I’m a big fan of summaries.

Sometimes (okay, okay often) when Hailey gets home from school with a really long, drawn-out and dramatic story I just want her to give me the highlights.

In high school I loved Cliffs Notes. Whatever book we were supposed to read in class was summarized beautifully in a few pages. They provided just enough detail to convince the teacher you’d read the assigned chapters.

At the weekly men’s recovery group I attend a man recently summarized the first three principles of recovery as far as he understood them.

To get a full understanding of his summary, you first need to know how the first three principles read on their own.

Celebrate Recovery Principles are based on the 12 Steps from AA:

Principle 1: Realize I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.

Principle 2: Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that he has the power to help me recover.

Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

His summation of these principles was simple and sticky. I can’t stop thinking about it.

When it comes to our issues. This includes chemical addictions, emotional dependencies, bad habits, past hurts, and present insecurities.

Try thinking of it this way:

I can’t.

He can.

Let Him.

I can’t = I am powerless. I can’t control everything. I can’t stop doing the wrong thing.

He can = God exists. He can help me recover. He can because He loves me and cares about me.

Let Him = Give up control. Allow Him to lead you forward.

I can’t. He can. Let Him.

 

Amen.