Step 11

"I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word."

Psalm 119: 15-16 

As National Recovery Month is coming to a close, we are rounding out the final steps of the recovery process.  Today, we are brought to step 11, this is where we seek to improve our conscious contact with our Lord through prayer and meditation, we continue to seek His will for our lives, and ask for the power to carry that out.  At this point in the process it is important to take time to pause and reflect on how far the Lord has brought us in this process.  It is so vital to our recovery to take time to mediate on all the mercy, grace, and love we have experienced throughout this biblical process.  From the beginning, we humbly asked for help to save us from the chaos in our lives.  As we sought the Lord's will in each step, we have, by now, experienced the power of His mercy and grace.  The transformative power of following Jesus in our lives should now be evident from within.  Starting with the peace we have from our past mistakes and habits, and overflowing into our lives with the grace we are surely seeing in our bettering circumstances.  By this point we are seeing the fruit of following God's will for our lives, and we are motivated to want more.  We have experienced true freedom from the sin that we originally admitted was ruining our lives.  We have now realized that true freedom, peace, and joy come only from following Jesus, and there is nothing in this world that can satisfy the void in our lives caused by sin.  The only way we experience this is by following Jesus.  Not only that, but we now have healing that comes form shedding light on the hurts and past mistakes, and having others pray for us.  Because of this we are now walking in the grace that only God provides for us.  In this step we can't help but feel gratitude for all that the Lord has done and will continue to do in our lives!  In the scripture above, the psalmist is feeling the overwhelming power of the Lord's grace.  And the natural response is to "meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways".  In addition, the overwhelming power of the love experienced by the psalmist causes "delight in your statutes".  It is through this meditation, prayer, and seeking God's will that not only do we perpetually realize the amazing grace and mercy in our lives, but we persevere in following His will for our lives.  It is through following God's will that we have the true freedom from the weight of our sin, and experience the abundant life that He has always wanted for us.  Today, take time to pray and meditate on how far the Lord has brought you in your walk with Him.  Whether you are in recovery or not, and no matter where you are in the process if you are walking in the steps, take the time today to recognize the amazing mercy, grace, and love you are currently experiencing in your life today.  Remember that your journey can start today, you can make a choice to have a heart overflowing with grace and gratitude this day.  And as you meditate on His goodness, ask for the power to continue to walk in His will for your life, trusting that His plan for you is above anything that you can think or imagine!  Love you all!  Praying for you and yours!  Have a blessed day, it's your choice!