Step Five: Lifting the Weight of Guilt and Shame

Walking Through Recovery: A Journey of Faith and the 12 Steps with Reshape and Recover.

As people who struggle with overeating, having guilt and shame about things in our past can add to our pull towards food. Step 5 helps us with this by lifting the guilt and shame through confession.

“We find someone we can trust and to whom we feel comfortable telling our story. We have completed our Fourth Step and go over it with a loving, trustworthy friend, accountability partner, or coach. We also bring it to the Lord in prayer. We all have a past of hurt and shame, and we become ready and willing to share that with a friend to further our healing process in our recovery journey. This step can be scary initially but is actually very freeing.”— Julie Kleinhans, 12 Steps to Recovery from Overeating

Step Five is about more than simply admitting what we’ve done wrong. It’s about breaking free from the heavy burden of secrecy. When we open up our hearts — first to God, and then to a trusted friend — we stop hiding in shame and start living in the freedom of God’s grace.

This step isn’t easy. It takes courage to be vulnerable. But the reward is peace, healing, and a new closeness with God. What once weighed us down begins to lift, and the chains of guilt no longer hold us captive.

💡 If you’ve been carrying guilt or shame alone, maybe God is inviting you to share it — and discover the freedom that comes when His light shines into your story.

📖 Want to go deeper? You can find more guidance in my book 12 Steps to Recovery from Overeating, available on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/b59l7hh

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