We all need to recover from
something; it’s a universal God-given task. And if it’s not recovery, it’s
about rediscovery. Usually it’s about both at different points along the
spectrum of life.
The 12 Step Program has helped
millions worldwide, primarily in overcoming addiction. But its simplicity and
structure can help us all as we recover and rediscover within the phases of
change in life.
Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless
on our own
There is always something we
cannot do on our own; indeed, there are many things. We might deny this fact,
but the longer we do the more we delude ourselves.
Real power comes into our lives
when we admit we are powerless on our own; that rediscovery and recovery rely
so heavily on admitting we are powerless without God.
Step 2 – Came to believe God could help
For many, believing in God is no
simple transaction. Prayer and seeking through open-mindedness brought them to
the Lord—to give God a chance to prove his power.
Having seen God’s power we cannot help but believe. It is
the help we all need.
Step 3 – Made a decision to turn our
will and our lives over to the care of God
Here comes the traction. Making a
decision is linked with the will to act. And we must act if we are to prove we
are committed to recovery and rediscovery.
***
“Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at
the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous (“How It Works”)
***
Having understood there is no
halfway land where we can escape life, we go on by trudging forward, having
committed ourselves to the way.
Step 4 – Made a searching and fearless
moral inventory of ourselves
This is the first test of our
commitment. Have we got the courage to be further humiliated? Can we delve
deeply into our failures, weaknesses, and patheticness? We all have them.
When we take to this task with
rigorous honesty, God gets beside us, and we are carried, no less.
The Spirit of God highlights more
information than we thought there was, but within us is a strange spirit of
acceptance. We are encouraged by our courage and we acknowledge God is giving
us power in how he is redeeming us, even now.
Step 5 – Admitted to God, to ourselves,
and to someone else the exact nature of our wrongs
With Step 4 the precursor, our
courage extends into the actual practice of confession. This need not be
humiliating, and indeed may prove powerful, as we turn on ourselves and see our
past for what it is in the sight of God.
There is a better reality than
having God judge us; that is that we judge ourselves. But we best do it fairly.
Step 6 – Became entirely ready for God
to remove these defects of character
I believe Steps 4 and 5—having
made such a brutally honest confession—naturally lead to Step 6. Simply in the
transaction of confessing something God convicts us all the more to go all the
way, drawing on the spiritual power to expunge such issues.
Step 7 – Humbly asked him to remove our
shortcomings
This is a prayer of the utmost
sincerity.
Upon such conviction to ask God to
remove our shortcomings there is a blessing of a miracle. Some miracles are
instant, whilst others are more gradual. But having committed, perhaps
tearfully, we are given power to move on beyond those things that once trapped
us. We learn to surrender; we learn a momentary surrender.
Step 8 – Made a list of persons we
needed to make amends to
This is where some of the rubber
hits the road. Step 8 is crucial in giving Step 7 traction. If we are to have
our shortcomings removed we need to continue along the path of humility. It
takes a great deal of humility to make a list of persons we intend to make
restitution towards. And we don’t hold back.
Step 9 – Actually made amends, unless to
do so might injure them
With nothing of us, and everything
of God, we pray for the right opportunity to make amends, but we do something
that is so crucial by a very cautious method.
If we aren’t careful we will hurt
people.
Making amends is always about the
other person, not us. When
the other person is head of the agenda our eventual amends is right. It brings
healing, but not because we did so; more because God paved the way and we
obeyed with diligence.
Step 10 – Continued to take personal
inventory and when we were wrong, we admitted it
The 12 step program is initially a
program of humiliation, in strangely teaching us the noble art of humility. We
are all so commonly wrong. When we acknowledge that truth we understand
admitting our wrongness is just about interpersonal integrity.
Being wrong and admitting it is no
big deal, yet there is the power of God in it as we rest within our humility to
do such a thing.
Step 11 – Sought through prayer to
improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of his will
for us and the power to carry that out
Prayer is simple. All we need to
pray for is the knowledge of God’s will and the power to carry out. Knowledge
is about awareness and the
power to carry something out is about courage.
We are blessed to keep it simple.
Step 12 – Committed, as part of our
transformation, to carry this message to others it might help
This step, along with the previous
few, sustains us in our recovery and rediscovery. It’s so important others have
access to this power for healing and transformation, and the only way they will
see is via our testimony.
***
God has a plan for all of us in terms of recovery and
rediscovery. Let us not limit the power within that plan. Let us instead take
proper steps in constantly recovering and rediscovering our divine purpose in
this life.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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