GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU

Nuts & Bolts Recovery Message

“God Has Not Forgotten You”

Key Scripture: Isaiah 49:15–16 Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

Introduction

Good evening, Restoration Pointe family! INTRODUCE YOURSELF

There is a quiet fear that visits people in long seasons of waiting. It does not announce itself loudly. It comes as a small thought late at night, when the house is still and the prayers feel like they are hitting the ceiling.

The thought says, perhaps God has moved on to someone else, perhaps He has forgotten you in the crowd of people who need Him.

I believe the Holy Spirit is highlighting this very thing in the hearts of many believers right now and the Word of God has a great deal to say to that fear.

When I was walking through one of the darkest chapters of my own life, I carried that exact thought for months.

I had been hurt in ways I did not have words for and I remember walking around my home crying & praying but saw no answer to my prayers. Sitting on the floor of my room one evening, certain that my situation was too small for God to notice and too broken for God to fix. If you have ever felt invisible, then you and I have stood in the same place.

What lifted me was not a sudden rescue. It was the Word of God reminding me who was holding me.

Let me ask you a question as we begin.

Have you ever felt forgotten?

Not just by people—but by God?

Maybe you prayed… Maybe you waited… Maybe you did everything you knew to do…

…and nothing seemed to change.

For people in recovery, those feelings can become overwhelming.

We begin believing lies like:

“God has moved on.”

“I’ve messed up too many times.”

“I’m too broken.”

“Maybe He’ll help everyone else—but not me.”

Those lies are exactly what Satan wants us to believe.

Tonight we’re going to expose those lies with the truth of God’s Word.

Let me interject something right here. Plus we have talked about this before. A stronghold is not just a bad habit or a difficult personality trait. It is a fortified mindset, a pattern of thinking and experience that the enemy has used as his operational base in your life. USUALLY, BUT NOT ALWAYS BROUGHT ON BECAUSE OF SOME KIND OF TRAUMA

The Bible speaks directly to this: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

PROPHETIC ENCOURAGEMENT

FAMILY, the enemy works hard to convince you that your situation has disqualified you from God’s attention. Yet Scripture answers every one of his whispers.

In Isaiah 49 God compares His memory of you to a nursing mother, then says even that bond can fail before His does. He does not write your name in pencil that can be erased. He inscribes it, cut into the palms of His hands.

The psalmist understood that God’s knowledge of us is complete. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:1-2).

You are not a stranger to Him whom He is trying to locate. He has searched you and known you.

Every prayer from months/YEARS ago is recorded. The night you cried and felt nothing, is held in heaven with tenderness.

Practically, this means you can stop measuring God’s love by the speed of your breakthrough. Peter wrote, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). The instruction and the reason sit side by side. Cast your care, because He cares. When the lie of abandonment returns, answer it out loud with the Word and let Scripture be louder than the fear.

Point 1:

God Never Forgets His Children

(5 minutes)

Isaiah 49:15-16 says,

“Can a woman forget her nursing child… Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.”

Think about that.

God compares Himself to a nursing mother—the strongest human bond imaginable.

Then He says…

“Even if she forgets…

I never will.”

People forget.

Friends forget.

Family forgets.

Sponsors can disappoint us.

Churches sometimes fail us.

But God never does.

Recovery teaches us that our identity is not in our failures…

Our identity is in Christ.

Your addiction does not define you.

Your relapse does not define you.

Your past does not define you.

God says,

“I know exactly where you are.”

Recovery Application

Many people in recovery think,

“I’ve relapsed too many times.”

“I’ve blown it again.”

“I’ve disappointed God.”

The Bible never says God stops loving His children because they struggle.

Instead…

He keeps calling us back home.

Point 2:

God Knows Every Detail of Your Life

(5-6 minutes)

Jesus said in Matthew 10,

“The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Think about that.

God isn’t simply aware of your existence.

He knows details about you that you don’t even know yourself.

He knows:

your fears…

your triggers…

your temptations…

your tears…

your victories…

and even your silent prayers.

Psalm 139 says,

“You have searched me and known me.”

Nothing surprises God.

Your addiction didn’t surprise Him.

Your trauma didn’t surprise Him.

Your depression didn’t surprise Him.

Your relapse didn’t surprise Him.

Yet He still says…

“I choose you.”

