199. What's Holding You Back?199. What's Holding You Back?
Hope in Recovery
Andy Petry talks about the hard work of recovery, the costs of staying stuck and the hope found in Jesus and Christ-centred community. The focus is on identifying what’s holding you back and taking honest, practical steps toward healing.
25:45•25 Aug 2026
What’s Holding You Back from Healing in Recovery?
Episode Overview
- Recovery asks you to face both obvious sin and the hidden weights that are holding you back.
- Common coping strategies are to forget the hurt or numb it, but neither truly resolves the pain.
- What you choose not to repair in your life is likely to be repeated and may spill over into relationships.
- Letting God into the fullness of your heart is key to experiencing the fullness of life and intimacy with Him.
- Healing grows as you invite safe others into your struggles through confession, prayer and Christ-centred community.
“There’s nothing that you’re carrying, there’s no weight and there’s no sin tripping you up that isn’t stronger than the love of God.”
What drives someone to seek a life without the heavy baggage they’ve been carrying? This talk from *Hope in Recovery* zooms in on that question, as Andy Petry reflects on why recovery is hard work – and why it’s still worth saying yes to.
Andy, a grateful believer in Jesus who’s honest about his struggles with food issues, depression, sexual addiction and grief, walks through Hebrews 12’s call to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles". He unpacks the difference between obvious sinful behaviours and the quieter weights we carry: unresolved pain, old coping strategies and hidden shame that slow us down in our walk with God and others.
You’ll hear Andy name the two common escape routes he’s used himself – "amnesia or anesthesia" – trying either to forget the hurt or numb it with things like sex, substances, distraction or even over-working. He then lays out three costs of refusing to do the work of recovery: repeating unhealed patterns, passing them on to others, and missing out on a deeper experience of God.
As he puts it, "What I choose not to repair, I will end up repeating." Rooted firmly in Celebrate Recovery’s Christ-centred approach, Andy offers a simple but challenging next step: let yourself see what’s really going on, invite God into it, and start risking honesty with safe people. Scripture like Psalm 139, Isaiah 1:18, James 5:16 and Romans 8 frames recovery as a journey walked with Jesus and healthy community, not a solo slog in shame.
If you’re feeling sick and tired of being sick and tired, this conversation might help you ask a practical question: what’s holding you back, and are you ready to start putting it down?
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