Episode 18: Rooted & Recovered - What If God Still Wants to Use You?

You blew it again.
 

You promised it would never happen. You meant it when you said the prayers, swore the oaths, made the commitments. But somehow, here you are… face down in shame, silence, and self-hate. And now the enemy whispers:
 "God’s done with you."

In this raw, vulnerable, and deeply redemptive episode, Dan gets brutally honest about a truth most of us are afraid to ask out loud:
 What if God still wants to use you?
Not later. Not when you’ve cleaned up. But now—when you feel the most ruined.

This episode will challenge everything you believe about failure, purpose, and grace. Because the call of God doesn’t come with an expiration date, and your worst moment might be the setup for your greatest ministry.

Key Highlights:

• Failure isn’t the finish line—it’s the forge.
• God uses people with scars, not people without them.
• Your relapse didn’t revoke your calling—it revealed your need for grace.
• In a world full of polished testimonies, people are desperate for something real.
• If you're still breathing, you're still called.

Scriptures Covered:

• John 21:15–17 — Jesus restores Peter after betrayal: “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep.”
• Romans 11:29 — “For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.”
• 2 Corinthians 12:9 — “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
• Psalm 34:18 — “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

Final Truth:
You don’t get to un-call what God already called.
Your story isn’t over—it’s being rewritten by grace. You might be bruised, scraped, and limping—but you’re not done.
Your scars make you safe to the suffering.
Your failures give you credibility in rooms where perfection never could.
And your yes, even if it’s trembling, is still enough.

He’s not looking for polished.
 He’s not looking for perfect.
 He’s looking for you.

So get up, family. Feed His sheep.

Transcript

0:00

This world doesn't hand out healing. It offers quick fixes, cheap pies 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 the struggle. We've lived it. Addiction, shame, relapse, regret, but we've also seen resurrection. We've seen what has. Happens when broken people get anchored in something real rooted and recovered is more than a podcast. It's a battleground for the soul. A place where scars tell stories, where scripture speaks louder than shame, where freedom isn't just a word. It's a war we win daily. So if you're tired of surface level answers, if you want truth that convicts, hope that heals, and conversations that cut through the noise, you're in the right place. Welcome to Rooted and Recovered.

