Advertise on podcast: Life Recovery Today with Stephen Arterburn

Why do we keep trying harder to change when our own strength isn't enough? Recovery requires more than willpower. It takes surrendering to God's power, gaining clarity about our struggles, and learning to make healthier choices. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores two gifts of recovery that can help you move beyond destructive patterns and experience lasting change. With God's truth, the support of a New Life Recovery Group, and guidance from counselors, therapists, and sponsors, we can move beyond confusion and shame toward lasting change. In this episode, you'll discover: Why trying harder isn't always the answer to addiction and destructive behaviors. How surrendering to God helps you access His strength. Why willpower alone isn't enough for lasting recovery. How recovery brings clarity to your relationships and decisions. Why facing reality is essential to emotional and spiritual growth. How counselors, sponsors, and Christ-centered recovery groups can help you stay on the path to healing. Ready to take the next step in your recovery? New Life offers Life Recovery Bibles, workbooks, devotionals, and other resources to help you pursue healing on your own, in a New Life Recovery Group, or through your church. Visit NewLife.com or call 1-800-NEW-LIFE to find resources and support for your recovery journey. Your past doesn't have to define your future. Healing, hope, and freedom are possible.

In this episode of Life Recovery Today, discover the gifts of hope and character that emerge through the 12 Steps of Life Recovery. Learn how to develop integrity, make choices rooted in biblical truth, build healthy relationships, and find hope in God even during difficult seasons. In this episode, you'll learn: -How difficult experiences can develop endurance, character, and hope. -The difference between genuine hope and wishful thinking. -Why honesty and consistency are essential to recovery. -How isolation and unhealthy relationships can hinder personal growth. -Practical ways to strengthen your character through God's Word, supportive relationships, counseling, and the 12 Steps of Life Recovery. Romans 5:3–5 reminds us that endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. No matter what you've experienced, God can use your recovery journey to help you grow and move forward. Take your next step toward healing and freedom. Visit newlife.com or call 1-800-NEW-LIFE for Life Recovery resources, including Bibles, workbooks, devotionals, counseling referrals, and information about starting a Life Recovery group. Find a New Life Recovery Group here: https://newlife.com/groups/meetings/?tsml-day=any&tsml-attendance_option=online Your past doesn't have to define your future. Keep growing, keep healing, and keep moving forward.

On this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores two important choices that can deepen your recovery: taking healthy risks and serving others. Fear, anxiety, and past hurts can make us want to protect ourselves from anything that might cause pain. But trying to eliminate every risk can keep us stuck. Steve shares how trusting God, stepping outside your comfort zone, and allowing others to support you can open the door to healing, personal growth, and healthier relationships. Steve also explains how serving others can strengthen your recovery and give your life greater purpose. You don't have to have everything figured out before you can help someone else. By developing humility, recognizing your spiritual gifts, and serving at the right time, you can experience the healing that comes from helping others. In this episode, you'll learn: -Why fear and the need for control can keep you stuck -How taking healthy risks can lead to healing and personal growth -Why trusting God means moving forward even when the outcome is uncertain -How to overcome the fear of getting hurt in relationships Why serving others can strengthen your recovery If you're struggling with addiction, anxiety, grief, broken relationships, or another area of life, you don't have to walk through recovery alone. 📞 Need help? Call 1-800-NEW-LIFE. Learn more about Life Recovery resources at NewLife.com. Find a New Life Recovery Group here: https://newlife.com/groups/meetings/?tsml-day=any?SOURCE=OLAPP

On this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores three important parts of the recovery journey: learning to face your feelings, persevering when you want to give up, and developing authentic humility. Our emotions can reveal important things about what is happening inside us. Instead of numbing pain through addiction, work, food, gambling, or other unhealthy behaviors, we can learn to acknowledge our feelings and use them as an opportunity for growth. Steve also explains what it really means to persevere. Perseverance isn't simply trying the same thing harder. Sometimes it means trusting God enough to try a different strategy, seek support, join a recovery group, work with a counselor, or reconnect with others. Finally, discover how humility can strengthen relationships and deepen recovery. Rather than focusing on being right, humility allows us to honestly examine ourselves, acknowledge our struggles, and ask how we can become healthier in our relationships. In this episode: • What Jesus teaches us about experiencing grief and pain • How to persevere when you feel hopeless • Why trying harder isn't always the answer • How support and community can help you persevere • The connection between humility and healthy relationships • Questions to ask when relationships are broken • How God can use the pruning process to produce growth If you're struggling with addiction, grief, anxiety, broken relationships, or another area of life, you don't have to walk through recovery alone. 📞 Need help? Call 1-800-NEW-LIFE. Learn more about Life Recovery resources at NewLife.com. Find a New Life Recovery Group here: https://newlife.com/groups/meetings/?tsml-day=any?SOURCE=OLAPP

