain or, or less
than spiritual good because youare in this exact place.
(19:56):
God loves to work because holyground has nothing to do with
the location family.
It's about the presence of aholy God showing up in an unholy
moment and claiming it as it ishis.
So what do we do with that?
(20:17):
It's simple.
Family.
Take off your sandals.
Stop pretending you've got itall together.
Just stand still and listen.
Family, you gotta recognize thisis not the end.
Your rock bottom is thebeginning because right here in
(20:38):
the middle of the wilderness ofyour story, God is calling your
name.
He's lighting a fire in a placethat you thought was burned out,
and he is looking at you today.
Saying you are standing on holyground.
(20:59):
You thought it was over.
The enemy tried to pour intoyour head and tell you it was
over.
Maybe you had family membersthat told you it was over, but
God says it's sacred.
So family, don't run from it.
Don't minimize it.
Don't wait until you're cleanenough to believe it.
Just take off your sandalsfamily and stay a while.
(21:24):
What if for just a moment?
What if it wasn't a mistake, buta meeting place?
Now think about that for just amoment.
We just spent just a few momentstalking about how God loves and
honors you and I so much that hewill meet you and I in the
wreckage.
(21:44):
So let me ask that questionagain.
What if it wasn't a mistake buta meeting place?
You see, we spend so much of ourlives trying to distance
ourselves from our past.
We avoid it, we hide from it.
We apologize for it.
But what if God wants to redeemit instead of erasing it?
(22:08):
what if that moment you regretthe most in your life was
actually the moment?
Heaven leaned in the closest.
Think about the night you brokethat day that everything fell
apart.
The season where addiction andand shame or grief just pulled
you under and you felt like youwere drowning.
(22:30):
What if God didn't wait for youto climb out, but climb down
into it with you?
We call it rock bottom, but Godcalls it a meeting place.
you didn't just survive, God metyou in the wreckage and called
it holy ground.
(22:50):
what did God reveal to you inyour lowest place that you
couldn't have seen anywhereelse?
because pain.
Has a way of clearing the noise.
Shame silences.
The ego brokenness strips awaythe illusions, and sometimes
(23:11):
it's only in the collapse.
It's only in that rock bottommoment that we discover strength
that we never thought we had ina calling.
We've never would have chosenCompassion.
We never showed others until weneeded it ourself and a deeper
(23:35):
reliance on God that we neverhad when things were good.
you see.
The truth is there are thingsthat you only learn when
everything in your life getsquiet enough to hear God
whisper.
I'm still with you.
(23:55):
Sometimes recovery isn't justabout avoiding the pain.
real.
Recovery isn't about stayingsober so you don't screw up.
Again.
It's about finding purpose inwhat almost killed you because
here's the deeper truth.
Family, you didn't just get out.
You came back with something,you came back with wisdom.
(24:18):
You came back with a testimony,you came back with scars that
speak louder than any othertextbook or any other sermon
ever will.
And if you're willing to stophiding the wreckage, you'll find
something powerful buried there.
See, your calling isn't in spiteof your past.
(24:39):
It was formed through it.
What part of your story have youbeen calling a failure that God
is calling a foundation?
Where did you meet God in a waythat couldn't have happened if
life had would've stayed easy?
(24:59):
What do you carry now thatsomeone else so desperately
needs family?
Don't rush past this.
Take a moment right now and lookback, not in shame, but in awe.
You didn't just survive.
You didn't just recover.
(25:21):
You encountered God in themiddle of your worst, and he
didn't even flinch.
You know what he did?
He called it holy ground.
So maybe it's time you stoprunning from your past.
Start walking in it redeemed.
(25:43):
Why?
Because you're not just someonewho got back up.
you are someone who was calledin the middle of the fire.
You didn't just escape thecollapse.
You met God there.
You didn't just recover family.
You were commissioned.
And if you're still breathing,if you're still standing and
(26:05):
you're still here, that meansGod's not done.
There's still more to say andthere's still more to give, and
there's still more to become.
So welcome to season two, stillstanding.
This is for the ones who havebeen through the worst.
(26:27):
Still have something holyburning deep within their soul.
So family, let's go deep.
Let's get honest, and let's getto work.
Until next time, family stayrooted, stay recovered, and
let's get to work.
(26:51):
You are not just surviving.
You are becoming, becomingrooted in truth, becoming
recovered by grace, and becomingthe person God always knew you
could be.
Thanks for joining us on Rootedin Recovered.
If this episode stirredsomething in you, don't keep it
to yourself.
Share it, live it, let it takeroot.
(27:14):
We'll see you next time righthere where scars become
testimonies and hope rises fromthe ashes.