Personal Illustration

Many of us have sat alone thinking,

“No one understands.”

But Jesus does.

He was rejected.

He was betrayed.

He was abandoned.

Yet He never abandoned us.

Point 3:

Recovery Begins When We Trust God’s Care

(5-6 minutes)

Peter tells us,

“Casting all your care upon Him, because He cares for you.”

Notice…

Peter doesn’t say,

“Carry it.”

He says,

“Cast it.”

Many of us carry guilt…

carry shame…

carry regret…

carry fear…

for years.

God never intended us to carry what He already carried to the Cross.

Recovery isn’t pretending we’re strong.

Recovery is admitting we’re weak…

and trusting God’s strength.

Ephesians 6 says,

“Be strong in the Lord…”

Not in yourself.

In Him.

That’s why we work the Steps.

That’s why we confess.

That’s why we pray.

That’s why we stay connected.

Because healing happens in surrender.

Three Key Takeaways

1. God has not forgotten you.

Your past cannot erase your identity.

You are engraved on His hands.

2. God knows everything about you—and loves you anyway.

Nothing you’re facing caught Him by surprise.

He sees your struggle.

He knows your heart.

He still calls you His child.

3. Recovery is not about perfection.

It is about surrender.

Every day we choose to trust Jesus instead of our feelings.

LET ME INTERJECT SOMETHING RIGHT HERE ABOUT LIES AGAINST YOU:

And those lies almost always have a history. Trauma. Abuse in childhood that taught someone the world is unsafe and the only way to survive is to control everything around you.

Deep wounds that were never brought to God and never healed. Bitterness that was held onto so long it stopped feeling like bitterness and started feeling like wisdom, like discernment, like a reasonable response to an unreasonable world.

Over time, the lie becomes the lens. The wound becomes the worldview.

And a person shaped by those patterns — however sincerely they may believe they are serving God — becomes a vessel whose operating system is fear, control.

THE ENEMY IS NOT WASTEFUL. THESE ARE PEOPLE HE HAS OFTEN SPENT YEARS SHAPING-THROUGH THE PAIN THEY EXPERIENCED, THROUGH THE LIES THEY ABSORBED, THROUGH THE BITTERNESS THEY CHOSE NOT TO RELEASE.

Practical Challenge (2 minutes)

Write Isaiah 49:16 on one side of an index card.

On the back write:

1 Peter 5:7

Read both verses every morning before you check your phone.

Let God’s voice become louder than your fears.

When the enemy says,

“You’ve been forgotten.”

Answer him with Scripture.

PROPHETIC DECLARATION FOR YOU TO MAKE

1.    I declare that I am seen, known and remembered by the living God.

2.   I declare that I am inscribed on the palms of His hands and cannot be erased.

3.   I declare that the very hairs of my head are numbered and my life is fully known by my Father.

4.   I declare that the Lord will never leave me nor forsake me, according to Hebrews 13:5.

5.   I declare that I cast all my care upon Him, for He cares for me.

Closing

Maybe someone here tonight walked in believing they were invisible.

Maybe you think everyone else has hope except you.

Hear this:

God knows your name.

He knows your story.

He knows your struggle.

He has not forgotten you.

The nail-scarred hands of Jesus are proof that His love is permanent.

If He was willing to die for you…

He certainly hasn’t forgotten you.

Closing Prayer

“Father, thank You that You never forget Your children. Thank You that our names are engraved on the palms of Your hands through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Help us reject the lies of the enemy that say we are forgotten, unloved, or beyond hope. Teach us to cast every burden upon You because You care for us. Strengthen each person in their recovery journey, remind them that Your grace is sufficient, and help us walk one day at a time in Your power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

AT THIS TIME WE WILL NOT DISMISS OUR ONLINE FAMILY, BUT WE WILL INCLUDE YOU IN THE QUESTION TIME HERE.

THESE ARE FOR GREATER DISCUSSIONS FOR YOU AT HOME.

AFTER THE QUESTIONS ARE SHARED, THEN WE WILL DISMISS YOU. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US IN OUR NUTS & BOLTS VIDEO

Discussion Questions

Where in your recovery have you struggled to believe that God still sees you, and what truth from Isaiah 49:15-16 speaks directly to that struggle?

If you truly believed every day that you were known, remembered, and deeply loved by God, what practical changes would you make in your recovery this week?