It is by grace we are save....

As long as my mind’s meanderings have been taking a somewhat religious route I might as well lay some more spiritual insights out on the table. 

Grace.  How does the word “grace” relate to recovery from addiction?  I understand and accept the basic Christian doctrine: it is through Grace we are saved.  (Acts 15:11, Ephesians 2:8, 2 Ne 25:23)  No matter how noble our own efforts, they are insufficient in and of themselves.  Were it not through the Grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, none of us would or could be saved.

I understand grace in broad, general terms.  We do our best, but it can never be good enough.  Through his atonement, Jesus Christ makes up for our deficiencies.  When we truly accept him, he makes up the difference and we are enough.  This very simplistic answer seems to fit right in with what I will hereafter call the “Naaman Syndrome”  (see my previous blog).  We want to be fixed.  We want someone else to take away our disease, our shortcoming.  We want to be cured, to be whole, and if by simply acknowledging our dependence on the Savior and asking him to remove our weaknesses from us we can be whole, life is a piece of cake.  Isn’t that perfectly consistent with the 12-steps of recovery?  Step 7:  Humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. Tada—drum roll. We are fixed.

But there is another important aspect to grace that we need to look at.  In the same discussion where she shared the story of Naaman with me, my friend also shared some insights from a talk by David A Bednar. I was already familiar with the ideas, but hadn’t spent much time applying them to recovery.

From the Bible dictionary, under the word grace, we read:

"A word that occurs frequently in the New Testament, especially in the writings of Paul. The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ (emphasis added).

"It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts".

Hum….grace = strength and assistance, enabling power.

If we plug that in, "it is by grace [strength and assistance, the enabling power of Christ] that we are saved…", we have some serious food for thought.  Isn’t grace a “get out of jail free” pass?  Am I not magically cured simply by having the faith that he can cure me?

In his talk, David A Bednar points to examples in the scriptures where individuals understood the real meaning of grace.  For example, when Nephi prays, he doesn’t just ask to be delivered, but to be given the strength he needs.  (1 Ne 7:17)  "O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound."  

In effect, don’t just remove my problem, but give me the strength and enabling power I need to do what I need to do.

In Mosiah 24, Alma’s people are greatly afflicted.  Verse 15 we says: "And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon [them] were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord".

Wow.  That is profound.  I am a food addict.  I don’t want to be, but I am.  All those prayers I said asking to be changed back into a normal person didn’t get answered.  My problem wasn’t taken away from me, but, that is not necessarily the meaning of grace.  Grace has been manifested one day at a time as I have been given the strength—the enabling power—to get up each morning and commit to living the day abstinently.   I feel that gift of grace each time I am willing to weigh my food, to leave a dessert on the table, to attend a meeting, to call my sponsor. 

I am not cured, but through grace I am able to live in recovery one day at a time.

I like the simplified version of steps 1-3:  “I can’t.”   “He can.”   “I’ll let him.”

I am powerless over food (as evidenced by the fact that my weight was simply unmanageable). I can’t fix me.  I have tried over and over again.  Finally, out of desperation I will turn it over to him.  I don’t ask to be miraculously healed.  All I ask for is the strengthening, enabling power (grace) to do what I need to do one step at a time, one day at a time, one bite at a time. 

And for today, that is enough.