Hope For Today "Twelve Steps"

Where do we feel discontent with life today? What signs pop up from day to day that something is still not quite right in us?  With God’s help we identify these issues and make our lives available for Hiim to work in us so they are changed.

In our spiritual lives God invites us to name those things that are harming our relationship with Him and with others, and to make them available so they can be removed. This is what we speak about in Step 6 of The Twelve Steps. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

To expose what has gone on in our lives, even to ourselves, is humbling for we feel awkward and ashamed about some of the things that are on our inventory list. And yet God invites us to be clear and thorough in this confession, and do so with all our hearts.

The exact nature of our wrongs is rooted in the lie that our problems are caused by what is around us rather than what is within us.  It’s time that we admitted that to God, to ourselves, and to another human being.

Many of us lost our true identity because we grew up in dysfunctional families and were forced to assume survival roles. God invites us to the truth that we are loved and that living now in the embrace of His love, we can become the complete person He created us to be.  Our life with God in recovery is about finding both character strengths to build on and character defects that hinder us from becoming loving fulfilled individuals. 

We’re looking at Step 3 of the 12 Steps:  We made a decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of God as we understood Him. What does that look like in practical way?

The experience of life outside the will and care of God is helplessness and frustration when trials and temptations come our way.  The good news is that when we respond to God’s gracious offer of new life in relationship with Him, we become His beloved children and all God’s resources are made available to us.  That’s what Step 3 of the 12 Steps is all about.

In a world where people believe many things – including some who believe there is no god – how do I know there is a power greater than myself?  How do I know that God has any interest in restoring me to sanity or even more important, has the ability to do so?  Our questions are valid and welcome.  We’re not the first to ask them and we won’t be the last.

We’re reflecting on the 12 Steps of AA and how they open a window for us to recognize and receive the goodness of God.  Today we look at Step Two: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. The harsh reality is that we need God’s help to even come to know and believe what’s true.  One man who needed help said to Jesus, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”  He was speaking what so many of us find in our hearts.

Why do we continue to do things our own way when it obviously isn’t working?  Doing life on our own without God has led us to empty, lonely, and shame-filled places. That’s what Step 1 of the 12 Steps reminds us: Step One – We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies and that our lives had become unmanageable.

It is a profound moment when we come to our senses and realize we are powerless and that our lives have become unmanageable.  It’s not meant to be one of hopelessness but rather a moment of letting go and turning our focus somewhere new for solutions to our life’s problems.