Cleaning up the outside of the cup while leaving the inside a mess is not something Jesus recommended. He made his views on this matter perfectly clear: paying too much attention to how we appear and not enough attention to who we are is like trying to make a tomb seem more pleasant by giving […]
Soul Loss
You probably know that the word “co-dependence” is used in several different ways. At first, it was used to refer to a specific illness common among the spouses and family members of addicts. The characteristics of codependency, however, fit so many of us and they fit so well that it has provided a helpful way […]
Hope for Pastors Who Batter
The following interview is between Paul Hegstrom and the Editor of STEPS, Dale Ryan. Paul and Dale will give you hope and insight if you are on either end of battering. STEPS: Your work with men who batter did not begin as the result of some kind of academic interest. PAUL: Definitely not. Let me […]
Why I chose a “secular” recovery group
by an anonymous pastor in recovery I am a pastor. And I am a sex addict. Like all sex addicts, I resisted any kind of recovery for a long time. I was too ashamed and too afraid. I knew that entering recovery would mean telling someone the truth about my struggles, about my failures and […]
Working for God
Jim Cramer, Wall Street guru and author of a memoir, Confessions of a Street Addict, summarizes what I have experienced as a recovering religious work addict. He says, “I’m proud of my performance but I’m not proud of the person I became.” For me, Dale Wolery, being work addicted had its meaningful rewards while simultaneously […]
On Perfectionism
by Dale Wolery What do you want? The Christian recovery movement as well as the whole Christian way of life is built on and fueled by wants. I attend church, go to therapy, am regular at group, I journal, I pray, I read, I relate, I tell the truth, and I meditate because I want […]
