Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous:
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Replace the word ‘alcohol’ with whatever you are powerless over that is causing your life to be unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and 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.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Reflection
Step Eleven encourages us to improve our conscious contact with God through prayer and meditation.
Recovery taught me that I could be in conversation with God all day long (conscious contact)…which is much safer than being in conversation with myself. 🙂
I used to think prayer was primarily about getting God to change circumstances. Recovery taught me that prayer often changes me.
When I pray, my perspective changes, my anxiety settles, my ego gets smaller, my gratitude grows, and my next step becomes clearer.
Prayer isn’t about impressive words.
Sometimes the most powerful prayer is simply, “God, help me.”
And sometimes it’s, “Thank You.”
Both keep me connected to the Source of my strength.
Soul Search
Am I using prayer only to change my circumstances, or allowing prayer to change me?
“Pray continually.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
