any of these descriptions, take heart. There is hope. There are others like you, and many of them are discovering a new depth and freedom and joy in their daily lives. How they are finding this power to live for a change is what this book is all about.
THE POWER DILEMMA
When we look around today, we see that in spite of all the self-help books and self-fulfillment techniques flooding the market human misery abounds. There remain in our midst in ever-increasing numbers sad incidents of despair, suicide, addiction, violence, corruption, and personal emptiness, and what seems to be a tragic inability to get along even with those we say we love. Massive social changes, even those for the better, seem unable to transform the hearts of men and women. Clearly, when it comes to inner change, human resources alone are not sufficient. We need a power from beyond ourselves.
There is good news! Those who wrote God’s Good Book were unanimous about one thing: There is available to all of us as human beings a Power greater than ourselves—a power that can inwardly change us, that can set us free from life-spoiling habits and addictions, that can help us grow into better people; that can help us heal relationships, that can equip us to make a creative difference where we live and work. It is a power that enables us to know the living presence of God in our lives. However, if we want to experience this life-changing power, we need to learn how to plug into it.
In the following pages I will show you one way to do this. While this way may surprise you, it is not original. It draws from one of the most powerful programs for change and spiritual progress ever devised: the Twelve Step program made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous. The Twelve Step process is an experience of being changed by a caring and powerful God who knows what we need—a God who is able to reach deep inside our lives and change us for the better. I hope that, as you explore and follow these steps, they will become as helpful to you as they have been to me.
Thank you to the team at Upper Room Books, especially Stephen Bryant, Kathleen Stephens, Rita Collett, and Robin Pippin, for their encouragement and colleagueship in the ministry of books. Their efforts in getting this book out for North American readers is deeply appreciated.
Thank you to Bill Meaker for his careful reading of each chapter and helpful suggestions. Over the years he has continually challenged me to write in a more simple, down-to-earth and practical way.
Thank you to John H. from Alcoholics Anonymous who companioned me throughout the writing of this book. Constantly he would bring to my attention some aspect of AA thinking that I had overlooked. His personal recovery and way of life bears powerful witness to the way God uses the Twelve Step program to restore and to heal.
Thank you to Keith Miller, who through his many writings, has shaped my thinking considerably when it comes to linking the Twelve Steps with the Christian faith. To this day I continue to read and reread his material as I seek to work the Steps in my own life. I would love to say thank you in person one day.
Thank you to Lyn Meyer for her faithful colleagueship in preparing this manuscript for the publisher. I am in debt to her for her generous willingness to invest talents and time in each book that I write.
Thank you to all my friends at AA who often share their experience, strength, hope, and counsel with me.
Thank you to my church family at Northfield Methodist Church, especially to my colleagues Schalk Pienaar, John and Debbie van de Laar, and Phidian Matsepe for their interaction and conversation around some of the ideas presented in this book.
Lastly, but not least, thank you to Debbie, Joni, and Mark, with whom I share my life as a “recovering sinner.” Their faithful love helps me more than anything else in the world to experience the faithful love of God.
You may be wondering how I, a nonalcoholic, came across the Twelve Step program. Allow me to share a little bit of my story with you.
Over the years I have struggled with the need for change in many areas of my life. When I was younger, I battled with an addiction to gambling in the area of horse racing. Twenty-five years of marriage have brought home the subtle depths of my own self-centeredness. Moments of extreme tiredness have exposed compulsive tendencies to overwork and overcommit. My children, especially, have helped me to recognize how hard I find it to lighten up and really enjoy myself. These issues and others as well have caused much heartache and pain and struggle—not only for myself but also for those around me.
However, while wrestling with this need for change I discovered the helpfulness of the Twelve Step program. Here is how it happened.
Some of my friends happen to be recovering alcoholics. We often get together to talk about the struggles and joys of our lives. Whenever I spoke about my own compulsions and character defects, like those mentioned above, they would point me toward the program. One day a friend told me bluntly, “Trevor, just work the Twelve Steps.” I began to do so and have continued it on a day-by-day basis, even now. This is how I came to discover the power and value of the Twelve Step program.
When I look back over this time, I can see clearly that the Twelve Steps have become God’s surprising way of keeping my life on track. I have little doubt that without the wisdom and practical guidance they offer my life would have been very much poorer today at every level. They have given me a way of dealing with my tendency toward compulsive behavior, helped me take a closer look at my weaknesses and provided me with practical tools for spiritual growth and healing. In a nutshell, the Twelve Steps have become profoundly helpful in my own ongoing personal journey of change.
However, I should not really have been surprised. Literally millions of people around the world can testify to the blessings and benefits of working the Twelve Step program, not just in Alcoholics Anonymous but in many other recovery and healing programs. These wonderful gifts include things like peace of mind, newfound freedom, and the joy found in serving others. Furthermore, they have provided for many people a solid and realistic plan for growing spiritually. Small wonder that Dallas Willard, one of the most respected spiritual writers of our time, comments in one of his books: “Any successful plan for spiritual formation, whether for the individual or group, will in fact be significantly similar to the Alcoholics Anonymous program.”1
The Twelve Steps
You may not be familiar with the Twelve Steps. The person largely responsible for formulating them was Bill W., one of the founding members of Alcoholics Anonymous. During the spring of 1938, when he was writing the story of the AA movement, he listed twelve principles that he believed helped alcoholics to recover. They had grown out of his own experience and that of other alcoholics from what he had learned from an evangelical movement called the Oxford Group and from his reading of the Bible, especially the Sermon on the Mount. They eventually became known as the Twelve Step program. While I will be adapting those steps that speak specifically of alcoholism, here are the Twelve Steps as they are used in AA:
1.We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.Came
