Power of Release

Power of Release

What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? In this conversation on Spirit of Recovery, Rev. Lonnie Vanderslice and Rev. Dan Beckett get real about fear, faith, and that slippery business of actually letting go. Aimed at people in 12-step recovery, their families, and anyone curious about spiritual growth, the chat stays grounded and practical.

They talk about fear as “future-based and of the imagination” and unpack how it shows up as anxiety, hypervigilance, perfectionism, and the constant urge to control everything from relationships to what’s in the sock drawer. Lonnie shares how growing up in chronic fear left her “on high alert all the time,” while Dan relates to being “driven by 100 forms of fear” and the promise of “a new freedom and a new happiness” from the Ninth Step.

The heart of the episode is the “power of release” – Unity’s idea of letting go as a spiritual faculty. They link it with familiar slogans like “Let go and let God,” but also point out the paradox: you still keep your hands on the steering wheel. From decluttering wardrobes to dropping old beliefs like “this time it’ll be different,” they show how release can be practised in tiny, everyday ways.

You’ll hear how simple tools like breath awareness, denials and affirmations (for example, “Fear of being broke has no power over me” followed by “I am a radiating centre of God’s abundance”) can help shift from fear to faith, one small decision at a time. The tone stays warm, honest and slightly humorous—think wisdom with a wink rather than a sermon.

If fear’s been calling the shots in your recovery, could it be time to see what happens when you finally loosen your grip?