The 12 Steps of Celebrate Recovery in Reverse

One of the most common ways people get stuck in the 12 steps of Celebrate Recovery is by not completing each step in succession. I know I’ve done it, leaping to amends before I shared my inventory with my sponsor, for instance, then messing it up and having to go back for a second round of amends with the same person…not a pleasant event for me or the person with whom I had to re-amend, I assure you!

As a C.R. sponsor at First Baptist Dallas, I’ve also had to recommend to men I’ve sponsored to slow down and do a gut check on the last step before moving to the next. It happens often enough. The progression of the 12 steps is elegantly designed to build one step on the next, leading to that “spiritual experience” we all long for – the one we hope to share with others through our testimony at the end of the long journey.

Therefore, let’s consider how the 12 steps look in reverse:

Starting with the 12^th step: “Having had a spiritual experience…we carry this message to others…”. You can’t just go directly to step 12, without completing the previous 11 steps first. There are no shortcuts to having a spiritual experience. You will need to go through the process, which, as we say, “works if you work it.”

Next, drop down to Step 11. How do improve your conscious contact with God, if you’re dragging all of your junk into the throne room? You need to work step 10 first, which is your daily inventory, so you can come clean into a dialog with God and have that heart-to-heart contact.

This usually requires that you complete step 9, “make direct amends whenever possible…”, either promptly, as part of a daily inventory, or at last, as part a follow-up to your 12-step inventory prescribed in step 4.

And you know, you can’t really make a meaningful amends unless you have first become willing to make the amends, considering fully the folks with whom you owe your amends to in the first place…see step 8.

I’d further submit that you wouldn’t necessarily be willing to make your amends, unless you spent some quality time, examining your heart, and asking God to remove your shortcomings and character defects, which might require steps 6 and 7, if you’re following the sequence.

And, before all that happens, we would actually do well to examine the details of our amends in step 5, by sharing our inventory in a trial run with a brother or sister (usually our sponsor), who hears our testimony and helps us prepare for the amends process.

This means, we have to complete step 4 – our inventory – where we work out the cause, effects, damages and “our part” associated with every person listed on our inventory worksheets.

Now, if you’re like me, you know you’re not going to get serious about an inventory unless you have consciously decided to turn your life and will over to the care of God (step 3). Without His help, cataloging your past in a personal inventory would be just too scary, which is why so many people drop out of their step studies around the time of inventory.

No, you need a power greater than yourself – our one True Higher Power, Jesus Christ – to heal your sick thinking. In short, if you don’t know Jesus – if He’s not the Ruler of your life – you are literally your hope in nothing. You’re living on your own understanding, and not only doomed to repeat your broken past, but doomed to eternal misery in hell.

To come to that precipice, you need to complete step 2. You need to “believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity” – and that power is Jesus Christ.

It takes stepping out of denial to get to that point, frankly. And, if you’re still stuck in denial, you’re still stuck at step 1.

Wherever you are in the 12 steps of Celebrate Recovery, I recommend you take your time to work the principles in order. Visit with your accountability partners and sponsor to make sure you’re completing the lessons to the best of your ability – and take responsibility for your own recovery, one step at a time.

Joe