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FINANCIAL
RECOVERY - What Do I Need to Recover From?
(click here for a printable copy)
Being unclear about
your financial situation. Not knowing account balances,
monthly expenses,
loan interest rates, fees, fines, or contractual obligations.
Frequently
“borrowing” items such as books, pens, or small amounts of
money from friends
and others, that you fail to return.
Poor saving habits.
Not planning for taxes, retirement or other non-recurring
but predictable
items, and then feeling surprised when they come due; a
“live for today,
don’t worry about tomorrow” attitude.
Compulsive shopping.
Being unable to pass up a “good deal”; making
impulsive purchases;
leaving price tags on clothes so they can be returned;
not using items
you’ve purchased.
Difficulty in
meeting basic financial or personal obligations, and/or an
inordinate sense of
accomplishment when such obligations are met.
Experiencing a
different feeling when buying things on credit than when
paying cash: A
feeling of being in the club, of being accepted, of being
grown up.
Living in constant
chaos and creating drama about money. Using one
credit card to pay
another; bouncing checks; always contending with
financial crises.
A tendency to live
on the edge. Living paycheck to paycheck; taking risks
with health and car
insurance; writing checks hoping money will appear to
cover them.
Unwarranted
inhibition and embarrassment when having a normal
discussion about
money.
Overworking or
under-earning. Working extra hours to earn money to pay
creditors; using
time inefficiently; taking jobs below your skill and
education level.
An unwillingness to
care for and value yourself. Living in self-imposed
deprivation; denying
your basic needs in order to pay your creditors.
A feeling or hope
that someone will take care of you, if necessary, so that
you won’t really get
into serious financial trouble; that there will always
be someone you can
turn to for rescue.
The Twelve Steps for
Financial Recovery
1. We admitted we
were powerless over our finances, spending addictions
and compulsive
behavior. And we admitted that our lives and finances
had become
unmanageable.
2. We came to
believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity, and
stabilize our finances.
3. We made a
decision to turn our life, our will and our finances over to the
care of God.
4. We made a
searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and
our finances.
5. We admitted to
ourselves, to God, and to another human being, the exact
nature of our
wrongs.
6. We are entirely
ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. We humbly asked
Him to remove all the shortcomings in our lives
and finances.
8. We made a list of
all persons we have harmed and became willing to make
amends and financial
restitution to them all.
9. We made direct
amends and financial restitution to such people whenever
possible, except
when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to
take personal inventory of ourselves and our finances and
when we were wrong,
promptly admitted it.
11. We sought
through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact
with God, praying
only for knowledge of His will for us and our finances
and the power to
carry that out.
12. Having had a
spiritual experience and financial freedom as the result of
these steps, we
tried to carry this message to others, and practice these
principles in all
our affairs.
Small Group
Guidelines
1. Keep your sharing
focused on your own thoughts and feelings. Limit your
sharing to three to
five minutes.
2. There will be NO
cross talk. Cross talk is when two individuals engage in
conversation,
excluding all others. Each person is free to express his or her
feelings without
interruptions.
3. We are here to
support one another, not “fix” oneanother.
4. Anonymity and
confidentiality are basic requirements. What is shared in the
group stays in the
group. The only exception is when someone threatens to
injure themselves or
others.
5. Offensive
language has no place in a Christ-centered recovery group.
Accountability Team
Phone Numbers
Sponsor:
______________________________________________________________
Accountability
Partners:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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