From the Inside Out

Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

In the recovery process, Step 6 prepared us to be ready for God to remove our faults. Now, in Step 7, we take action by asking God, our creator, to take away our shortcomings. This is the natural progression in the recovery process.

Recognizing that we can’t take away our own defects of character is essential. This is evident when we can’t control our tongue and our actions or reactions to people, places, and circumstances. It requires a power greater than ourselves. It is totally a God thing.

Giving our shortcomings over to God is not a one-time event, it is a daily endeavor. This process allows us to continually connect with our Higher Power, through prayer and meditation. Using these recovery tools is the foundation for our character transformation.

For sure, there are times when we are going to fail and fall back into our defects of character, that’s part of our human nature. However, we don’t have to stay there!  We have a choice. We can humble ourselves before God and ask Him to give us the strength to overcome them. He can change us from the inside out.

We’ve been given the 12-Step recovery tools to not only help us overcome addictions but to live a courageous life, a life that is pleasing to God.

Another recovery tool is taking a daily inventory of our thoughts and actions. This is helpful for building our character. This process allows us to stay in touch with how we react to people and situations. It will also reveal our spiritual growth and relational development, as we continue to turn over our character defects to God.

When God changes our character, our relationships can’t help but be improved. It’s an organic process that happens as a result of submitting our will to His. As time goes by, people will also recognize the changes in us. They see outwardly the transformation that God has made inwardly.

Cynthia