From Shame to Freedom | Addiction to Healing | Part 02 | Erik Frederickson

Summary
In this episode, Cecily interviews Erik Frederickson, a recovering addict, about his journey of overcoming shame and addiction. Erik shares his personal story of transformation and how God's kindness and forgiveness played a crucial role in his recovery. The conversation highlights the scandalous nature of the gospel and the power of God's love to bring about transformation and freedom. The episode also explores the topic of relapse and how God's kindness can lead individuals back to a path of healing and restoration. In this conversation, Cecily and Erik Frederickson discuss the goodness of God and the difference between mercy and grace. They explore the importance of walking with God and how His kindness leads to repentance. They also discuss the impact of the TV series The Chosen and the story of Peter's denial and restoration. The conversation highlights the purpose of serving and the significance of a morning routine. They emphasize the importance of discipline and learning, as well as the reward of taking action. They also discuss God's acceptance and love, the promise of healing and restoration, and the power of gratitude as a weapon against shame. The conversation concludes with a prayer for acceptance and freedom.

Takeaways
  •  God's goodness is beyond our comprehension, and His grace is scandalous.
  •  Walking with God requires submitting to His ways and allowing His kindness to transform us.
  •  God's acceptance and love are not based on our performance, but on His grace.
  •  Having a morning routine and being disciplined in seeking God's presence can have a profound impact on our lives.
  •  Gratitude is a powerful weapon against shame and condemnation.

Follow Erik:
Website: www.recoveringreality.com
Instagram: @recoveringreality
Purchase his book! https://amzn.to/3DUFmxL

#Higherpursuitpodcast #podcast #repurposeyourpain #shame #shameresilience #overcomingshame #AddictionRecovery #ChristianPodcast #FreedomInChrist #TheChosen #SoberLiving #Hope #Grace #Forgiveness #MentalHealth #SpiritualGrowth #christianpodcast #christianmotivation #christianauthor #tbn #trilogymedia #sobercoach 

Chapters

• 0:00 The Journey of Redemption and Purpose
• 10:20 Transforming Pain into Purpose
• 20:00 Understanding God's grace and acceptance

Transcript

Cecily Lachapelle (00:00.239)
like, okay, yes, all right, yes, okay, then go feed my sheep. What's he saying? Are we are we past this? Are you past it? Because I am. Yes. Yeah. Are you past it? Because I took care of this on the cross. Are you ready for this? Do you love me? Yeah, I do. Okay, well, then get doing what I asked you to do. Yeah. And then looking right into his heart. He was addressing his heart. Yeah, people don't realize this roughly 40 days later was Pentecost. Yeah, from the cross.

to Pentecost was roughly 40 days, give or take. And Peter was the one that got up and preached that sermon after the Holy Spirit fell. And 3000, the very ones that crucified Jesus were the first ones saved and baptized. If there ever needs to be a more dramatic exclamation point on who the Father is, that's it right there. Yes. Yes. That is it. Jesus had said in the gospel, he said to the masses, he said, if you deny me,

in front of man. I will deny you in front of my father.

Cecily Lachapelle (01:06.946)
Welcome to the Higher Pursuit Podcast. I'm your host, Cecilie LaChapelle, and I'm excited to have you join us for the second part of our captivating interview with Eric Fredrickson. Last week, Eric and I talked about his journey into addiction and how shame was a prison that he found himself stuck in. And today, in part two of the interview, we're going to hear even more from Eric about how he repurposed the pain of shame into peace,

in his identity in Christ. If you missed the first part, be sure to check it out for some incredible insights. But for now, let's continue our fascinating conversation with Eric Fredrickson. Enjoy the show. Yes, yes. Have you seen any of the episodes of The Chosen? All of them. I haven't seen any of season four yet. I think it's still in the theaters, I've seen all three seasons. Yeah.

