The Next Right Thing

October 26, 2026 As I continue working my recovery, I find myself identifying more and more of my character defects—and, perhaps more importantly, discovering what lies beneath them. What originally brought me to recovery was the realization that what I had believed to be an eating disorder—compulsive overeating—was actually a symptom of something much deeper: an emotional imbalance that had influenced my behavior for most of my life. As I worked through Principle Four of Celebrate Recovery, taking a searching and fearless moral inventory, I began tracing the roots of my relationship with food. I discovered that I had spent much of my life associating emotional stability with eating. Food had become my coping mechanism. It was my source of comfort, my refuge from uncomfortable feelings, and my automatic response whenever something didn’t feel right. But recently, I experienced something of a eureka moment. I realized that my probl...

October 12, 2026 I’m a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and I struggle with perfectionism, emotional dysfunction, and an overwhelming desire to control everything—all of which have manifested in an eating disorder. My name is Martin. Principle One: Realize I’m Not God The First Principle of Celebrate Recovery says: “Realize I’m not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.” “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.” — Matthew 5:3 (GNT) This principle corresponds to Step One of the Twelve Steps. It emphasizes humility, the acknowledgment of our limitations, and the recognition that we need God's help. It is the beginning of surrender—giving up the illusion that we can control everything through our own willpower. And I have a confession to make. I'm glad I'm not God. I Was Terrible at Being God I...

October 11, 2026 Finding freedom through surrender to Jesus Christ Before I came to admit that I was powerless over my hurts, hang-ups, and habits, I lived as a helpless victim of my own choices. What began as seemingly harmless decisions gradually developed into deeply ingrained habits. Over time, those habits became automatic responses to my need for comfort, security, and control. Whenever I felt anxious, frustrated, lonely, or uncomfortable, I instinctively reached for something that promised relief. For me, that often meant eating compulsively and mindlessly. But the comfort was temporary. The habits remained. Eventually, these destructive patterns became like heavy chains around my neck, weighing me down and robbing me of the freedom I so desperately wanted. I had become a slave to the very things I believed would bring me comfort. Trading One Chain for Another Today, through Celebrate Recovery, I am beg...

October 6, 2026 I recently read an article from New Life Ministries called “4 Ways to Break Free from Binge Eating.” It brought me back to a question that has been taking shape throughout my recovery journey: What am I actually hungry for? For a while, much of my attention was directed toward what I ate. Was this food acceptable? Was I following the plan? Had I succeeded today, or had I failed? Those questions could occupy a great deal of space in my mind. Yet even when I was thinking constantly about food, I could still avoid looking closely at the feelings beneath my eating. I could examine the contents of my plate without examining the contents of my heart. Listening beneath the appetite The New Life article describes several possible contributors to binge eating, including physical deprivation, restrictive thinking, and unmet emotional needs. It encourages balance rather than all-or-nothing judgments, and compassionate...

October 4, 2026 The Big Books of Alcoholics Anonymous and Eating Disorders Anonymous unequivocally state: “If you have decided you want what we have, and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps.” Overeaters Anonymous uses similarly uncompromising language: “We need to go to any length for victory over food and compulsive eating.” Any length? Apparently, however, “going to any length” does not necessarily include an honest and fearless search for the truth about God. That increasingly troubles me. Much of traditional Twelve-Step recovery deliberately leaves the identity of the Higher Power open to the individual. This has an understandable purpose. People arrive in recovery carrying very different religious experiences—sometimes considerable religious wounds—and the doorway is intentionally made as wide as possible. But Emotions Anonymous says something that I find par...

October 3, 2026 For the past several months, I’ve been exploring recovery through different 12-Step fellowships. Each has helped me see something important about myself. Overeaters Anonymous helped me look seriously at my relationship with food. Eating Disorders Anonymous encouraged me to look beneath the food and ask what was happening emotionally. Emotions Anonymous pushed the question even deeper: What if the real problem isn’t food at all? What if food has simply been one of the ways I’ve tried to manage uncomfortable emotions? Lately, I’ve been looking at another approach: Celebrate Recovery. And something about it intrigues me. Hurts, Habits, and Hang-Ups Celebrate Recovery is a Christian recovery program built around the Twelve Steps and eight principles derived from the Beatitudes. One phrase associated with the program immediately caught my attention: recovery from our “hurts, habits, and hang-ups.” That con...