Dan: 1:09

Welcome to another episode of Rooted and Recovered. I'm your host, Dan Pyles. Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart for hanging out with me here for just a little bit as we continue this journey that we call recovery. Today's podcast episode is something deep. Uh, that I want to share with you something that I struggled with many times early in my recovery. And if I'm honest with myself, family, there's still times that I still struggle with it today. And I'm coming up on nine years in recovery. October 16th, 2016 was my recovery date. Uh, so we're not too far from that. Uh, so I'll be coming up on nine years of recovery. Family, if I'm honest with you, uh, there's days that I still feel like this, and the title of today's episode is, what If God Still Wants To Use You? Think about that for just a moment. What if God still wants to use you? I'm just gonna lay it out there. You failed again. Not just in some small way you swore you'd never go back. You made the promises, you said the prayers, and you know what you meant them, but somehow you found yourself in that place again, relapsing, regretting, breaking what you finally thought that you've gotten past and that you were healed from. And now the shame is loud. That voice in in your head and says, you knew better. God's done with you. You used up your last ounce of grace. So what do we do? Family? We sit there, we sit in silence of failure, and then we begin to wonder, did I really blow it for good? Maybe you're still showing up, maybe you're still serving, maybe you're still going to church, maybe you're still in group, you're still trying to pray. But deep down, if you're honest with yourself, you just don't feel usable anymore. You feel like you're just ex existing in the shadow of what could have been. But let me tell you something that might shake you up even. The most deepest, darkest times of your life, God still wants to use you, not the future polished version of you, not the one who never messes up again, not the one who finally gets it all right. He wants to use you right now. Wreckage in the wrestling, in the rawness because your failure doesn't avoid your calling family. Your wounds don't cancel your purpose, your your mistakes that you and I are gonna make. Guess what? They don't surprise him. And Grace doesn't hand out pink slips when we mess up. Let's talk about Moses again. Yeah, the same Moses. Who split the sea. You read the book of Exodus, he split the Red Sea. That same Moses in the book of Exodus who stood toe to toe with Pharaoh. That same Moses in the book of Exodus, who brought down the 10 Commandments. You know what, before all of that family, he was a murderer. He was a fugitive. He was a man with anger issues And that's the guy. God chose to lead a nation. Why? Because God never called the qualified. He qualifies the called, let me repeat that to you. God never called the qualified. He qualifies the called and the call of God doesn't come with a return policy family. It comes with mercy. It comes with power and it comes with a plan that includes your scars. So if you're listening to this episode wondering, is God done with me? Let me be the voice today that cuts through the static. He is not. He is not. Family. He still wants to use you, not just in spite of your failure, but through it Why? Because you've seen some things. You've walked through hell and survived. You've been humbled. You've learned to depend. You've seen what it's like to lose and to get back up again. Family that doesn't disqualify you. That equips you in a world full of plastic Christianity. In polished testimonies, people are desperate for something. Real family. They're not looking for perfect leaders. They're looking for healed ones, honest ones, human ones, ones like you and me. So here's the question. This episode is going to wrestle with what if God still wants to use you? Not when you feel ready, but right now when you feel the most ruined. Because if you're still breathing family, you're still called. And if you're still standing, there's still something for you to do. You see, failure doesn't end your calling. What it does, family, it prepares you for it. Let that settle in for just a second. Most of us think that failure is the finish line. We blew it. We slipped, we sinned, we relapsed, we messed up again, and we assume that's it, that God can't use someone like me anymore. Come on, man. I know I'm talking to somebody besides myself. We blew it. I mean, we really blew it family. And now we're sitting there thinking that God can't use this busted, broken mess anymore. But what if failure wasn't the end? What if it was the forge, the place where God actually refines your calling? What if the very thing that you thought disqualified you was the tool God's using to shape you. You see, you don't have to clean yourself up before God can use you. You don't have to be perfect or, or polished or, or put together. You see, God specializes in using in broken people Because they know they need him. And there is no better proof in the Bible than Peter. Peter was a disciple of Jesus. Peter walked with Jesus. He saw miracles. He made bold declarations. He looked at Jesus Square in the face, said, I'll never leave you Only to crash and burn under the pressure. Three denials, three betrayals, three chances to say I don't know him. And yet, even after that, it don't get much worse than betraying Jesus, denying Jesus like Peter did three times. But yet. As you read in the scriptures, Jesus still sought him out, not to shame him, not to fire him, but to restore him. If you look at John chapter 21, verses 15 through 17, it paints the scene of restoration. Jesus asked Simon, do you love me? He says, yes, Lord, feed my sheep. Then he goes on two other times and asks him if he loves him. Three denials, three affirmations, and then a commissioning after the be, after the betrayal family get this after the betrayal, not before Jesus gave Peter his mission. Because your lowest moment isn't the thing that cancels your destiny. It's often the thing that qualifies you for it. You see, we keep trying to impress God with our performance, but he's not impressed by spiritual resumes. He's moved by surrendered hearts. You don't have to bring him your cleaned up life. You just have to bring him your yes, even if your yes is shaking, scared and barely standing. Think about who God used. Moses. A murderer turned into a deliverer, David an ER turned into a worshiping king. Rahab a prostitute. Who turned into a protector of the spies? Paul, a Christian killer, turned