Are you struggling to connect with others or let go of bitterness in your recovery journey? Steve Arterburn explains why connection and forgiveness are essential choices for healing, growth, and lasting recovery. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve shares from his own healing journey and explains why pain can cause us to isolate ourselves from the very relationships we need. He explores the importance of finding healthy, redemptive connections and how community, counseling, and supportive relationships can help us heal. Steve also discusses the difficult choice of forgiveness. He explains why forgiveness does not mean forgetting, excusing, or enabling harmful behavior, and why unresolved bitterness and resentment can continue to hurt us. Drawing from Scripture and personal experience, Steve encourages us to receive God's forgiveness and extend forgiveness to others as part of our own healing. In this episode: • Choose connection instead of isolation • Build healthy, redemptive relationships • Recognize unhealthy relationship patterns • Seek support through community and counseling • Accept God's forgiveness • Work through grief before forgiving • Release bitterness and resentment • Forgive without excusing harmful behavior Recovery is not just about what you give up. It's about who you are becoming. Healing takes courage, connection, and a willingness to make choices that move you toward health and wholeness. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, anxiety, depression, grief, broken relationships, or other life challenges, New Life offers resources, Life Recovery Groups, and counseling support. Learn more at NewLife.com or call 1-800-NEW-LIFE. Find a New Life Recovery Group by visiting https://newlife.com/groups/meetings/?tsml-day=any

Are you stuck in your recovery journey? Steve Arterburn shares seven practical steps that can help you move forward, heal from the past, and protect the progress you’ve made. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve talks about the importance of taking action, even when you are afraid or uncomfortable. He explains why complacency can become a warning sign in recovery and why surrender, community, counseling, and taking responsibility are important parts of the healing process. Steve also explores what it means to become a “hero” in recovery by recognizing that God can use ordinary, imperfect people to make a difference in the lives of others. In this episode: • Give up what isn’t working • Examine the reality of your past and present • Open up about your struggles • Take responsibility for your healing • Forgive and release the past • Use your experience to help others • Preserve the growth you’ve made Recovery may take different paths, but it begins with surrender and a willingness to take the next step. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, anxiety, depression, grief, or other life challenges, New Life offers resources, New Life Recovery Groups, and counseling support. Learn more at NewLife.com or call 1-800-NEW-LIFE. Find a New Life Recovery Group by visiting - https://newlife.com/groups/meetings/?SOURCE=OLSM

Forgiveness and grief are essential parts of recovery, especially when we've experienced betrayal, loss, abuse, or deep disappointment. While forgiveness can bring freedom from bitterness and resentment, grieving allows us to process the pain of what we've lost and begin moving forward. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores the connection between forgiveness and grief and explains why true forgiveness is more than simply saying, "I forgive you." Steve walks through the four Ps of forgiveness: pain, protest, progress, and purpose. He also explains why grieving is necessary when we experience significant loss and how God can bring new purpose and hope from our pain. In this episode: • Why forgiveness is about finding freedom rather than excusing someone else's actions • How the four Ps can help us work through the forgiveness process • Why we need to experience our pain instead of numbing or avoiding it • How grieving helps us process anger, sadness, and loss • Why forgiveness does not necessarily mean restoring a relationship or rebuilding trust • How acceptance helps us adjust to a new reality after loss • How God can bring purpose from the pain we've experienced Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting, excusing, or pretending the hurt never happened. Grief doesn't mean staying stuck in the past. As we honestly process our pain, seek support, and allow God to work in our lives, we can move toward healing, freedom, acceptance, and a new sense of purpose. 📞 Call: 1-800-NEW-LIFE 🌐 Learn more and find a New Life Recovery Group: newlife.com/groups 📖 Discover Life Recovery resources: NewLife.com! 👍 If this video encouraged you, be sure to share it with someone who may need hope today.

When we struggle with overeating, emotional eating, or repeated cycles of losing weight and gaining it back, it can be difficult to believe that lasting change is possible. But lasting change isn't just about losing weight—it's about changing the patterns, mindset, and choices that help us build a healthier life. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores what it takes to experience lasting change in weight loss. Drawing from biblical principles and Lose It For Life, Steve shares practical insights for addressing emotional eating, changing our environment and schedule, developing healthier habits, and building supportive relationships. In this episode: • Why lasting weight loss requires more than a temporary diet • How emotional eating can be connected to pain, loneliness, boredom, and unresolved issues • How changing your environment, schedule, and mindset can support healthier choices • Why supportive relationships and recovery groups matter • How allowing God to transform the way we think can lead to lasting change Lasting change isn't about finding a quick fix or following a plan that can't be sustained. It's about addressing what drives unhealthy behaviors, developing healthier patterns, and continuing to move forward. When we surrender our thinking and our lives to God, transformation is possible. 📞 Call: 1-800-NEW-LIFE 🌐 Learn more and find a New Life Recovery Group: newlife.com/groups 📖 Discover Life Recovery resources: NewLife.com! 👍 If this video encouraged you, be sure to share it with someone who may need hope today.