So I've to the theater for all of them so far for season four. It's radical. But one of my favorite episodes is the one where Mary Magdalene goes back to her old life and the shame that she feels because she loves Jesus so much and she knows that she just betrayed his love and

all of the work that He had done in her and for her and all of it. And her friends, all the people who believed in her and gave her this chance. And Jesus let her be a part of the disciples that follow Him everywhere. And so what does Jesus do? He sends people to go find her. She doesn't get up out of the Muck and Mire. She's thinking, no, I guess I'm stuck here. I made my bed. I have to lie in it.

I'm gonna have to stay here now because I blew it. I had the chance. He cleaned me up and this is what I did with it. This is what I did with his love. This is how I treated him. But he sent people to go get her and he sent her brethren, the ones who had watched her transformation. And that's what God does with us. When we've been cleaned up, we have two choices.

Cecily Lachapelle (03:30.423)
We can either stand like a Pharisee and condemn the person who just fell, or we can be like Jesus' disciples that go at His beckoning and go look for the one that's sitting in their pain, sitting in their shame. And we can say, look, Jesus loves you. He sent me for you. He sent me to tell you. He wants you back. And the whole scene where they, she goes to Jesus, she's led into the tent, you can just feel.

She's just probably like, like, I can't face him. can't face him. What am I going to say? I don't want to go face to face with him. He knows everything. I mean, he obviously knows everything I did. you know, I can't face it. And but she does. She just goes in and there he is. And she just, you know, breaks down, says how sorry she is. And he was like, OK. And then he gives her hug. And like, it's over. So we're driving on now.

Like, wow, I love that. Maybe, the most radical example of that in the gospel is certainly one of them is where he comes back and he talks to Peter after he's been after he's been crucified. Peter denies him three times in the flesh. And then he goes back to his old life after that. Goes back to fishing.

So he's back to his old life and Jesus appears on the shore and says, hey, to a bunch of professional fishermen. Hey, you catching anything? Like, oh, why don't you just toss them 10 feet in the other side? Whoever this guy is, doesn't he know we're pros? And they catch like this insane amount. They can't even get in the boat. And then he's like, I think it's God, right? I think that's the Lord. Peter puts his clothes on, jumps in the water, goes to shore and Jesus cooks breakfast.

If there's any time ever in the entire Bible where Jesus has the right here to just lay into him. Right. Let's put it in modern terms, okay? Listen, Peter, you're fired from church staff, first of all, okay? With no pay, okay? Six months from now, we'll revisit and we'll see if you've cleaned yourself up.

Cecily Lachapelle (05:43.499)
If you haven't cleaned yourself up, well then you're never coming back ever. If you have, then you need to go through a year of counseling. Then we're going to put you on watch. Then maybe you can hand out flyers at the door. Then, and this is all he doesn't even bring it up. He doesn't even bring it up. That is so hard for the religious mindset to even begin to wrap your head around. All he says is, you love me?

Yes, I love you. Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Come on, man. He just asked me. Yes, I love you. Okay, go feed my sheep. Do you love me? Like, okay. Yes. All right. Yes. Okay, then go feed my sheep. What's he saying? Are we we past this? Are you past it? Because I am. Yes. Yes. Are you past it? Because I took care of this on the cross. Are you ready for this? Do you love me? Yeah, I do. Okay, well then get doing what I asked you to do. Yeah. And then. Jesus was looking right into his heart.

Right in this heart. people don't realize this. Roughly 40 days later was Pentecost. Yeah. From the cross to Pentecost was roughly 40 days, give or take. And Peter was the one that got up and preached that sermon after the Holy Spirit fell. And 3000, the very ones that crucified Jesus were the first ones saved and baptized. If there ever needs to be a more dramatic exclamation point on who the Father is, that's it right there. Yes.

Yes, Jesus had said in the gospel, he said, he said to the masses, he said, if you deny me in front of man, I will deny you in front of my father. And that's exactly what Peter did. But that's not how Jesus handled that situation. So it looks like that Jesus is speaking with forked tongue.

It looks like that he says one thing to a group of people, but then to Peter, he's treating him differently. But what we see in that is that Jesus looks on the heart. He knows when someone's denial is out of a broken place or when their denial is out of a hard heart that is not going to turn, a hard heart that is self-seeking, building their own kingdom.

