CWSA - Step #1

CWSA - Step #1

What drives someone to seek a life without addiction when everything feels like a dead-end lane? This meeting from *Christians with Secret Addictions* speaks directly to people whose days are filled with "helplessness, hopelessness, depression, anxiety, and enslavement" and to loved ones watching from the sidelines. Host Terry Hanna, a Christian with over two decades of recovery, introduces Step #1 of a Bible-based 12-step journey: admitting powerlessness over addiction and recognising that life has become unmanageable.

Terry anchors this first step in Scripture, stressing that "the Bible, it's the greatest book ever written on recovery" and presenting God as rescuer, warrior, and loving Father. You’ll hear how passages like Romans 7 capture the tug-of-war many addicts feel: wanting to do what is right yet repeatedly doing what is wrong.

This session lays out God’s “highway to holiness” as a spiritual recovery path that includes acceptance, surrender, confession, repentance, responsibility, moral inventory, restitution, prayer, meditation, and helping others. Terry is honest that it can sound overwhelming. He explains that "you and I could never fulfil these principles on our own" and insists that progress comes through God’s grace and support from others, not through sheer willpower.

A key theme is dropping the illusion of self-sufficiency by letting go of "vitamin I, I, I"—the belief that "I don't have a problem" or "I can fix myself." Instead, the episode urges surrender: "When we recognise our powerlessness, we're taking the first step to letting go and letting God." Step #1 becomes the doorway into spiritual warfare fought with God’s strength rather than human effort.

If you or someone you care about feels trapped in a "demonic disease of addiction," this meeting offers a clear starting point, grounded in Christian faith and practical honesty. Are you ready to take that first step and let God’s power replace your powerlessness?