When we feel stuck in fear, shame, guilt, anger, resentment, or unhealthy patterns, it can be difficult to imagine that our lives could ever be different. But transformation is possible when we're willing to recognize what needs to change, surrender, and take the steps necessary to move forward. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores the transformation process and the six stages that can help us move from recognizing a problem to experiencing meaningful change. You'll discover practical, faith-based encouragement for recognizing the places where you're stuck, letting go of quick-fix thinking, finding motivation to change, persevering through setbacks, and trusting God for a future beyond what you may have imagined. In this episode: • How fear, guilt, shame, anger, and resentment can keep us stuck • Why trying to change through willpower alone may not be enough • The six stages of the transformation process • How illumination helps us recognize what needs to change • Why inspiration gives us hope for a different future • How evaluation helps us move beyond magical thinking and quick fixes • Why motivation matters when pursuing lasting change • How determination helps us keep going when recovery gets difficult • What it means to reach realization and experience a transformed life • How God's grace offers renewal, restoration, and recovery no matter where we've been Recovery isn't about becoming perfect or changing everything overnight. It's a process of recognizing where we're stuck, taking responsibility, surrendering, and continuing to move forward. And no matter what you've done or been through, your past doesn't have to define your future. 📞 Call: 1-800-NEW-LIFE 🌐 Learn more and find a New Life Recovery Group: newlife.com/groups 📖 Discover Life Recovery resources: liferecoverytoday.net 👍 If this video encouraged you, be sure to share it with someone who may need hope today.

When food becomes more than nourishment—when we turn to it for comfort, relief, or escape—it can become a cycle that feels impossible to break. But recovery is possible when we address not only what we're eating, but what's happening in our hearts, minds, and lives. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn and psychologist Dr. Rona Epstein explore food addiction and the path toward lasting recovery. They discuss why there isn't necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach to food recovery, how to develop a sustainable food and recovery plan, and why understanding emotional triggers is essential to breaking unhealthy patterns. You'll discover practical, faith-based encouragement for developing healthier eating patterns, finding support, identifying triggers, and turning to God rather than food as your source of comfort and dependence. In this episode: • Why food can become a source of comfort, relief, and emotional escape • Why there is no single recovery plan that works for everyone • How to create a sustainable food plan that brings greater peace and consistency • Why identifying emotional triggers is essential to lasting recovery • How the 12 Steps address deeper issues such as fear, resentment, insecurity, and relationships • Why support and community are vital for maintaining recovery • How surrendering our lives and wills to God changes the recovery journey • Why true recovery involves the body, mind, and spirit • How to develop daily habits that help prevent relapse and maintain freedom Recovery isn't simply about changing what you eat—it's about understanding what you're using food to cope with and learning healthier ways to face life's challenges. You don't have to walk this journey alone. With God's help, supportive people, and the right recovery tools, freedom is possible. 📞 Call: 1-800-NEW-LIFE 🌐 Learn more and find a New Life Recovery Group: newlife.com/groups 📖 Discover Life Recovery resources: liferecoverytoday.net 👍 If this video encouraged you, be sure to share it with someone who may need hope today.

When food becomes more than nourishment, it may be pointing to a deeper struggle. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn is joined by psychologist and addiction specialist Dr. Rona Epstein to explore the reality of food addiction and how lasting recovery goes far beyond another diet. You'll learn why food addiction isn't simply about willpower or weight loss, but about healing the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. Whether you've struggled with overeating, binge eating, sugar addiction, or years of failed diets, this conversation offers practical hope and a path toward lasting transformation. In this episode: • What food addiction is—and how it differs from overeating • Why sugar and processed foods can trigger addictive behaviors • How emotional pain and unresolved wounds fuel food addiction • The difference between dieting and true recovery • Why healing requires addressing the body, mind, relationships, and spirit • How recovery groups, counseling, and biblical principles lead to lasting freedom Recovery isn't about finding the perfect diet—it's about finding freedom. No matter how long you've struggled with food, there is hope for healing and a healthier relationship with both food and God. 📞 Call: 1-800-NEW-LIFE 🌐 Learn more and find a New Life Recovery Group: newlife.com 📖 Discover Life Recovery resources: liferecoverytoday.net 👍 If this video encouraged you, be sure to share it with someone who may need hope today.

