Making Financial Amends in Recovery

September 21, 2020 By Deanna Leave a Comment

In most 12-step recovery programs, there are amends to be made. This can include financial amends. So if you are at the beginning of your recovery program or if you are not in recovery, you may be saying what the heck is a financial amends?

A Financial amends can include many things like debt pay off, returning stolen goods, and living with more fiscal responsibility. This post is to describe in what constitutes a financial amends.

First and foremost here is step 9:

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Humbly asked Him to Remove our Shortcomings

September 14, 2020 By Deanna Leave a Comment

I wrote a blog post about step 6 which states, “we were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” I’ve been working a 12 step recovery program for 10+ years now and do the steps over and over many times.

I’m a task-oriented person and while none of the steps are easy, I have an easier time with the steps that have clearly defined action steps.

For example, step 4, “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” Additionally, in Celebrate Recovery, we are given worksheets with a skeleton of how to take our moral inventory. It’s not an easy step to take, but I know what and how to do it.

Steps 6 and 7 are a little more nebulous.

Today, I’ll be digging a bit deeper into step 7 and more specifically what the bible has to say about it

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Were Entirely Ready to Have God Remove All These Defects of Character

August 31, 2020 By Deanna 1 Comment

In recovery programs, there are typically 12 steps that are worked which result in a level of freedom. In my personal experience, I have found these steps bring me closer to God, sanctification, and my fellow sisters and brothers.

Working the steps is an ongoing process that is never quite done. Just like we will never be perfectly holy on this side of heaven. However, by working steps, we can get healthier, and most importantly closer to the Lord.

Step 6 states that we were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character (emphasis added). Being ready is really the keyword here. Could God actually remove all of our character defects? Sure, He could easily do it but when we look at many biblical examples, that rarely happens.

Having a “thorn in our side” may actually cause us to be wholly reliant on God versus prideful on our own accord.

Step 6 is often described as the step which separates the boys from the men. That is because it’s tough, it takes maturity, and humility that few boys possess.

Shopping for Automobile Insurance

August 24, 2020 By Deanna 2 Comments

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Every six months our car insurance policies come up for renewal. Sure the easiest thing is to just renew it and forget about it. However, since my debt pay off journey and my general interest in personal finance/ financial independence began, I look for the best deals. Maybe shopping every 6 months is not necessary but I would argue that shopping your automotive policy once a year is a prudent exercise.

It takes a little extra time but it can be a worthwhile exercise. I had been with the same insurance company, Allstate, for years and I liked them. However, when I decided to shop them and found I could save over $100 for a new 6-month policy if I switched to Progressive. I made the switch.

Now, I shop it every renewal or at least once a year. Although, my progressive rates have remained competitive for three years so I almost didn’t shop it this renewal, but as you’ll read on, I’m so glad I did…