The Map
The Map
If you want to climb Mt. Everest (29,029′ elevation – the tallest mountain in the world), it won’t help to seek counsel and guidance from someone who has only climbed Mt. Rubidoux (1331′ elevation – maybe the tallest mountain in the city of Riverside, CA). You’ll want to ask for help from someone who has actually been to the top of Everest. Even better, ask someone who year-in-and-year-out guides others to the top of Everest and back…because that’s what God made him good at.
The 12th Step of Recovery involves taking the spiritual principals learned upon the journey of recovery, practicing them ourselves and, most importantly, sharing them with others. The 12 Steps are not a magic formula. They are not the charter of a religious cult. And they aren’t a set of tips and tools for managing addiction. The 12 Steps are a simple set of spiritual tools, “sideboards” if you will, to keep us on track in our pursuit of spiritual formation into the man GOD designed us to be. Our methods simply involve showing other men how to do what we’ve done ourselves (to the top of Everest and back, spiritually speaking). For most of us, that involves a mixture of some or all of the following elements…
- Prayer and development of an intimate relationship with God
- Bible Knowledge
- Taking the 12 Steps of Recovery
- Recovery literature: The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and The 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous (Yes, even if you don’t have a problem with alcohol. AA is the seminal source for successful recovery, the originator of the 12 Steps and its principals are effective with ANY addiction)
- Personal and/or couples counseling
- Soul Care
- Deep-healing Prayer
- Outside Conference attendance
- Sponsorship/Mentorship
- Community (frequent meeting attendance and involvement in a local church body)
There might be other ways to recover from addiction (like there are other ways to get to the top of Everest), but we know this one works. That’s why we are willing and passionate to share it with those who desire our help.