Christian Recovery for Women Begins With Surrender

Why Freedom Starts With Jesus, Not Willpower

Recovery didn’t begin for me with a plan; it began with surrender.

Surrender—a word so overused it can lose its impact if we let it. So when I say my recovery began with surrender, there was nothing nonchalant about it. The time had come to own up to a hard truth: my impulses had been running the show—and they had gotten me into trouble. Trouble I could not get myself out of.

For years, I had the best intentions. I’d wake up determined to do better, be better, try harder. But one stray thought could derail everything before I even realized what had happened.

From Sober Cycle – Pedaling Through Recovery One Day at a Time

Addiction rarely announces itself loudly. It slips in quietly, disguising itself as relief. Until it became the only voice I was listening to.

Why Recovery Must Start With Jesus

I don’t believe recovery begins with willpower; I believe it begins with Jesus.

Tools matter. Community matters. Counseling, movement, medication—all can support healing. But if Christ isn’t the foundation, everything else eventually becomes temporary.

“Apart from Me you can do nothing.” — John 15:5

Addiction thrives on self-reliance. Freedom begins when we finally admit we were never meant to carry this alone.

Recovery isn’t about trying harder. It’s about surrendering control to the One who already carried the weight.

If you’re exhausted from managing impulses, hiding struggles, or fighting alone, consider this truth:

Surrender isn’t weakness. It’s obedience. And it’s where real freedom begins.

You don’t have to have it all figured out; you just have to be willing to let go.

The Lie Addiction Tells

Addiction tells us the mundane needs escape. Jesus teaches us the mundane is where faith is formed.

“Whoever is faithful in little is faithful in much.” — Luke 16:10

At one point, I joked that instead of drinking to get through boring things like housecleaning, we should just hire a cleaning lady. But what about the rest of my drinking issues surrounding the mundane? Early sobriety required something else:

Clear boundaries.

When those thoughts came, I shut them down quickly—not because I was strong, but because drinking was no longer an option. That limitation wasn’t punishment; it was protection.

It was a boundary that came with real surrender, and it gave me space to build new habits that had nothing to do with alcohol.

From Sober Cycle – Pedaling Through Recovery One Day at a Time

Here’s the truth: cleaning house is not supposed to be fun. Life isn’t always fun—and it doesn’t need to be numbed to be survivable.

It's also called Adulting.

From She Surrenders to Selah House Recovery

I've been sharing this truth here at She Surrenders for almost ten years and now they have become the foundation of what we teach and live out every day at Selah House Recovery—a faith-based residential recovery program for women rooted in biblical truth.

What started as personal obedience grew into a calling: to create the kind of recovery environment I wish had existed when I was struggling. At Selah House Recovery, we don’t treat Jesus as an add-on to recovery.

He is the starting point.

The starting point is surrender.

If you are struggling and want to talk to someone about surrender, reach out here or contact us at Selah House Recovery. The most important thing you can do today is tell someone.

Surrender really is sweet, and so is the life it leads to.

Love,

Sherry