Change Your Algorithm: A Word for Those Rebuilding Their Lives

Today I went to church and heard a sermon that met me right where I am.

Pastor TJ Williams, who pastors Lifepoint Church in Arizona, preached a message called “Change Your Algorithm.” And when I tell you it was timely, I mean it was one of those messages that makes you sit up and say, “God, I hear You.”

His message was framed around the idea that we are halfway through 2026. It is halftime. And just like a coach gathers the team in the locker room to make adjustments before going back out on the court, sometimes we need to pause and make adjustments before we step into the second half of the year.

Not just surface-level adjustments.

Not just changing our schedule, our diet, our job, or our surroundings. But deeper adjustments.

• Heart adjustments.

• Mindset adjustments.

• Spiritual adjustments.

Pastor TJ said something that stayed with me:

Your algorithm is a reflection of what you give attention to.

Now, we usually think about algorithms when we talk about social media. If you keep watching certain videos, liking certain posts, or clicking certain content, the platform starts showing you more of the same. But what hit me is that life works the same way.

• What we keep feeding grows.

• What we keep focusing on gets amplified.

• What we keep listening to starts shaping us.

And for those of us who are rebuilding our lives after incarceration, substance use disorder, trauma, mental health struggles, grief, or years of simply surviving, this matters deeply.

Because rebuilding is not just about getting a second chance. It is about learning how to live differently with that second chance. ~Tonia Garnett

Many of us have lived for years with an internal algorithm shaped by fear, shame, regret, survival, rejection, abandonment, addiction, trauma, and disappointment.

We have heard voices that told us:

You will never change.

You are too far gone.

This is just who you are.

Nobody will trust you again.

You already messed up too much.

But the devil is a liar.

That is not the voice of God.

That is not the truth of who we are.

Pastor TJ reminded us that we have to guard our hearts because everything we do flows from it. That means we cannot keep feeding ourselves fear and expect to produce faith. We cannot keep planting ourselves in unhealthy environments and expect Kingdom fruit. We cannot keep speaking death over our lives and expect to walk in life.

For my peer network — for every person rebuilding — this message is a reminder that we have to be intentional about what we allow to shape us.

We may have to change who we listen to.

Not everyone who loves us is leading us well. Not every familiar voice is a healthy voice. Some people may mean well, but they are still speaking from fear, dysfunction, bitterness, or limitation.

We may have to change our environment.

A seed can have all the potential in the world, but if it is planted in the wrong soil, it will not grow. Some of us are trying to heal in places that keep reopening wounds. Some of us are trying to stay sober in environments that keep feeding the old version of us. Some of us are trying to walk in purpose while still sitting in places that pull us backward.

We may have to change the way we talk.

I know life has been hard. I know setbacks are real. I know rebuilding is not easy. But we cannot keep saying, “I’ll never make it,” “I’ll always struggle,” or “Nothing will ever change,” and then wonder why we feel stuck.

There is power in our words.

We have to speak life.

• I am not who I used to be.

• God is still working on me.

• My past is not my prison.

• My future is still being built.

• I can recover.

• I can rebuild.

• I can rise.

And most importantly, we may have to change the way we see God. Some of us have seen God through the lens of punishment, disappointment, or distance. But today I was reminded that God is compassionate. He is merciful. He is faithful. He is loving. He is not finished with us.

There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more. And there is nothing we have done that makes Him love us less.

That truth matters when you are rebuilding.

Because shame will tell you to hide.

Grace invites you to come home.

So as we step into the second half of this year, I am asking myself a question:

What algorithm am I allowing to shape my life?

• Am I feeding fear or faith?

• Am I listening to voices of limitation or voices of wisdom?

• Am I planted in soil that helps me grow?

• Am I speaking life over what God is still building?

This sermon reminded me that halftime is not the end of the game.

• It is a chance to adjust.

• It is a chance to breathe.

• It is a chance to hear from the Coach and go back out stronger.

So to my peers, my recovery community, my reentry family, and every person rebuilding their life:

• Change your algorithm.

• Guard your heart.

• Choose your voices carefully.

• Plant yourself in healthy soil.

• Speak life.

• See God clearly.

  
  

And remember this:

Your past may explain where you have been, but it does not get to determine where God is taking you.

The future is not found….It is intentionally built. ~Tonia Garnett