This world doesn't hand outhealing.
It offers quick fixes, cheappies and empty promises, but
real recovery, it takes roots.
Roots that dig deep into truth,into identity, into the
unshakeable grace of God.
We're not here to sugarcoat thestruggle.
(00:22):
We've lived it addiction.
Shame, relapse, regret.
But we've also seenresurrection.
We've seen what happens whenbroken people get anchored in
something real rooted andrecovered is more than a
podcast.
It's a battleground for thesoul.
A place where scars tellstories, where scripture speaks
(00:43):
louder than shame, where freedomisn't just a word.
It's a war we win daily.
So if you're tired of surfacelevel answers, if you want truth
that convicts, hope that heals,and conversations that cut
through the noise, you're in theright place.
Welcome to Rooted and Recovered.
Dan (01:07):
Welcome to another episode of Rooted and Recovered.
I am your host, Dan Pyles, andI'm so thankful today that you
have taken the time out of yourbusy schedule to hang out with
me here for a little bit,allowing me in your car, uh, in
your ear, wherever you'relistening to this podcast today.
(01:28):
I just wanna thank you from thebottom of my heart, uh, to
giving me that opportunity tohang out with you for a little
bit.
Um, I'm excited to be back inthe studio recording once again.
Um, I know we've taken a littlebit of time off in between
season one, but we're back inthe studio.
We're recording season two, andI'm excited, uh, for today's
(01:51):
episode.
It's titled Rock Bottom.
Holy ground.
Now, that might not make senseto you right now, but if you'll
hang out with me for just amoment, I promise it will make
sense.
But let me ask you something,and I, and I don't mean this as
a slogan or or some cutespiritual bumper sticker, but
(02:14):
what if the moment that almostbroke you was actually the place
God planned to meet you?
Now, a lot of people havedifferent names for that, but
let's just call it for what itis we, we call it our rock
bottom.
That moment where everythingfalls apart, when the people
that you thought would staywalked out, uh, when the
(02:36):
addiction got louder than yourhope, when shame wrapped around
your soul like a chain and said,this is who you and I will
always be.
You've been there.
I've been there.
And if we're honest, we didn'tever think that we was gonna
make it out.
But what if.
Hang with me for just a moment.
What if right there in thatlowest, dirtiest, darkest place,
(03:00):
God wasn't absent?
He was waiting, waiting for themasks to fall off, waiting for
the noise to fade, waiting forthe end of yourself to become
the beginning of his grace.
We call it rock bottom, butmaybe God.
Calls it holy ground becauseit's where your pride dies and
(03:24):
his presence shows up.
This episode, family, and thisentire season is for the ones
who barely made it, the ones whoare walking through addiction,
through relapse, throughself-destruction, through
disappointment and despair, andsomehow.
By nothing but grace, you and Iare still breathing.
(03:50):
We're still fighting.
We're still showing up, and weare still standing.
Guys, this season isn't for thepolished.
It's not for the perfect.
It's not for the people who havenever messed up.
This season is for the realones.
The ones who know what it's liketo be face down in the mud,
(04:12):
crying out for mercy.
The ones who thought it wasover, but found out Grace writes
a better ending.
So if that's you.
Don't just tune into thisepisode.
Don't just tune into this thisseason, but lean in and listen
and grow from it.
Because we're about to talkabout what recovery really looks
(04:33):
like when it's rooted in truth.
We're gonna talk about the scarsthat still ache in our lives,
the battles that are stillraging in our lives, and the God
who has never.
Walked away.
Amen.
And we're gonna say this loudand clear.
From day one.
We didn't survive at all to sitquiet.
(04:56):
Family.
We were restored for a reason.
So let's find it together.
What this season about is realrecovery, real grace, and real.
Talk this season isn't aboutspiritual fluff.
It's not about performance,faith.
It's not about Sunday masks orhighlight reels with Bible
(05:20):
verses in the captions thisseason.
It's for the ones who walkthrough hell and still believe
Heaven has a plan.
It's for the ones who are stillbleeding but still showing up.
It's for, it's for the ones whodon't need another filter, they
need a solid foundation.
(05:41):
They don't need another.
Pep talk, but they need power.
They don't need more noise intheir life, but they need truth.
That breaks chains in familyover the next 12 weeks.
We are going to go theretogether.
We're not going around it.
We're not going under it.
We are going to go right.
Through it.
Guys this season is for the oneswho've hit rock bottom and
(06:04):
realize God was already therethis season.
It's for the one who wonders canI ever get back.
What I lost this season is forthe ones who, who are tired of
pretending this is for the oneswho have been clean for a year,
but still wake up fighting thosesame demons.
