180. Healing Happens On Purpose

180. Healing Happens On Purpose

What drives someone to seek a life without numbing out or hiding? This honest conversation between Andy and Julia Petry circles around one big theme: healing doesn’t just happen, it happens on purpose. Speaking openly about sexual addiction, body image struggles, codependency and love and relationship addiction, Julia shares how she went from “just serving” in Celebrate Recovery’s student ministry to realising, as she puts it, “maybe there is freedom from this.

I need to tackle this.” Her story shows how easy it is to hide behind helping others while quietly wrestling with your own hurts, hang‑ups and habits. Andy brings gentle structure, asking how intentionality actually looks in day-to-day recovery. Together they unpack that familiar saying, “you get out what you put in”, showing how it plays out in step studies, counselling and honest community.

Julia talks about choosing vulnerability on purpose, including the night she shared about body image issues in a women’s group with her eyes closed because it felt so scary – and how that moment led to more women opening up and even a new group starting. They also talk about being honest when you’re simply not ready to let go of a behaviour.

Julia describes wrestling with God over giving up constant weighing and body checking, saying she had to “become willing to deal with the discomfort” that came once her old coping tools were gone. Throughout, the focus stays firmly on Christ, community and small brave steps: choosing to show up, speak up, and lean into safe people rather than old patterns.

If you’ve ever felt stuck just going through the motions in recovery, this conversation might nudge you to ask: where could you take one intentional step toward healing today?