Recovery begins with truth, grows through wisdom, and is sustained by love. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores the timeless principles that helped shape the recovery movement through the Oxford Groups: absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love. These four biblical values continue to provide a foundation for lasting transformation and freedom. Steve also explains why knowledge alone isn't enough. True recovery requires wisdom—applying God's truth to everyday life with perseverance. Learn how wisdom helps us avoid destructive choices, strengthen our character, and become the people God created us to be. Whether you're recovering from addiction, unhealthy habits, codependency, or emotional struggles, this episode offers practical, biblical encouragement to help you keep moving forward. In this episode: -The four absolutes that shaped the early recovery movement -Why honesty is essential for healing and authentic relationships -How purity, unselfishness, and love transform our lives -The difference between knowledge and wisdom -Why perseverance is a key part of recovery -How God's truth leads to lasting freedom If this episode encouraged you, share it with someone who needs hope today. 📖 Need help on your recovery journey? Visit newlife.com to find a New Life Recovery Group, connect with a counselor, or explore the Life Recovery Bible, workbooks, devotionals, and other recovery resources. ☎️ Call 1-800-NEW-LIFE to speak with someone who can help.

What does it really take to forgive—and why is grief an essential part of healing? In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores two of the most life-changing principles in recovery: forgiveness and grief. Learn why forgiveness isn't about excusing those who hurt you but about finding freedom for yourself, and discover how grieving your losses is often the missing step that allows true healing to begin. Whether you're recovering from addiction, betrayal, abuse, divorce, the loss of a loved one, or years of unresolved pain, this conversation offers biblical truth and practical guidance to help you let go of bitterness, process your grief, and move forward with hope. In this episode, you'll learn: -Why forgiveness is a gift you give yourself—not the person who hurt you -The four stages of the forgiveness process: pain, protest, progress, and purpose -Why forgiving doesn't mean forgetting, excusing, or restoring trust -How unresolved grief can keep you stuck in bitterness and resentment -Why grieving your losses is essential for lasting recovery and healing -How God can bring comfort, purpose, and hope through your deepest pain No matter what you've experienced, you don't have to carry the weight of unforgiveness or grief alone. Recovery is about healing from the past, embracing God's grace, and becoming the person He created you to be. 📖 Need help on your recovery journey? Visit newlife.com to find a New Life Recovery Group, connect with a counselor, or explore the Life Recovery Bible, workbooks, devotionals, and other recovery resources. ☎️ Call 1-800-NEW-LIFE to speak with someone who can help.

How do you create change that actually lasts? In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores the principles of lasting transformation and explains why recovery is about more than simply breaking a habit—it’s about changing the way we think, live, and relate to God and others. In this episode, you’ll discover: ✓ The five foundations of lasting change found in the book of James ✓ Why true recovery is about transformation, not quick fixes ✓ The connection between emotions and unhealthy habits ✓ How healthy relationships and support groups strengthen recovery ✓ Why renewing your mind is essential to becoming the person God created you to be Steve also shares practical insights from Lose It For Life, including how our schedules, eating habits, relationships, and thought patterns influence our ability to make lasting changes. “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” — Romans 12:2 No matter what struggle you face, lasting change is possible. With God’s help, you can break unhealthy patterns, discover freedom, and build a life marked by hope and purpose. Learn more about Life Recovery resources, including the Life Recovery Bible, workbooks, devotionals, and support groups: https://newlife.com Call 1-800-NEW-LIFE to take the next step toward healing and freedom.

Do you feel stuck in an area of your life and unsure how to move forward? Transformation is possible—and it begins with recognizing the places that keep us from experiencing the life God has planned for us. In this episode of Life Recovery Today, Steve Arterburn explores what prevents people from experiencing lasting change and how the journey of recovery leads to healing, growth, and freedom. Through biblical truth and recovery principles, Steve explains why willpower alone is not enough and why we need honesty, responsibility, and support to experience true transformation. You’ll discover the six stages of transformation: ✓ Illumination — recognizing what needs to change ✓ Inspiration — seeing the hope of a different future ✓ Evaluation — understanding that healing requires a process ✓ Motivation — finding the desire to take the next step ✓ Determination — continuing even when recovery is difficult ✓ Realization — experiencing the life you never thought possible Steve also shares how fear, guilt, shame, anger, resentment, perfectionism, and unhealthy patterns can keep us stuck—and how God offers renewal, restoration, and recovery no matter where we’ve been. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” — Ephesians 3:20 Your past does not have to define your future. Whether you’re struggling with addiction, broken relationships, anger, anxiety, grief, or other life challenges, help and hope are available. Learn more about Life Recovery resources, including the Life Recovery Bible, workbooks, and devotionals: https://newlife.com Call 1-800-NEW-LIFE to take the next step toward healing.