(06:28):
It's for the parent crying outover their prodigal child.
It's for the spouse who hasstayed even after the betrayal.
It's for the addict with sixhours clean, and the believer
with six years of doubt.
See guys, you don't need aplatform.
You don't need perfection.
You just need a pulse and alittle bit of faith.
(06:51):
That grace is still enough.
Guys, this show isn't forperfect people.
It's a space for those stillhealing, still hoping and still
fighting.
And if that's you family, youbelong here.
So let's talk about it.
Let's heal and let's recovertogether.
(07:12):
Let's walk this thing out forreal.
You see rock bottom.
Isn't where God left you family.
It's where he found you.
Now let that sink in for what Ijust said because if you have
ever hit a point so low that youthought, there's no coming back
(07:32):
from this family, you are notalone.
I've been there and millions ofother people in their recovery
journey have.
Felt the same thing that you'refacing right now, guys, rock
bottom.
It's a strange place.
It's dark, it's humiliating, itstrips you of everything.
(07:52):
People stop calling you hope.
What little hope you and I didhave.
It begins to grow quiet and youdon't even recognize that
reflection in the mirroranymore.
But see, here's what religiondoesn't always tell you.
Rock bottom.
Is a sacred space because wheneverything else was gone, God
(08:15):
remained.
He didn't wait for you to crawlout.
He climbed down into the pitwith you, not to condemn you,
but to resurrect you.
You see, you didn't find God.
He found you in the ashes ofeverything that you thought that
he wouldn't.
Touch.
(08:35):
I'm reminded of a Bible story inthe book of Exodus, uh, chapter
three.
Uh, and I'm not gonna read it,but it's, uh, I encourage you to
go to the Bible and read inExodus chapter three, uh, verses
one through five, and it tellsus that God met Moses in a
burning bush in the middle ofnowhere.
(08:56):
Moses wasn't in a palace whenGod spoke, Moses wasn't on some
platform guys.
He was in the wilderness.
He was running from his past.
He was hiding from his failures,and by this time he was
convinced that his story wasover.
But God, my friends had adifferent view.
(09:17):
And don't miss this.
The bush was on fire.
But it wasn't consumed.
Why?
Because that's what Grace does.
Grace Burns through everythingthat isn't eternal, but it
doesn't destroy you.
What it does is it refined you.
You see the fire of failure.
(09:39):
It didn't finish you.
What it did is it revealed thecall that couldn't be burned
away.
'cause God told Moses, he, hetold him, he said to take off
your sandals because the placewhere you are standing is holy
ground.
Where was he standing at?
This man was standing in thedirt in the desert, surrounded
(10:02):
by nothing but sheep in silence.
Why was it holy?
Because God showed up there.
You see, Moses didn't feelready.
He didn't even want to speak,but God had a plan and it
started at his rock bottom.
Yes.
Moses even argued with God.
(10:23):
He even tried to say he wasn'tqualified.
He tried to say, I'm, I'm slowto speak.
He even went at to one point andtold God to send someone else.
Does that sound familiar?
Maybe we've said the same thing.
God, how can you use me aftereverything that I've done?
(10:45):
God, how can you use some bustedbroken mess like this because I
have failed you so many.
Times, maybe you're early inyour recovery and, and you, you
might be looking at yourselfand, and, and comparing yourself
to other people, and you say, Idon't have the background, I
don't have the strength.
I, I don't even know where tostart.
(11:06):
But guys, God's plan.
Doesn't start with yourqualifications.
It starts with your surrender,because God doesn't need
polished people.
He uses broken ones who willstop hiding, and you don't need
to be impressive to beimpactful.
You just need to be available.
(11:29):
Family.
Your worst moment wasn't theend.
It was a setup.
That thing that you thought wasgoing to destroy you in your
life that night, that binge,that betrayal, that breaking
point.
Yes, it was real, but it wasn'tthe end.
It was the moment that Godplanted the seed.
(11:50):
You thought you were beingburied, but in God's hands, the
dirt was a garden.
And here's the beautiful part,family.
He's not done restoring what youlost.
He's giving you and I somethingbetter than we even ever, even
thought of or even could evenimagine, or to be real with you
(12:12):
even more than what we deserved.
Addiction, brokenness, shame.
Family, they didn't bury you.
They became the soil where Godplanted something new You see,
God uses the very things thatthe world labels as
disqualifiers, divorce, relapse,addiction, prison depression.
(12:39):
He takes those things that theworld disqualifies us from and
people disqualifies from.
He takes those very things andhe redeems them into platforms
of grace.
Family.
You are not just a survivor.
You are a carrier of something.