Cecily Lachapelle (07:59.817)
And he saw the brokenness in Peter. And so when they're sitting there having that conversation, it looks like, do you love me? Yes, I love, you know, I love you. Do you love me? But those are two totally different words. Jesus is saying, do you agape me? Do you love me with the God kind of love? The love that goes through thick and thin, the love that never fails, the love that never gives up, the love that keeps pouring out, even when you get abused and betrayed. And Peter's response is, Lord, you know, I filet you.

I love you as a man loves his brother. So he's saying, I don't love you with that kind of love. Maybe expecting that would be the end of the conversation. Like, well, Peter, that's obvious. I know that about you. And so I'm here to tell I'm here to fire officially fire you now that you've admitted that, you know, I'm handing you your pink slip. It's official. These guys are going on without you. But that's not what he does. He keeps giving him his purpose back.

He keeps giving him his call back. But what's interesting is what I love about that story is earlier when Peter got his name changed and everybody thinks, know, Peter's now called the rock. He's the leader. He's all that. Peter probably thought that, too. He's probably believing his own press. And then he has has this epic failure that the other disciples didn't have. And what does Jesus do? He comes back and recommissions him, but he doesn't say,

Go and preach to the masses. Go and heal thousands of people. Go and start amazing ministries. No, he says, go serve, go serve, go serve. He put Peter in a broken place. Well, he took Peter's brokenness rather. And he said, okay, now you are in exactly the spot I needed you to be in. Because on the Passover night, I told you guys, the greatest among you had to be the servant of all and I washed your feet, but you could never.

received that or understood it until you were broken enough. And that's when he said, now you understand your purpose is to serve. So incredible. it really, really is. It's, it was so to answer a little bit more of the question that you asked, I'll just add something to it. Okay. So

Cecily Lachapelle (10:20.687)
You talk about like, what's the approach when coaching somebody? So that revelation that we're talking about right here doesn't come about by sit around and pray the special prayer and it just poof happens. We need to be active in getting to know Jesus. We need to be active in getting to know, I'm not earning anything. I'm learning. I'm not earning, I'm learning. It's a completely different approach. That's great.

I've already been given this, he already fully accepts me. Okay, it doesn't feel like that. So I got some things I need to learn. Hi, everybody. While I hate to interrupt a good discussion, I do want to tell you about my book, Repurpose Your Pain, Moving From Pain to Purpose and From Instability to Firm Faith. In the book, I share 10 pain points that are common to most people. And I share my personal stories, my experiences with those pain points and how I repurposed that pain.

Then we dive into what the Word of God has to say about how we repurpose that pain. You need to know that this book is really two books in one because it includes workbook activations to help you apply the truth that you've learned to your life. So grab your copy today on Amazon, Christian book distributors, or any place books are sold. Right. I'm really big on things like a morning routine. think a morning routine in and of itself will solve so many people's personal problems that will blow their mind.

If you would do it every day, no matter what, your feelings are 100 % irrelevant. Whether you feel like doing it or not doesn't even matter. It doesn't even matter. The question is this, are you going to be disciplined and do it every single day? Get the word, journal and pray. Get in the word, journal and pray every morning, no matter what. And what do I start to do? I start to learn who he is. I start to learn his presence. I start to learn his voice. Are you willing to be accountable in community?

I want to be accountable and sink into a community and begin to serve and begin to do life with people because it's vital. We have relationship. not going to, we'll never step into our purpose without relationship. And then what's your purpose? What is it you feel called to do? And how is it we begin to take practical action steps and partner with God and get to know Him better to begin to build that in your life? With all founded on the revelation of you're not earning anything.

