Finding Freedom Through Surrender When we accept the first principle of recovery and step out of denial into reality, a humbling truth becomes clear: there are very few things we truly control. This realization can feel frightening at first, but it is actually the beginning of freedom. Admitting our powerlessness does not mean giving up. It means stopping the exhausting attempt to control what we were never meant to manage on our own. When we acknowledge our limits, we no lon

“Yield Myself to God to Bring This Good News to Others” Choice 8: The Sharing Choice — Recycling Your Pain for God’s Purpose Many people assume that God only uses the gifted, the strong, and the extraordinary. But Scripture shows us the opposite: God delights in using ordinary, imperfect, weak people. He says, “My power works best in weakness.”  When we allow others to see our honesty and vulnerability, God gets the glory. People don’t connect with our strengths—they connect

Choice 7: Maintaining Momentum – The Growth Choice Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will. Recovery doesn’t end with insight. It requires maintenance. If we don’t stay alert, we can easily drift back into old self-defeating patterns. This drift is called relapse . The Predictable Pattern of Relapse Phase 1: Complacency We get comfortable. One day we st

Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others — except when doing so would harm them or others. “Happy are those who are merciful to others.”“Happy are those who work for peace.” Choice 6 is about relational repair . Today we courageously look at the broken places between us and other people — not to judge ourselves, not to regret our past — but to evaluate  our patterns honestly so we can heal. This ch

The Transformation Choice Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. Many of us have lived the cycle: You start a diet… and then fall off. You leave an unhealthy relationship… then drift into another one. You quit smoking… then pick it up again. You stay away from gambling… and then fall right back in. We return to the old patterns we hate, not because we want to, but because our autopilot is still progra

✨ CHOICE 4: Openly Examine and Confess My Faults “Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.” A pure heart is a free heart—a heart no longer weighed down by guilt, shame, or the secrets we’ve tried to hide. Purity isn’t perfection. It’s honesty. It’s courage. It’s the willingness to stop running from our past and finally bring everything into the light. Choice 4 is where true freedom begins. ⭐ What Guilt Does to Us Guilt slowly destroys us

Choice 3: Consciously Choose to Commit All My Life and Will to Christ’s Care and Control “Letting Go: The Commitment Choice” No matter how hard we try, we eventually discover that we cannot fix ourselves. We begin with guilt over our behavior. We tell ourselves, “I should be able to change… I ought to be able to get out of this.”  But we can’t — and our guilt turns to anger. As time passes, anger becomes fear — fear that nothing will ever change. Our hurts, hang-ups, and habi

Earnestly Believe That God Exists, That I Matter to Him, and That He Has the Power to Help Me Recover “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  — Matthew 5:4 “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  — Philippians 2:13 Understanding Step 2 No matter how hard we try to keep everything under control, we eventually discover that we are powerless to control our tendency to do wrong and that our lives are unmanageab

🌿 Celebrate Recovery: Step 1 The First Choice — Realize I’m Not God “I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 5:3 (NIV) 💡 Introduction: Facing the Truth Part of our human nature is to resist change until our pain exceeds our fear of change. We deny, minimize, or ignore our pain until it becomes unbearable—and only then do we fin

The Road to Recovery is a Christ-centered pathway toward healing and freedom.Each principle is rooted in Jesus’ Beatitudes  (Matthew 5), showing us that true recovery begins not in self-reliance, but in surrender to God. These eight principles outline a journey from brokenness to blessing—through honesty, humility, hope, and heart transformation. 1. Realize I’m not God. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  — Matthew 5:3 I admit that I am pow

I n Genesis 4, two brothers stand before God with offerings. Abel brings the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions—a sacrifice that represents his faith, devotion, and the best he had to give. His act of worship foreshadows the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who would redeem the world (Hebrews 11:4). Cain, however, brought an offering that lacked faith and sincerity. When God accepted Abel’s offering but not his, Cain became angry. Yet even then, G