Step 10

Hi everyone, my name is Braden, and I am a grateful believer in Christ who struggles with lust and a fear of intimacy. Hi Braden. Hi everyone.  I have been asked to write about Step 10 which says:

We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

And its corresponding verse:

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

I Corinthians 10:12

That doesn’t sound fun, convenient, or easy to me: more inventories, admitting when I am wrong (my wife nods in agreement), and the whole falling when I think that I am standing firmly thing.  When is the step where upon being completely recovered, I get my picture in the Celebrate Recovery Hall of Fame in between the pictures of John Baker and Andrew Claxton, and I never have to think about recovery again? When is that again? Never?! Boo.

To me, Step 10 is a daily application of everything that I have learned through recovery thus far.  In Step Study Participant Guide 4, John Baker writes, “Steps 10 through 12 are where we will live out our recoveries for the rest of our time here on earth.” I believe that recovery up until this point has been about resolving the hurts, hang-ups, and habits that had developed in my past, but from Step 10 forward, I am responsible for resolving my hurts, habits, and hang-ups that are happening in the present.  Step 10 is designed to ensure that I am continuing to work my recovery by making it a priority daily in my life.

The enemy of Step 10 in my recovery has been complacency.  It is really easy for me to look at the growth that I have had in my life the previous year and a half and think that I am rockin’ and rollin’.  I start to think that my hurts, habits, and hang-ups are under control, and everything is cool.  Ironically, I was telling myself the very same things before I started recovery.

One of the main ways that I fight complacency in my recovery is by taking a Step 10 daily inventory in my journal every night.  Each night, I ask myself four questions:

1. What did I do well today?

2. What did I not do so well today?

3. What did I learn from today?

4. Do I owe anyone an amends? If yes, who?

Through these four questions, I am taking an open and honest inventory of my day: my ups, my downs, and my lessons learned.  I use what I write in this inventory to identify weaknesses in my life that I need to work on, strengths that I need to take advantage of, and any resentment that could be festering.  This ensures that I am continuing to work my recovery while I am on the path to the person that God has planned for me to be.

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”

                                                                                      -Lamentations 3:40

Grateful Believer,

Braden