Would you like to find more peace, joy, and purpose in your life?
The good news is that you can! How do I know?
I’ll start back at the beginning …
A number of years ago, something relatively simple happened that changed my life. It started one morning when I found myself in an uncomfortable situation, and I felt like walking out of the meeting I was in before it even started.
But I stayed, and after being in that room for thirty minutes, I realized I had never been around a group of people like that before.
The Rest of the Story
Each person demonstrated a unique wisdom that amazed me: not wisdom measured by college degrees and business titles but rather an understanding derived from suffering and experience, from setbacks and successes, from defeat and victory. Somehow, they all seemed to have access to an unseen store of knowledge that helped them navigate through the ups and downs of life.
Even more amazing, at least to me, was that these people were openly sharing their problems and issues with each other. I had never been in a situation like that, including in church! Somehow, it wasn’t frightening at all; it just seemed right, perhaps the way that God wants us to share life openly and lovingly with each other.
I observed more practical wisdom in that room in one morning than I had witnessed in years in my busy, heads–down sprint through life. As the people kept talking, a pattern to this shared wisdom emerged: it was called the “Twelve Steps.”
That event took place during a tough period in my life. Our older son, still early in his teens, was spiraling out of control. My wife was unhappier than she had ever been, and both she and I increasingly used alcohol as a daily escape. Over time, we had sunk from financial prosperity into mounting debt, and our marriage seemed to be made up more of arguments and wary co-existence than love and companionship.
Amazingly, when I now think back about that period, it is not with regret or sadness, but with thankfulness. It seems that God often does his best work in our toughest times, and those trials slowly led to a series of wonderful blessings in the years since.
Taking the First STEPS
The collective wisdom I had witnessed in that meeting years ago was the Twelve Steps, which form the world’s most famous recovery program. They have been used successfully by millions of people all over the world, yet remain a secret to many.
Unknown to most people outside the world of recovery, these steps apply to all us and provide the best tool ever developed for living in a healthy and satisfying manner. Their worth extends far beyond the realm of addiction, and they serve as a spiritually-based life improvement plan that anyone can use.
I became convinced the rest of the world needed to know about this wonderful way of living. Over the next few years I wrote STEPS: A Daily Journey to a Better Life which simplifies and extends the concepts from the original Twelve Steps. These new STEPS form an easy-to-understand process which provides clear, down-to-earth techniques and examples for effective living.
A Life Improvement Process
There is no doubt about it: if applied sincerely, these five life improvement steps work, because they are aligned with how God wants us to live. They help us deal with trials and issues, but also provide practical guidance to bring more peace, joy, and purpose into our lives. Through this process, we also find ourselves growing closer to God.
In life, there are no magic solutions that will solve all our problems or guarantee happiness. But these proven principles can help us improve our lives one day at a time.
Everybody has issues. And we can all learn from the experience and lessons of others who have dealt with similar things themselves. Many people’s lives have been changed by their experiences with the spiritually-based principles in the STEPS process.
And so can yours.
You can improve your life, one step at a time, and it can start today.
Question: Are you willing to believe the audacious claim that you can improve your life?
Action: Once a week, take a few minutes to read the latest STEPS Journey Blog article. In addition, check out the archived articles at LifeImprovementSteps.com.