Holy guys, grace, the almightypower of grace.
(13:04):
Grace grows best in dirt and youand I are the dirt.
Our story, your story is thevery ground where your ministry
is being born.
Guys, it is no accident.
You are still here.
There's a reason suicide didn'twork.
There's a reason that overdosedidn't take you out.
(13:27):
there's a reason you'rebreathing when others aren't.
Because God interrupted theenemy's plan with mercy, and now
you and I have a responsibilitynot to be perfect, but to be
real.
Why so we can let others see thecracks where his light breaks in
(13:48):
and broke through.
Family.
The people who fall the hardestoften carry the loudest.
Testimony.
Let me tell you something.
Let me encourage you withsomething.
Your story has weight, yourscars have sound, and what tried
(14:08):
to silence you will become yourmicrophone.
Why?
Because God never wastes pain.
So stop waiting till you have itall together before you speak.
Because the ones who've beenthere, the ones who have bled,
the ones who know what rockbottom feels like, you see they
(14:30):
speak a different kind oflanguage and when they talk the
hurting, listen, you didn'tsurvive all that for nothing.
You made it through so you couldmake it matter.
Family, God didn't deliver you.
And I just to sit in silence.
He rescued us to reach back forthe next one.
(14:51):
Still stuck.
And here's what's wild.
Even now, he's not done.
You are still in process.
You're still growing and you'restill healing, but that's the
beauty of it, because Goddoesn't wait for you to be
finished to use you.
(15:11):
He uses you while you're stillbeing formed.
You see, the enemy tried todestroy us, but Grace stood, you
and I back up.
We didn't climb out of that piton our own.
You and I were lifted by love.
You and I were rescued by grace.
And if God brought you this far.
(15:34):
Family.
He's not done building.
You are not a mistake.
You are a miracle in motion.
So let the devil regret forevertouching your life because now
you carry truth.
Now you carry fire.
(15:54):
Now you carry a testimony thathell can't silence.
Exodus chapter three, verse fiveis our, is our key Memory, is
our key verse for today that Iwanna talk about.
And we were just talking aboutthis just a few moments ago, but
I wanna share this with you inExodus chapter three, verses
(16:16):
five.
This is God speaking to Moses.
He says, don't come any closer.
God said, take off your sandalsfor the place where you are
standing is holy.
Ground.
Let's talk about where Godchooses to show up.
Because this moment familydidn't happen in a synagogue.
(16:39):
It wasn't in a temple.
It wasn't at the tabernacle.
It wasn't on some church pew.
There was no choir.
There wasn't an altar call.
There was no organ swelling inthe background.
It happened in the desert.
The driest place, the loneliestplace, the the kind of place
(17:00):
that feels forgotten, that thatkind of place that feels silent
and empty.
And it happened to a man who wason the run.
He was on the run from Egypt.
He was on the run from failure,and he was on the run from the
shame of a murder.
He couldn't undo.
Moses family was a fugitive.
(17:23):
A shepherd, a nobody but heavenstopped and spoke.
Notice what he said in thatscripture.
There family, God didn't say, goclean yourself up first and then
find me in the sanctuary.
He said, take off your sandalsbecause right here, right in the
middle of your mess, right inthis dirt, this desert is holy
(17:47):
ground family.
This.
Is the upside down power ofgrace, guys.
God doesn't wait for the settingto be sacred.
He makes it sacred by showing upin it.
And some of you need to hearthis right here.
You think because you're stillin recovery, that you're still
(18:08):
in therapy, that you're stillhealing, that you're still
struggling with, with triggersor shame that that somehow God's
waiting for you to graduate tosome level before he meets you
family.
He's not that busted motel roomwhere you cried your first real
(18:29):
prayer.
That's holy ground, that jailcell where you realize you
couldn't fix this by yourself.
That my friend is holy ground.
That detox bed where you feltlike you was dying, family that
is holy ground, that couch whereyou finally confessed your
(18:50):
secrets to someone who finallylistened to you.
That is holy ground.
Why?
It's not the place.
It has nothing to do with thepossessions in it.
It's because God was there'causegrace.
Family.
Grace doesn't avoid the mess.
Grace invades it.
(19:10):
This is what sets the God of theBible apart from everything
else.
He is not afraid of yourhistory.
He is not threatened by yourrelapse.
He doesn't cringe at your rockbottom family.
He steps into it.
He sanctifies it and you knowwhat he calls it?
(19:32):
Holy.
Family.
Grace doesn't need a stage.
It just needs a surrenderedheart.
So if you're coming into seasontwo and you're feeling tired,
you're feeling guilty, you'refeeling uncertain or, or less
than spiritual good because youare in this exact place.