Cecily Lachapelle (12:47.311)
This is all grace. You're learning and he completely accepts you and his love is always going to be in full pursuit of you to continually transform you. That is awesome. That is so good. I love the daily routine part. I feel like, well, for me, that I'm 100 % on board with you. And if I get out of my routine, I feel completely. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, just off my game, off my game. And I realized that that routine has fed me spirit, soul, and then body. I mean, I've got my Bible reading part, then I've got my exercise part, then I come back, I've got my tabernacle time. I need to have these things. My day does not start for the world. Nobody gets access to me until a certain time of morning, which is pretty late, but it's because

The Lord has to have that first part and the routine. And I think it's such a great thing to be preaching and speaking to people because we live in a society right now where it's if it feels good, do it. I mean, I know that that's been around. That's been the mantra for a long time, but discipline never feels good. that's that makes no sense. If you do the things that only feel good, it feels good eventually.

but waking up at 430 in the morning doesn't usually feel good or going to the gym when you're tired or doing those extra reps when your muscles are screaming or whatever. That doesn't feel good, but the reward does feel good. Yeah. Yeah. I love that you're bringing it up. The way I describe it to my clients is like this, you know,

there's this trap and exactly what you're talking about in this day and age, it's like, well, just do what feels good. Just do what you're feeling in the moment. And if we look at it like this, you mentioned the gym. So if we look at it like this, someone needs to get back in shape. They're like, okay, well, I need to start, I'm going to start going to the gym tomorrow. Right. Like I'm going do this, I'm sick of this. I'm doing it. I'm getting back in shape. The next day they get off work, it's time to go to the gym, whatever. And they're like,

Cecily Lachapelle (15:11.375)
I'm just not feeling it. I don't feel like it. Maybe tomorrow when I'm kind of like feeling a little better, I'll go do it. Here's what you're saying. When you give me the reward before I take the action, then I'll take the action. Woo! It's entitlement. It's entitlement is what it is. It's just simply saying, I deserve this without doing anything. So give it to me right now. Then I'll go do it. And it's like, you're going to stay stuck in that place for the rest of your life.

The reward doesn't come before you take the action, it becomes after we take the action. So, it's like, even if you just look at your morning routine as discipline with Jesus, I'm not... The reward to doing that is that my eyes are open to who I already am. The reward to that is I learn more about who He is and how to partner with Him better. I'm not earning brownie. God doesn't be like, look at my little religious boy reading his Bible every day.

It's like, no, no, no. He looks at it and he says, he's spending more time with me. I can entrust him with more. He knows more of who he is and who I am. got all this. want to give him all this endless storehouse of stuff. I want to give him. But if I just give it all to him right now, it'll ruin him. Right. So he's spent he's he knows more of who he is now. He knows more of who I can trust him with more because he'll steward it right. And that that thing there is it's in Hebrews.

says he endured the cross for the joy set before him. Yes. Even Jesus carried this mindset. We're talking about the ultimate right here, right? He endured the most horrific killing, torturing, brutality in the history of the world. He endured it. Part of helping him endure that was he realized there's a reward on the other side of this. Yes. that principle right there plays out in our lives, obviously in a much more minor way. We're not going to the cross here, but it's the exact same

thing. You can't don't get angry about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do. Oh, Oh, yeah. 100 % me too. I've got like all the fingers pointing right back at me for sure. But yeah, and I think when somebody is stuck in the captivity of shame,

Cecily Lachapelle (17:35.489)
It feels like your feet are stuck in cement and you can't get out of that place. But deep inside, deep, deep inside, your spirit man knows the truth. Your spirit wants to be connected to the living God. And if you listen to the voice of your spirit as the Holy Spirit is talking to your spirit, you'll hear

the kindness and the tenderness of God saying, just turn your face to me. Turn your eyes to me, because when you look at me, says Jesus, you're going to see eyes that love you, eyes of acceptance. You're going to see me bending down to you, but you don't see me bending towards you as long as your eyes are down at the floor because you're so captive to your shame.

And so maybe you feel right now that God is disgusted or disappointed with you. Maybe you feel like you're one mistake away from everybody finding out what a hot mess you are and how fatally flawed you are on the inside. Maybe you feel like you will never be able to please God, yourself or other people because of how flawed you feel you are, because of the mistakes that you've made, because you've done this whatever.

again, and you keep falling in this place. And maybe you feel like everything that has gone wrong in your life is proof that the problem is you. Like I said earlier, proof that you're not worthy, proof that you are colossally broken, irreparably damaged, messed up. Well, like Eric and I have been talking about, the accuser is not God. The accuser actually is masquerading

and wants you to think that that's God's voice telling you you're a loser. I'm disappointed. I'm angry. You better fix yourself up really fast or you're going to be a greasy spot on the floor. But it's actually Satan that's the accuser. God promises in the Bible in Zephaniah 3 19. Actually, I want to look up that scripture on my phone. So I forgot to write it down.

