12 STEPS to Recovery — STEP #7
Focus on the Recovery Process
A fter admitting that I was powerless to stop drinking without the help of God, I then made the wholehearted commitment to turn my life over to the power of God (even though I didn’t yet have full trust in Him) and then began the adventure of, for the first time, making a searching and fearless inventory of my life up until that time. Upon completion of that inventory and sharing it with God and my sponsor (someone I trusted), I then asked God to remove my shortcomings and defects of character as revealed to me in my inventory. Over the years I have continued to take a periodic inventory of my life on this journey of recovery.
I have through daily study of His word, prayer and meditation remained willing for God to remove my faults and shortcomings such as: a haughty spirit, my tendency to gossip, selfishness and using my sense of shame to elicit pity from others. However, I have found that at any given time, my tendency to fall back on these defects of character as a coping mechanism can be found amongst the writings of my daily prayer journals. I have faith, that as I rely on God to give me the victory over these faults for today, victory can be mine! The same creative power that brought this world and me into existence is the same power that recreates me to be victorious in Jesus today!
Harlene Smith