(19:56):
God loves to work because holyground has nothing to do with
the location family.
It's about the presence of aholy God showing up in an unholy
moment and claiming it as it ishis.
So what do we do with that?
(20:17):
It's simple.
Family.
Take off your sandals.
Stop pretending you've got itall together.
Just stand still and listen.
Family, you gotta recognize thisis not the end.
Your rock bottom is thebeginning because right here in
(20:38):
the middle of the wilderness ofyour story, God is calling your
name.
He's lighting a fire in a placethat you thought was burned out,
and he is looking at you today.
Saying you are standing on holyground.
(20:59):
You thought it was over.
The enemy tried to pour intoyour head and tell you it was
over.
Maybe you had family membersthat told you it was over, but
God says it's sacred.
So family, don't run from it.
Don't minimize it.
Don't wait until you're cleanenough to believe it.
Just take off your sandalsfamily and stay a while.
(21:24):
What if for just a moment?
What if it wasn't a mistake, buta meeting place?
Now think about that for just amoment.
We just spent just a few momentstalking about how God loves and
honors you and I so much that hewill meet you and I in the
wreckage.
(21:44):
So let me ask that questionagain.
What if it wasn't a mistake buta meeting place?
You see, we spend so much of ourlives trying to distance
ourselves from our past.
We avoid it, we hide from it.
We apologize for it.
But what if God wants to redeemit instead of erasing it?
(22:08):
what if that moment you regretthe most in your life was
actually the moment?
Heaven leaned in the closest.
Think about the night you brokethat day that everything fell
apart.
The season where addiction andand shame or grief just pulled
you under and you felt like youwere drowning.
(22:30):
What if God didn't wait for youto climb out, but climb down
into it with you?
We call it rock bottom, but Godcalls it a meeting place.
you didn't just survive, God metyou in the wreckage and called
it holy ground.
(22:50):
what did God reveal to you inyour lowest place that you
couldn't have seen anywhereelse?
because pain.
Has a way of clearing the noise.
Shame silences.
The ego brokenness strips awaythe illusions, and sometimes
(23:11):
it's only in the collapse.
It's only in that rock bottommoment that we discover strength
that we never thought we had ina calling.
We've never would have chosenCompassion.
We never showed others until weneeded it ourself and a deeper
(23:35):
reliance on God that we neverhad when things were good.
you see.
The truth is there are thingsthat you only learn when
everything in your life getsquiet enough to hear God
whisper.
I'm still with you.
(23:55):
Sometimes recovery isn't justabout avoiding the pain.
real.
Recovery isn't about stayingsober so you don't screw up.
Again.
It's about finding purpose inwhat almost killed you because
here's the deeper truth.
Family, you didn't just get out.
You came back with something,you came back with wisdom.
(24:18):
You came back with a testimony,you came back with scars that
speak louder than any othertextbook or any other sermon
ever will.
And if you're willing to stophiding the wreckage, you'll find
something powerful buried there.
See, your calling isn't in spiteof your past.
(24:39):
It was formed through it.
What part of your story have youbeen calling a failure that God
is calling a foundation?
Where did you meet God in a waythat couldn't have happened if
life had would've stayed easy?
(24:59):
What do you carry now thatsomeone else so desperately
needs family?
Don't rush past this.
Take a moment right now and lookback, not in shame, but in awe.
You didn't just survive.
You didn't just recover.
(25:21):
You encountered God in themiddle of your worst, and he
didn't even flinch.
You know what he did?
He called it holy ground.
So maybe it's time you stoprunning from your past.
Start walking in it redeemed.
(25:43):
Why?
Because you're not just someonewho got back up.
you are someone who was calledin the middle of the fire.
You didn't just escape thecollapse.
You met God there.
You didn't just recover family.
You were commissioned.
And if you're still breathing,if you're still standing and
(26:05):
you're still here, that meansGod's not done.
There's still more to say andthere's still more to give, and
there's still more to become.
So welcome to season two, stillstanding.
This is for the ones who havebeen through the worst.
(26:27):
Still have something holyburning deep within their soul.
So family, let's go deep.
Let's get honest, and let's getto work.
Until next time, family stayrooted, stay recovered, and
let's get to work.
(26:51):
You are not just surviving.
You are becoming, becomingrooted in truth, becoming
recovered by grace, and becomingthe person God always knew you
could be.
Thanks for joining us on Rootedin Recovered.
If this episode stirredsomething in you, don't keep it
to yourself.
Share it, live it, let it takeroot.
(27:14):
We'll see you next time righthere where scars become
testimonies and hope rises fromthe ashes.
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