Cecily Lachapelle (20:00.367)
And I knew that that was a good scripture and they didn't have it. Actually, Eric, talk for a second while I look at this scripture. It's one of the enemy's favorite things to do is come in and do his work and then slither off like a snake and get you to think it was God that did it. Yes. John Tanton, the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy, but I've come to bring life and life more abundantly. It's so difficult for us to wrap our heads around the idea.

that he's that good. we also, I know I keep saying it, but I'll keep saying it. We just, it's so difficult for people to really grasp. He's, he's truly that good. The other thing is understanding there is an enemy at work here. There is an enemy at work and Paul says to understand his schemes. I'm not going to sit and study the enemy. That's a foolishness that's studying the problem. I'm not, I'm not going to do that, but understanding his schemes can be very, very helpful. And that's his favorite thing to do. You're such an idiot.

Why did you do this again? You're never going to get this right. You always miss the opportunity. I've been doing this. Listen, those voices sound familiar. Yeah, because he says the same thing to everybody. Yes. Yes, exactly. Exactly. All right. I found the scripture and this is the Lord talking at that time. I will deal with all who oppressed you. So that means God's coming for your enemies. I will rescue the lame. I will gather the exiles. So those are the people that like Eric was saying.

are isolated, those people that you feel like your behavior, your problems have exiled you from the community of people that seem like they have it all together. I will give them praise and honor. He's going to, instead of giving them punishment and shame, God says, I'm going to give them praise and honor in every land where they have suffered shame.

That's God's promise. That's what he desires to do. He's not out to get you. He's out to heal you. He's out to get you so he can heal you. yes. Absolutely. He wants us to be trophies of his grace.

Cecily Lachapelle (22:15.762)
He parades us in front of the enemy going, you what, you tried to steal, kill and destroy. You tried to crush that one. You lied to that one. You tripped that one up in your schemes. Yeah, she went willingly. But I, my grace is bigger than anything you've ever thrown at her and anything she's ever done to break herself and burn her whole life down. My grace and my power is bigger. So watch what I'm going to do in her and just sit there and eat that, Satan.

Just deal with it. But it's even a step further oftentimes where it's everything you said and then he uses that person and sends them right back into the same arena to get other people out. That's the best part. That's the best part. All the enemy can do is just sit there and be really, really mad. Yeah, if you go through battles, yeah, if you think you're really going to make an impact in this world, not get attacked, you're fooling yourself because you will.

But it's just, God's so much bigger. He just flips the script every single time. it's just, he just has to sit and deal with it for the rest of eternity. You know what I mean? Amen. Amen. And then of course, all that does in our hearts, in the heart of a believer is just to work more and more gratitude, more humility, because we recognize we are really not getting what we deserve. And it's fostering more gratitude.

That's really one of our greatest weapons as children of God is gratitude. It is probably like salt in the wound for the enemy. Every time we raise our hands and we remind God how much He's forgiven us of and how grateful we are and how good He is and how faithful He is, how compassionate He is. I mean, I think back on my life and I don't really go back to all those ugly times to glorify what the enemy did in my life.

I go back to those ugly times with the cross of Christ, and with the blood of Jesus, and I say, thank you so much, Lord, for what you did, for what you made, the beauty that you brought from those ashes. Only you could do that, Lord. You're the only, only God, there's no God like you, that could take what I burned to the ground and just make something praiseworthy out of it.

