New Series - New Adventure

If I have learned anything from all these years of working on and teaching about the 12 Steps, it is that a wide variety of people, no matter what their background, have found comfort and healing while exploring the nature of this program. We call it a program because you don’t have to be in a lock-up facility, a halfway house or outpatient treatment to follow it, just dialed in to it as a method of life situational healing.

These Steps were taken out of the Bible and placed in a context that would allow even the simplest belief toward life recovery an opportunity to become part of a program that provided a pathway back to God. Here are 3 important quotes from the introduction to our new series on Sunday’s, “The 12 Steps For Christians”, followed by my corresponding comments:

“The 12 Steps offer a way to grow beyond the harmful effects of a troubled home environment.”

I am amazed at the amount of people who have convinced themselves their childhood was perfect and their parents were angels, when in fact there was quiet chaos in the family. Then there are others who if a family reunion were scheduled would remain as far away as possible. The fact is that we can find a new highly functional and supportive family if we let the power of healing work within us. Ignoring the obvious emotional facts of a disrupted, broken or divorced family only keeps us in denial.

“It is however, a program that helps us to rediscover and deepen the spiritual part of ourselves.”

We all have methods, books, times we schedule of prayer and meditation, things we do to deepen our relationship with the Lord. What works for one, may not be good for the other. So, for you to consider being a part of this class or working these Steps, there has to be a payoff greater than what you have now. For me, it is always a new adventure every day because the Steps cause you to rediscover who you are. And when you do, you also discover who God intended you to be. Not the one your parents, friends or spouses saw you as, but the real you. What if you lived your whole life as an actor and never realized who was playing the real you?

“We realize that the void or despair we feel is the result of our ignoring or rejecting our relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

We talk about the hole in our soul developed from years of addiction and evil situations, and how we have to fill it with something better than what we have been chasing after for all these years. Quite simply, many of us chased after everything but God. He was not appealing to us because we had our mind bent on the riches of this world and the proverbial “apple” we were not supposed to eat. But in the end, everything we tried came up empty……relationships, money, drugs, alcohol, sex, it was never enough, but always a temporary fix.

The truth is there is only one permanent fix, and what we need is a really experienced carpenter to repair our house. And, if it is like most houses it has Steps that lead into a happy home if you take them one at a time. So, how about if we take these next three months to do a little home improvement? We will look at it as a New Series – New Adventure! No telling what termites we might find………

Glenn