Stephen Arterburn - The life recovery devotional: thirty meditations from scripture for each step in recovery

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The Twelve Steps are reprinted and adapted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, nor that AA agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholismuse of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after AA, but which address other problems, does not imply otherwise.

The Life Recovery Devotional: Thirty Meditations from Scripture for Each Step in Recovery

Copyright 1991 by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop. All rights reserved.

Previously published as The Twelve-Step Life Recovery Devotional in 1991 by Tyndale House Publishers under ISBN-13: 978-0-8423-4753-2 / ISBN-10: 0-8423-4753-4.

The Life Recovery Devotional first published in 2009.

Cover photo copyright by Creatas Images/jupiterimages. All rights reserved.

Designed by Jacqueline L. Nuez

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NKJV is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Arterburn, Stephen, date.

The life recovery devotional : thirty meditations from Scripture for each step in recovery / Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop. New repackage.

p. cm.

Originally published: The twelve step life recovery devotional / David Stoop, Stephen Arterburn. c1991.

ISBN 978-1-4143-3004-4 (sc)

1. Twelve-step programsReligious aspectsChristianityMeditations. 2. BibleMeditations.I. Stoop, David A. II. Stoop, David A. Twelve step life recovery devotional.

III. Title.

BV4596.T88A78 2009

242.4dc22 2008054374

Dedication

This devotional is dedicated to all fellow strugglers who have had the courage to face the truth about themselves, the humility to abandon their flawed attempts at living, and the willingness to find Gods truth and live accordingly.

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

(1) We admitted we were powerless over alcoholthat our lives had become unmanageable.

(2) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

(3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

(4) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

(5) Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

(6) Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

(7) Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

(8) Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

(9) Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

(10) Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

(11) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

(12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The Twelve Steps are reprinted and adapted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, nor that AA agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholismuse of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after AA, but which address other problems, does not imply otherwise.

The Twelve Steps

1. We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies and that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. We made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. We were entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character.

7. We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. We continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry it out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The Twelve Steps in this devotional book have been adapted from the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Acknowledgments

A lot of people have played a part in the creation of this devotional, but we want to especially thank Connie Neal, for letting us draw from her own recovery, and Mark Norton at Tyndale House Publishers, for bringing it all together.

Introduction

Its impossible to go through life without experiencing hurt, especially in the invisible world of our thoughts and emotions. We all respond differently to these hurts. Some of us try to avoid feeling the pain by turning to harmful behaviors or addictive substanceshoping to numb the hurts within. Others of us try to distance ourselves from the pain by throwing ourselves into more noble pursuitshoping to stay busy enough to silence the painful memories from our past.

Over the years, millions have found help and hope by working through the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. More recently, many who have not been addicted to alcohol or another addictive chemical also have found healing through these steps. The Life Recovery Devotional has been designed for all of us whose lives have in some way been touched by addictions or other compulsive behaviors.

All of the Twelve Steps are rooted in spiritual principles that are displayed prominently in Gods Word. And each meditation in this book is based upon biblical truths that will lead us to freedom from the prisons of our addictions and compulsions. This fits with our desire to bring recovery back to the Bible.

These biblical meditations have been written and edited by people who are in recovery. Some of them are focused more toward those of us struggling with addictions; others deal with issues common among those living alongside those with addictions and compulsions. Although we may go about dealing with our problems in very different ways, were all trying to deal with the pain of growing up in a broken world. Reading these meditations will help us understand the struggles that are common to all of us in recovery. Sharing the truths we encounter will encourage our growth and lead us out of our isolation and loneliness.