Cecily Lachapelle (24:37.374)
So right now I'm going to ask Eric to pray for all of you. So those descriptions of the things that we've just been talking about, if they hit a raw nerve in your heart, just know that God is reaching out to you right now. Like Eric's chapter said, with his love and kindness, if he was really done with you and really disappointed with you, you wouldn't be hearing this right now. The key from God's heart to turn to him with your whole being, the tugging of this

the Holy Spirit on your heart, asking Him to let Him love you to new life. That is His grace and His mercy. So, Eric, can you just please pray for everyone? yes, would be glorious. Father, we just thank you. Yes. For for your goodness and for sending your son to deal with these issues once and for all.

I just pray every single person that's listening in this next season that they would begin to know in the depths of their heart that they're 100 % accepted, loved, forgiven, empowered, a God that they would step into a greater measure of their identity, that they would have encounters, hearing your voice, feeling your presence, your power, bringing freedom into their life.

that they would be hungry for your word to get to know you and who it is you truly are. And that there would be a fire and a hunger in them to learn who it is you really are, God, how to partner with you and walk forward with you. And that even now, Lord, you'd lift shame. Even people now as they're hearing this prayer wouldn't just encounter your presence, that you would lift shame, condemnation.

and that your presence, your freedom, your peace would take its place, Yes. And they would know that they are accepted and loved in the Holy Spirit that you, this next season, Holy Spirit, that they, they would feel like they're literally being harassed by you, harassed by you and your goodness and your empowering grace that allows us to live in our true identity in you, in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Cecily Lachapelle (26:58.062)
Amen. man. Well, Eric, I wish we could keep talking because I mean, it's just, it's such a pleasure to chat with you. There's so much we can talk about. And I want to thank you so much for this great discussion and for sharing your story with us for, for adding so much value to all of us. I'm really so grateful for your time.

So I want to just encourage my listeners to follow Eric on his social media platforms that I'm going to list in the show notes and pick up a copy of his book, Recovering Reality. Because if you're struggling with addiction or you know someone is, this is a must have resource for your bookshelf.

And before we sign off, I just want to invite all of you guys to join our live Q &A discussion when it gets scheduled. So keep your eyes on my Instagram, his Instagram, all the social places to see when Eric and I are gonna be hosting that as a live on Instagram. And if you have questions about how shame impacts your life and you wanna ask Eric specific questions about how he repurposed this shame into confidence in the love of God for him, that's your opportunity.

and maybe you've been doing this work with God and you want to share part of your story, we'd love to hear that. So just make sure when you see that we're advertising it, make sure to share it on your social media so other friends and followers can join you and join the live and make sure to join us. But for now, I want to thank you, our incredible tribe, for being part of today's podcast. We're here to help you and encourage you on your journey.

Anything you heard today blessed you, then please let Eric and I know that in the comments and make sure to be a conduit of blessing so other people can benefit. I encourage you to share what you learned with other people, whether you're sharing it on social media, during a conversation at work with your colleagues or you're hanging out with friends. Don't be like the dead sea. If you received something, you don't really own it until you give it away. It's good. And also.

Cecily Lachapelle (29:10.352)
If you haven't already subscribed to this podcast, wherever you're listening to it, make sure to do that, whether that's Spotify, Apple podcasts, YouTube, and also join my email list on my website, higherpursuitministries.com, so you can receive my newsletter and blog. So in closing, friends, as you know, we are on a pursuit of more Jesus together. None of us have arrived. Eric has not arrived. I have not arrived.

But the goal for this podcast is always to offer you something nourishing that will strengthen you, that will encourage you, that will build you up and give you something that you can take with you today on your journey, your higher pursuit of more of Jesus. So thank you so much for joining us, Eric. Thank you again for joining. very welcome. Thank you. Love what you're doing. Thoroughly enjoyed the conversation.

I have no doubt that the work you do with this podcast can help a lot of people. Thank you. It's an honor to be on. Wow. So great. So great. All right, guys, we'll listen. You all have a wonderful day wherever you are. Be blessed all over the world in grace and peace. We bless you. Amen.

Hey family, I pray that you were blessed and encouraged by that episode and that you took away something you can use in your walk with the Lord starting today. Jesus tells us in Matthew six to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So I thank you for making me a part of your pursuit until next time abide in him.