into one of the most powerful church planters. You see, God doesn't call the polished family. He calls the willing because when he uses someone broken, all the glory goes to him. Your fall didn't kill your calling family. You know what it did? It burned away your ego. It stripped off your pride. It revealed the cracks that you didn't want to see, and now, now you're ready to walk in your purpose. Not with swagger, but with surrender. God doesn't waste pain. Family, he repurposes it. He turns your pit into a platform. Your relapse into a revelation and your wreck into a witness, because now, now you know. What it's like to need grace. Now you can speak with authority. Now your message won't be theory, it will be testimony. Family, you are not damaged goods. You are a redeemed vessel and maybe just maybe God allowed you to walk through what you did so you could reach the people. Others never could. Not in spite of your story, but because of it. Think about this for just a moment. Have you ever mentally crossed your own name off God's list? Not because he said you were done, but because shame whispered it loud enough for you to begin to believe it. Maybe you said things like. God can't use me after what I've done. I've gone too far. I had my shot and I blew it. But here's the thing. Family. You don't get to un-call what God has already called. Did you hear what I just said? You me, we don't get to un-call what God has already called. You know why? Because in Romans 1129, it tells me that the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. That means he doesn't revoke them. When you and I fail, he doesn't withdraw them because of our weakness. In fact, it's often our weakness that becomes the witness. Think about this. What if your worst mistake. Is the stage for your most powerful ministry. Now, let that hit deep for a minute. That very thing you're ashamed of, that very moment that you tried to bury could be the exact place where God wants to bring healing to someone else. Why? Because people don't need pretend perfection. They need someone who's walked through the fire and still says, God is good, grace is real, and you are not too far gone. Family. Your failures give you credibility in rooms where religious pride could never enter Your brokenness gives you access to the hurting. Your scars make you safe to the suffering. So maybe you're not meant to forget the failure. Maybe you're meant to redeem it. You see, grace doesn't just cover you. It commissions you. God doesn't just say, I forgive you. He says, now go feed my sheep. Tell your story. Love the hurting. Reach the lost. Preach the word. He doesn't just restore you He releases you into purpose, and that's the beauty of grace. It doesn't just wipe the slate clean it hands you the chalk and says, let's start writing again. And as we get ready to wrap this podcast up, I just feel compelled to tell you over and over again as long as there's breath in my lungs, family. You are not too far gone. You're not too broken, you're not disqualified, and you haven't missed your moment. The cross didn't just cover what you did. It called you to what you were made for. If you've still got breath in your lungs, then God still got a purpose on your life. You may have stumbled. You may have fallen flat on your face, but failure is not the same thing as finished. Did you hear me? Failure is not the same thing as finished. Peter denied Jesus publicly, loudly, shamefully. Jesus still said to him, feed my sheep. So family. If you are in the middle of this right now, the Lord is speaking to you today. You might have messed up, you might have relapsed. You might that one thing that you said that you was never gonna do in your life again, guess what you did. And you wiped out and you have hit the floor, and you got the, the, the face burns and the scrapes and the bumps and the bruises to prove it. And you might be sitting there thinking, this is it. I have messed up too. This is it. I have blew my last chance. I have messed up too many times. I have used, I've used all my grace cards. I'm out, I'm empty handed. God is looking at you today and telling you to feed my sheep. Come on man. That's for somebody listening to this today. You really feel the enemy has been pounding into your brains. That you're disqualified, that you've blown it, that, that someone else needs to step up and do it. Someone else with better credentials, someone else with a better background, someone else who, who is further in their recovery and you're believing it. You're now starting to take the back seat, but God is looking at you and telling you today, feed my sheep. So stand back up, family. Get back up. Yes, you've fallen. Yes, you've got bumps and scrapes and bruises. It hurts, but stand back up. Wipe off the shame. Refuse the lie that says you're disqualified and step into it because the ones who have been broken, the deepest family. Often carry the most dangerous kind of grace. I just feel today in, because I know family, I know what it's like. I know what it's like to really mess things up in life and I've done it. And guess what? Even after nine years of recovery, there's still things in my life that I mess up. I feel that I, that I've, I've blown it, that it's done, that it's over with, that God just needs to use somebody else besides me. But the word of God tells us that even in the most darkest, deepest betrayals, Peter denied Jesus three times and Jesus still looked him in the face and says, do you love me? Then feed my sheep. Jesus is looking at you and I today family, and he's asking you and me the same question. Do you love me? And the answer better be yes, Lord, I do love you. Then he's telling you and me today, then go feed my sheep. Family. You've got a powerful recovery testimony. You have a powerful story. You have a powerful life. Don't let mistakes and failures block that and cover that light up. Jesus is calling you and I today. Do you love me? Then go feed my sheep. Let's go family. Let's go feed his sheep together. Amen. Until next time, family, I love you. I honor you. Thank you so very much for hanging out with me today. Stay rooted, stay recovered, and let's get to work.

21:03

You are not just surviving. You are becoming, becoming rooted in truth, becoming recovered by grace, and becoming the person God always knew you could be. Thanks for joining us on Rooted in Recovered. If this episode stirred something in you, don't keep it to yourself. Share it, live it, let it take root. We'll see you next time right here where scars become testimonies and hope rises from the ashes.