Goodness, in explaining and describing the 12 Step program of Celebrate Recovery, we have arrived at Step 11. “We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and power to carry that out”. There’s a lot to unpack in this sentence, however, a word I’d like to focus on is “conscious”, or in other words, having an awareness of one’s environment and one’s own existence, sensations, and thoughts. To look a bit further into what it means to be aware, I looked online at several sites to read about our conscious and subconscious minds. The information I liked best comes from berkeleywellcoming.com.

What Is The Subconscious? Our subconscious is all the activity in our brains that occurs without our realizing it (Malim & Birch, 1998). This includes not just thoughts and feelings, but also the activity of your brain as the control center for your body, such as its signals that make your body successful in things as basic as breathing and as complex as parallel parking a car or improvising on the guitar. In other words, the subconscious is both things we do not realize we are doing and also thoughts and feelings we do not realize we have.​

Subconscious vs Conscious Mind: In contrast to the subconscious mind, our conscious mind is all the thinking and feeling we are aware of. We can clearly see the difference by way of example: Suppose I am at the park with friends and somebody throws a frisbee in my direction. I might have some conscious thoughts as the frisbee is headed my way – “Do I know this person?” “Is it rude to stop the conversation I’m having?” “Will the frisbee hit my friend if I don’t catch it?” – But once I consciously decide that I want to catch the frisbee, it is subconscious mental processes that will guide my body through the motions of catching the frisbee.

So, how does this apply to being instructed to engage in intentional conversation with God? How do we discover what His will is for our lives? In his book “The Purpose Driven Life”, Pastor Rick Warren writes a blueprint for Christian living in the 21st century, a lifestyle based on God’s eternal purposes, not cultural values. We begin with God, our Creator. We can discover the reasons for creating each one of us. We were made BY and God and FOR God. Warren’s book helps the reader to understand how knowing God’s purpose will reduce stress, focus energy, simplify decisions, give meaning to life, and, most important, prepare us for eternity. 

So, to accomplish a good relationship with God, there’s several things we need to consciously choose to do each day: Have a quiet time with God *Listen to Him *Plug into God’s power *Slow down *Enjoy your growth

Nothing excites me more than watching a newcomer walk into Celebrate Recovery, attend our weekly meetings, engage in the studies we offer, work the steps and slowly make positive changes that replace habits and heal hurts. Above all, it’s very thrilling to witness active and sincere connections with God through worship and a healthy prayer life. We have many men and women who exemplify the words of Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”.

Our brains, our minds, our emotions, thoughts, and feelings are amazing things, all created by God. The science of studying these topics is very intriguing to say the least and doing so requires much time and dedication. So it is with God and scripture. We can’t begin to know or understand who God is and what His plans are for each one of us if we merely spend time occasionally with Him. That’s why the importance of daily time reading, praying, and listening give us hope, peace, healing, and a greater purpose beyond what our culture may try dictating to us!