Lessons from Recovery: How the 12 steps of AA can help you (yes, even if you aren't in "recovery")     

KEY QUESTION: How are the 12 steps of AA interwoven throughout the Bible, and how can this help heal your brokenness?

Lessons Learned from Recovery

Are you in recovery? 

Is your first reaction, "Nope!"

Maybe you don't have a problem with drugs, alcohol, gambling, or an eating disorder. 

But aren't we all recovering … from something?

Over the past few years, I've walked alongside others fighting for freedom from addiction to food/drugs/alcohol/etc, and I've learned just how much our similarities are greater than our differences, because, the truth is, we are all in recovery.

The definition of recovery from Oxford Languages is "a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength". Isn't that all of our journeys? In one way or another, we're all a little less than "normal", spiritually, physically, or mentally. We are all fighting a daily battle to return to wholeness/ "normal".  I'd say based on the amount of coffee consumed in the world, many of us start out our days sipping caffeine to achieve normal alertness and cover up our exhaustion. We're all trying to reach "normalcy" and re-cover by covering up our brokenness, over and over.

There are so many things we cover our brokenness with. At times, it's tempting to literally just cover up underneath a blanket, numb out with Netflix, and hide from the world. Stay in the dark. Now, don't get me wrong, resting has its place, but when it comes to brokenness, covering with temporary band-aids only goes so far. Brokenness requires a covering that'll soak down deep. 

Have you ever studied or applied the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous? Honestly, I knew very little  about them until the past couple of years. However, the more I've learned, the more I've found this framework is extremely applicable to anyone because it teaches how to dig deep, identify problems, and cover them with a healing solution. Sounds a lot like the Bible, huh? As it turns out, a framework for addicts, The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and a framework for sinners, the Bible, have an awful lot in common and an awful lot we can all learn from. Let's walk through it.

A Journey through the Bible with The Twelve Steps of AA

The 12 steps of AA included in this post are paraphrased. For the complete list, visit AA.org.

Steps one and two, breaking and needing a greater power

Starting at ground zero, we have Adam and Eve. Without wasting much time, Adam and Eve's sinful disobedience leaves them shameful and like step one, POWERLESS OVER THEIR PROBLEMS. Have you ever watched the show, "Naked and Afraid", where they dump people totally unclothed in the middle of dangerous places to fend for themselves? Well, way before this show was thought up, Adam and Eve were the original "naked and afraid". They tried to solve this problem on their own and cover up with fig leaves but that didn't remove their shame. They NEEDED A POWER GREATER THAN THEMSELVES TO RESTORE THEM (step two). As part of their restoration, God gave them consequences, but in mercy, also provided for them. God substituted their fig leaves for a more suitable covering, the skin from an animal. This first story of an innocent animal sacrifice is such a beautiful foreshadowing of the true source we need to re-COVER with: JESUS. Can you relate to the pain of Adam and Eve's shame, brokenness, and consequences? How does the covering of Jesus ease that burden? 

Step three, submitting 

Many years after Adam and Eve came Abraham. After waiting many long years for God's promise of children, Abraham was finally given a son, Isaac. Then, in one of those confusing moments in Scripture, we read that God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Um, there's a lot to unpack there, but for the sake of time, let's just talk about two things Abraham had to do: trust and submit. 

Abraham had to choose, like step three, to TURN HIS WILL AND LIFE OVER TO THE CARE OF GOD AS HE UNDERSTOOD HIM even when it was really confusing and hard. Thankfully, God demonstrated his grace and foreshadowed his plan to save the world by again, providing an innocent animal sacrifice to take Isaac's place. In turn, this assures us that to follow God's will, we won't ever be asked to do anything as hard (and unfathomable) as sacrificing our children. Thank you to JESUS! However, we still are called to submit and seek God's will above our own. What are you being asked to lay down? 

Steps four and five, self-reflecting and admitting wrong

After Abraham and Isaac came Jacob and his 12 sons, one of which was Joseph. The brothers were very jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery to Egyptians. Many years later, because of a drought, the brothers needed Joseph's help and eventually had to INVENTORY THEIR LIVES AND ADMIT THE NATURE OF THEIR WRONGS (steps 4 and 5). Joseph demonstrated a beautiful response of forgiveness, which gives us a comforting view of how God responds when we admit our wrongs to Him. 

Genesis 50:18-21 "His brothers also came and fell down before him, and said, "Behold, we are your servants." But Joseph said to them, "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he reassured them and comforted them."

Despite your wrongs, has God brought any good from what was meant for evil?

Step six, asking for help

Due to the drought in their homeland and Jospeh's favor, Joseph's brothers brought many Israelites to live in Egypt. The Israelites grew and prospered and out of fear, the Egyptians made them slaves. Years later God called Moses to lead them out of this slavery. Moses was resistant to following God's plan at first because he was afraid. Exodus 4:10 But Moses said, "No, Lord, don't send me. I have never been a good speaker, and I haven't become one since you began to speak to me. I am a poor speaker, slow and hesitant." After much back and forth with the Lord, Moses had to submit and be willing for God to REMOVE DEFECTS OF CHARACTER, his unwillingness and fear. Notice that God didn't remove Moses' speaking defects, instead God transformed the Moses' spiritual weakness (his unwillingness) and worked through his physical weakness (his poor speech). Have you experienced a time when you needed to trust God with your heart struggles more than your physical struggles?

Exodus 4: 11 The Lord said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Step seven, accepting the help

Thankfully Moses allowed God to work through him and free the Israelites who ended up forming their own nation and having kings. One of the most famous Israelite kings was David, known as a man after God's own heart. However, David made huge mistakes, adultery and murder just to name a couple. Over time though, David's heart became repentant as he wrote about in Psalm 51 when he HUMBLY ASKED GOD TO REMOVE HIS SHORTCOMINGS (step 7). 

"Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me" Psalm 51:10

David met with God in desperation and submission. Have you experienced a time like this of pleading?

Steps eight and nine, making things right

Not only did David become repentant with God, he did one of the hardest steps required of us. He MADE AMENDS WITH OTHERS (steps 8 and 9). We glimpse this when he goes to Nathan in 2 Samuel 12. Here, Nathan provides a picture of God's grace as he says, 

"The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die." 2 Samuel 12:13

Thankfully this verse shows us that God's grace can cover all sins, but other surrounding verses show that David experienced heavy consequences for his serious sins. Making amends with others won't erase our wrongdoings or free us from consequences, and the people we harm may not always forgive us. However, through making amends we do gain humility, relief, and the grace of God. 

Step ten, revisiting self-reflection and admission of wrongs

David suffered because of his sins but eventually found restoration in God and was blessed with his son, Solomon, who became King after him. Solomon completed the Temple of the Lord which David began. Unfortunately, the temple went through much destruction and rebuilding which is similar to the constant rebuilding we all have to do in our lives. We break, get restored, make amends... and then break again. Therefore, we have to return and CONTINUE TO TAKE PERSONAL INVENTORY AND ADMIT WRONGS on a consistent basis. (step 10) Let's think of this step as our shampoo step, rinse and repeat. 

Step eleven, praying and connecting to God

The Temple that Solomon finished was said to house the presence of the Lord behind a curtain in the Holy of Holies. However, everything changed when Jesus came to Earth. Jesus understood his mission of bringing God's presence to Earth and understood this mission would end in His death. Perhaps Jesus stayed focused on this mission by relying heavily on prayer, as we read about often in the Gospels. Even the night before his death, through blood, sweat, and tears Jesus prayed for God's will to be done, not His own. To his final moments on the cross, Jesus pleaded in prayer. And once he breathed his last breath, the curtain that separated sinful people from God's presence was finally torn! Jesus showed us the way and granted us all the ability to participate in God's presence, like in step 11: SEEK THROUGH PRAYER AND MEDITATION TO IMPROVE OUR CONSCIOUS CONTACT WITH GOD AS WE UNDERSTAND HIM, PRAYING ONLY FOR KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL FOR US AND THE POWER TO CARRY THAT OUT.

Step twelve, sharing the good

Thankfully, Jesus followed God's will. And as we've seen in the previous stories, God delivered again. He delivered Jesus from death. After Jesus rose and had a few more days on Earth, He had a little more precious time to be with his followers. If you had a few more days with your loved ones, what would you say to them? I imagine your words would echo your heart's desires for those people. We see Jesus' heart for his people, in his last important teachings. "Feed my sheep." "As the Father sent me, I am sending you." "Go, teach!" These messages highlight the important theme of step 12 of AA, SHARE THE GOOD WITH OTHERS! Here we see the point. We are healed to share healing with others. We are loved to love others. We are filled up so we can overflow.

The 12-steps of AA through the Bible... in a nutshell:

FROM BROKEN TO ABUNDANT

Through all of these steps, we see a pattern of brokenness, restoration, and multiplication.

Adam and Eve:

• Disobedient and broken in shame
• Restored, covered by God from the sacrifice of an innocent animal
• Commanded to be fruitful and multiply

Abraham:

• Broken: lied, made mistakes, couldn't have children for many years
• Restored by God to have children; rescued from sacrificing his son by the sacrifice of an innocent animal
• His descendants multiplied

Joseph:

• Broken: Jospeh was rejected and abandoned by his family
• God restored Joseph to power and gave him the power to demonstrate grace to reunite with his family.
• Joseph shared the abundant food, land, and resources with his broken family and the Israelites.

Moses:

• Broken: Moses murdered an Egyptian, ran away, withdrew and was scared to speak on God's behalf.
• Restored with God's power to lead the Israelites out of bondage.
• Led the Israelites to freedom, to grow and expand

David and Solomon:

• Broken: David committed adultery, facilitated a murder, and lost an infant son with Bathsheba.
• David was restored and blessed with another son, Solomon.
• David's son built a Temple to multiply the presence of the Lord with others.

Jesus:

• Rejected, tortured, and killed on the cross
• Restored and resurrected
• Multiplied the gift of God's presence and salvation to ALL and calls on us to continue in the very first command, "Be fruitful and multiply."

These humans of faith show us that through God's light, brokenness can transform into abundance. 

A seedling needs to break open, break through the soil, and be covered in sunlight in order to bloom into a flower. We too need the light of Christ to cover our brokenness and transform us into abundant beauty to share with the world.

Where are you at in this path? Is there brokenness in your life that needs Christ's light? 

• A struggling faith? 
• an addiction or obsession? 
• amends that need to be made?

How can Christ's rays of light cover these dark areas and restore you?

How have you been restored in the past?

How can you share the light with others?

The world needs light more than ever. 

Re-cover with THE LIGHT and SHINE.

Matthew 5: 14-16 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

RESOURCES FOR RECOVERY:

The Life Recovery Bible: Helpful Bible with devotionals, videos, and more resources for those struggling with addiction

His Way: A Christ-centered drug recovery program in Huntsville, AL for those needing a place to heal; also offers an outpatient program for women once a week for recovery support

Other Substance Abuse Treatment Providers in Alabama

For Women, Substance Abuse Recovery: The Place of Grace 

Eating Disorder Recovery: Finding Balance

Christian Eating Disorder Recovery Providers

Podcast Episode:Lessons from Recovery from show "Well Without Worry"