Steps

Is there really any hope for a spiritual way of living that actually works?

Admiration, comfort, love, power, success, pleasure, escape, control: we’re all addicted to something, whether we realize it or not.

In this deeply heartfelt book, author John Ortberg offers a guide for transformation when we know something needs to change but we can’t do it on our own. Rooted in the teachings of Jesus and using the framework of AAs 12 steps as a guide, Ortberg offers all of us a freeing roadmap for giving up our exhausting and fruitless efforts to fix, manage, and control our own lives; distinguishing between when willpower is essential and when it is futile; discovering how God can do for us what we can’t do for ourselves; and living authentically, joyfully and in communion with God and other people.

Ortberg shows us how to discover our spiritual attachment styles; our core doubts; the benefits of practices like prayer, meditation, and mindfulness; and God’s sufficiency in our inadequacy

In Steps, find what’s needed to experience a new freedom, a new fellowship and a new happiness no matter our circumstances.

1. Opening Credits
2. Dedication
3. Foreword
4. Introduction
5. Step 1: The Problem: I Can't
6. 1A: Join the Fellowship of the Withered Hand
7. 1B: Ask for a Moment of Clarity
8. 1C: Celebrate Personal Inadequacy
9. Step 2: The Solution: He Can
10. 2A: Look beyond Yourself
11. 2B: Exercise "Good-Enough" Faith
12. 2C: Take the Longest Journey
13. Step 3: The Decision: I Think I'll Let Him
14. 3A: Become Willing
15. 3B: Practice Serenity
16. 3C: Turn It Over. Take It Back. Repeat.
17. Step 4: The Examination: A Fearless Inventory
18. 4A: Understand Why We Need to Clean House
19. 4B: Survey Your Resentments
20. 4C: Survey Your Fears
21. Step 5: The Confession: Into the Light
22. 5A: Become Willing to "Fully Disclose"
23. 5B: Lean What to Look For in a Fully Disclosing Friend
24. 5C: Lean into Accountability
25. Step 6: The Preparation: Became Entirely Ready
26. 6A: Go from "Almost Ready" to "Entirely Ready"
27. 6B: Add One Constructive Habit
28. 6C: Receive Your Identity as the Beloved
29. Step 7: The Petition: Humble Asking
30. 7A: Be the Beetle
31. 7B: OWN, Don't Enthrone
32. 7C: Drop the Rock
33. Step 8: The Damage Named Those We've Harmed
34. 8A: Make a List
35. 8B: Become Willing to Make Amends
36. 8C: Practice Forgiveness
37. Step 9: The Reparation: Made Amends
38. 9A: Understand Amends
39. 9B: Learn to Be "Direct"
40. 9C: Learn Healthy Groveling
41. Step 10: The Repetition: Continual Inventory
42. 10: Do Life One Day at a Time
43. Step 11: The Connection: The With-God Life
44. 11A: Improve Your Conscious Contact with God
45. 11B: Pray and Meditate
46. 11C: Do the Next Right Thing
47. Step 12: The Vocation: Helping Others
48. 12A: Give It Away to Keep It
49. 12B: Keep Coming Back
50. 12C: Keep Hope Alive
51. Epilogue
52. Closing Credits