The Life Recovery Workbook for Eating Disorders: A Bible-Centered Approach for Taking Your Life Back

Begin the journey of recovery from eating disorders!

Let’s start now on a twelve-step path that will lead out of the bondage of eating disorders and into the freedom that comes from a closer relationship with God. In the Life Recovery Workbook for Eating Disorders, discover real-life stories of fellow travelers, great questions for individual or group discussion, and a Bible-centered approach to freedom. Twelve beautiful blessings await after our hard work on the journey of recovery from eating disorders.

Step 1: Open our hearts to God’s power to free us from the grip of food addiction. “We now have this light shining in our hearts.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)
Step 2: Allow God to join us in the powerful emotions behind our eating disorder. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)
Step 3: Rest in God’s care for every decision and eating habit. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Step 4: Gain a true picture of how God sees us. “At that moment their eyes were opened.” (Genesis 3:7)
Step 5: Experience the healing that begins with confession. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16)
Step 6: Get ready for repentance from sins expressed in unhealthy eating. “You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:17)
Step 7: Allow God’s Spirit to fix our food addictions. “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
Step 8: Create a list of people our eating disorders have affected. “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” (Luke 6:31)
Step 9: Restore relationships damaged by our sins (when possible) and experience a clean slate. “But then they turn from their sins and do what is just and right.” (Ezekiel 33:14)
Step 10: Review daily the defects in us that hinder healthy life with God and others. “Be careful not to fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Step 11: Grow closer to God through prayer and meditation. “The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.” (Lamentations 3:25)
Step 12: Bless others with the blessing of healing from eating disorders. “Gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.” (Galatians 6:1)

STEPHEN ARTERBURN is the founder of New Life Ministries—the nation’s largest faith-based broadcast, counseling, and treatment ministry—and host of the nationally syndicated New Life Live! daily radio program. He is a Gold Medallion–winning author and co-editor of The Life Recovery Bible.

DAVID STOOP, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder of The Center for Family Therapy in Newport Beach, California. He also serves on the executive board of the American Association of Christian Counselors. David is a Gold Medallion–winning author and co-editor of The Life Recovery Bible.