Week 1 Overview
Step 1, Week 1 gently but firmly invites us to slow down and tell the truth. These five days are not about fixing anything yet. They are about seeing clearly. Again and again, the material brings us back to a simple but difficult reality: we are not as in control as we think we are, and our attempts to manage life on our own have not produced the freedom we hoped for.
This week creates space to stop striving, stop minimizing, and stop hiding. Instead of rushing toward solutions, it asks us to sit with honesty. Powerlessness is not presented as defeat but as the doorway God often uses to bring real change. The focus is not on shame but on humility, not on self-improvement but on surrender.
Across the days, there is a steady invitation to move from awareness to confession, from self-reliance to dependence, and from isolation into community. Step 1 sets the tone for recovery by reminding us that transformation does not begin with trying harder, but with trusting God to do what we cannot do on our own.
Shepherding Takeaways
- You do not have to clean yourself up before coming to God. He meets us in honesty, not performance.
- Powerlessness is not something to fear. It is often the most truthful place we can stand.
- Unmanageability shows up in more than behavior. It shows up in our thinking, our emotions, our relationships, and our attempts to control outcomes.
- Denial keeps us stuck, not because we lack information, but because we resist telling the truth.
- Trying harder has likely been your pattern for a long time. This week gently exposes how exhausting and ineffective that cycle can be.
- God is not asking you to fix your life. He is inviting you to trust Him with it.
- Admitting powerlessness is not giving up. It is laying down a burden you were never meant to carry.
- Isolation fuels shame. Recovery grows best in the light, with others walking alongside you.
- Responsibility means owning our choices and their impact, while admitting we cannot rescue ourselves.
- Hope begins to grow when control loosens and trust deepens.
A Word for the Journey
This week matters more than it may feel at first. It can be uncomfortable because it strips away familiar coping mechanisms and false confidence. But that discomfort is not a sign of failure. It is often a sign that God is doing careful, foundational work.
Do not rush past this step. Let the questions do their work. Let the silence speak. Let God meet you right where you are, not where you think you should be. Step 1 is not about arriving anywhere. It is about finally admitting the truth and discovering that God is already there, waiting.