Choosing to Live in Truth to Help Your LifeChoosing to Live in Truth to Help Your Life
Life Recovery Today with Stephen Arterburn
Stephen Arterburn talks about choosing truth, examining the past, and reaching out for help as essential parts of lasting recovery. He links biblical teaching, life recovery tools, and practical support options to show how people can move from denial into honest growth.
28:34•6 Jul 2026
Choosing Truth and Getting Help: Stephen Arterburn on Real Recovery
Episode Overview
- Real recovery involves living in truth, doing a fearless inventory, and allowing others to speak honestly into your life.
- Regrets can act as signals to change behaviour rather than symbols that permanently define your identity.
- Looking back at family patterns and unmet needs helps explain present struggles and can protect relationships from unrealistic expectations.
- Choosing help may mean groups, counselling, coaching, or medical support, rather than trying to think your way out of the problem alone.
- Being willing to do whatever it takes for healing, including specialised treatment if needed, opens the door to deep and lasting change.
“You can know you need some help and not get it. Or you can know you need some help and get it.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This episode of Life Recovery Today with Stephen Arterburn turns that question straight back on the listener, asking how honest you’re really willing to be about your own life. Drawing from his book *Healing Is a Choice* and the 12 steps, Stephen talks about why real change means choosing truth over denial.
He explains that recovery isn’t just about quitting a substance or behaviour; it’s about living in reality with God, yourself, and other people. As he puts it, “You can know you need some help and not get it. Or you can know you need some help and get it.” You’ll hear him stress the importance of “truth tellers” — people who love you enough to say what others won’t.
He shares stark examples like Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley to show what can happen when fame and fear block people from hearing hard truths. From there, he links biblical teaching — such as examining our ways in Lamentations and doing a fearless inventory — to practical recovery work. Stephen also tackles looking back at regrets and family history.
He talks about how regrets can be either signals to change or symbols that wrongly define your identity, and why facing painful childhood dynamics can free marriages from hidden expectations. The episode then turns very practical: support groups, life recovery meetings, weekly counselling, coaching, Christian psychiatry, and even, in rare cases, medical treatments like ECT.
His message is simple and blunt: the brain that got you into trouble isn’t the one that’s going to figure it all out on its own. If you’re tired of trying harder and staying stuck, this gentle but direct conversation might nudge you towards one small, brave step into truth and help. What’s one area of your life where you’re finally ready to stop pretending everything’s fine?
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