Stephen Arterburn - The Twelve Laws of Life Recovery: Wisdom for Your Journey

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The Twelve Laws of Life Recovery: Gods Wisdom and Guidance for Your Journey

Copyright 2015 by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph copyright Darren Falkenberg/Thinkstock. All rights reserved.

Designed by Stephen Vosloo

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Literary Agency, 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, www.aliveliterary.com.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Arterburn, Stephen, date.

The twelve laws of life recovery : wisdom for your journey / Stephen Arterburn, David Stoop.

pages cm

Included bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4964-0270-7 (sc)

1. Twelve-step programs Religious aspects Christianity. I. Title.

BV4596.T88A83 2015

248.8629 dc23 2015007278

ISBN 978-1-4964-0989-8 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4964-0271-4 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4964-0990-4 (Apple)

Build: 2015-05-22 16:55:09

Contents

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol that 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.

Copyright A.A. World Services, Inc. Italics in the original.

The Twelve Steps of Life Recovery

1. We admitted we were powerless over our problems 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 all 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 used in The Twelve Laws of Life Recovery have been adapted with permission from the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Introduction

DOES IT SEEM IRONIC that a book about twelve laws could provide you with more freedom than you have ever experienced? Does it seem counterintuitive that twelve requirements could guide you toward twelve outcomes that will fill every day of your life with love, gratitude, and serenity? Well, thats exactly what this book is about: finding a level of freedom that will give you a deeper and richer engagement with life and with recovery.

When we use the word laws, were not referring to legislative action that is legally binding or to moral imperatives that constrain human behavior. The laws we have in mind are cause-and-effect relationships that have been proven over and over again. These laws are woven into the fabric of Creation and reflect the character of God. (Even if you dont associate your higher power with a personal God, the God of the Bible, we believe you will see that the principles in this book are tried and true, and we trust youll find them helpful and useful.)

Each law has a requirement, and each law produces a reliable outcome. If you achieve the requirement, you will experience the result a predictable, positive result that will make your life better, draw you closer to God, and connect you more deeply to other people. These laws provide freedom where there was bondage and direction where there was confusion.

Dave and I have studied these laws since 1982, and we have observed the positive results in the lives of people we have helped. We have also found them predictable and reliable in our own recoveries over many years. If you will incorporate the study of these twelve laws into your Twelve Step life recovery program, we believe it will enrich your life perhaps in ways you never thought possible.

In saying these laws are predictable, reliable, and positive, were not suggesting its going to be easy to put them into effect in your life. Some of these requirements are quite challenging. You may need to go to a few more meetings to find the strength to meet a requirement. You may have to go to a workshop, work with a therapist, or get additional treatment to incorporate these requirements into your daily life. We hope and pray you will do whatever it takes to achieve each requirement and that you will find value in working for the positive outcomes that will result.

If youve gotten stuck when using other materials in the past, we hope you will find that this book is the tool youve been looking for and the resource that you need.

One final word: Dont be shocked when you see how many of these laws go against conventional wisdom. In most cases, they are countercultural which is why they are so powerful. They are based on Gods ways and wisdom, which are quite different from the ways of the world and the ways we often try to order our own private worlds.

We dont want to keep you any longer from the life-changing results that can be achieved through the twelve laws of life recovery. So lets get started.