Spirituality
Confession
Step 5 – “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” It is best to take step 5 as soon as possible after completing step 4, postponing it would be like acknowledging an infected wound without cleaning it, just letting it fester. Step 5 can be overwhelming, … [Read more…]
Moral Inventory
Step 4 – ” Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.“ The 12 & 12 tells us CREATION gave us instincts for a purpose. Without them we wouldn’t be complete human beings. If men and women didn’t exert themselves to be secure in their persons, made no effort to harvest food or construct … [Read more…]
Our Will & Our Lives
Step 3 -“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” The 12 & 12 (12 Steps & 12 Traditions book) tells us that PRACTICING Step Three is like the opening of a door which to all appearances is still closed and locked. All … [Read more…]
Powerless
AA Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable. Substitute the word Alcohol with anything in our daily life. At some point we will be powerless over something, or many things that have nothing to do with drug or alcohol addiction. Powerless over greed, a rebelling child, … [Read more…]
A Higher Power
AA Step Two – “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” This is a tricky article to write, very difficult to convince people to believe in a High Power if they don’t already. For me, it is pretty easy to believe. I can’t look at the photos from … [Read more…]
AA 12 Steps: A Closer Walk with the Lord
Many believe they know what Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is all about. They think it is just a group of people sitting around talking about their addiction to alcohol with 12 steps they work through. It is so much more than that! We share our experience, hope and strength with others and we keep coming back……no … [Read more…]
Prayer & Meditation (Step 11)
Step 11 – “Sought through prayer & meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” Prayer and meditation are our principal means of conscious contact with God. Since natural man in his carnal state is … [Read more…]
Continue To Take Personal Moral Inventory
Step 10 – “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” To briefly summarize, in previous steps we: admitted we were powerless over (fill in the blank); decided to turn our life over to God; made a fearless moral inventory; admitted the nature of our wrongs; asked God to remove … [Read more…]
Reconciliation
Step 9 – “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” Step 9 is all about reconciliation with those we had harmed from the list we made in Step 8. The purpose is not to explain or describe our side of things. The purpose is … [Read more…]