Step 4

 "I have said these things to you, that you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

Keeping in step with our look into the 12 steps of recovery brings us to the fourth step today.  In this step we make a searching a fearless moral inventory of ourselves.  This is the step that a lot of people tend to get hung up on.  By this point in the recovery process you have admitted you need help because your life is off the chain, came to believe that only God can help you, and you have turned your life and will over to Him for guidance.  When we get to step four we are now charged to really do some heavy lifting.  We are to search fearlessly into our past and name those things that we did or that people did to us that hurt us.  This is extremely hard to do!  However, everything that is hard to do has great worth afterwards.  In the scripture above Jesus tells us that "in the world you will have tribulation".  This is the exact nature of those things we will list in our step four; tribulation.  It is those events and actions that we took, or others' took on us that hurt us and caused pain.  The sin in this world is what causes the tribulation of these events to take place in our lives.  I bet if you were to pause, reflect, and pray about it, there would be one very clear event that you did or somebody did to you that causes pain when you think about it.  It is this tribulation that Jesus came to free us from, but we can't get the healing we want from these until we are willing to sit down and name these things.  By prayer, the help of a sponsor or trusted mentor, and frankly, God's help to give us courage, we can humbly name the things and people in our lives that caused us pain in our past.  This part of the process was the beginning of real change in my life.  When we becoming willing to take this step of trusting God to heal those deep wounds, we are really showing that we want God's will in our lives, and that we are trusting Him.  As difficult and as much of this step is super hard work, there is a very big payoff and promise that comes with this!  Jesus tells us that we need to put a name to the tribulation we have faced in this world.  We need to list those things that we did wrong that keep us up at night and those people that have hurt us.  This is the tribulation we face in this world.  And this tribulation is for those of us in addiction recovery, but this is for everyone.  Everyone deals with sin and hurt, and distrust, and broken promises, and abuse, and struggles in their lives.  This is the part of the process when we fearlessly acknowledge those things, the tribulation.  Jesus tells us to "take heart, I have over come the world".  He also tells us that, "in me you may have peace".  We all face sin and tribulation in this world, that is just part of living on this side of Heaven, but we can take heart in Jesus!  Meaning you can put all your stock in Him who has overcome the world.  He has overcome all the tribulation!  And in Him we may have peace!  Step 4 is the step of peace.  After fearlessly and courageously putting names to our hurt and all the tribulation, we realize that we can give it all to God.  And because of Jesus we can gain the peace we have been searching our entire lives for!  Today, make a choice to give all your troubles and tribulation to Jesus.  He has come so that you may have peace in Him and His perfect work on the cross!  Pray and ask the Lord to give you the courage to put a name to your troubles and give them to Him, so that you may have abundant peace and joy in your life!  Love you all!  Praying for you and yours!  Have a blessed day, it's your choice!