Language of Letting Go - July 6 - Step 7
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
Language of Letting Go - July 6 - Step 7
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go
Step Seven
Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
--Step Seven of Al-Anon
In the Sixth and Seventh Steps of the program, we become willing to let go of our defects of character - issues, behaviors, old feelings, unresolved grief, and beliefs that are blocking us from the joy that is ours. Then we ask God to take them from us.
Isn't that simple? We don't have to contort ourselves to make ourselves change. We don't have to force change. For once, we don't have to "do it ourselves." All we have to do is strive for an attitude of willingness and humility. All we have to do is ask God for what we want and need, and then trust God to do for us that which we cannot do and do not have to do for ourselves.
We do not have to watch with bated breath for how and when we shall change. This is not a self-help program. In this miraculous and effective program that has brought about recovery and change for millions, we become changed by working the Steps.
Today, God, help me surrender to recovery and to the process by which I become changed. Help me focus on the Step I need. Help me do my part, relax, and allow the rest to happen.
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.
Step Seven
Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
--Step Seven of Al-Anon
In the Sixth and Seventh Steps of the program, we become willing to let go of our defects of character - issues, behaviors, old feelings, unresolved grief, and beliefs that are blocking us from the joy that is ours. Then we ask God to take them from us.
Isn't that simple? We don't have to contort ourselves to make ourselves change. We don't have to force change. For once, we don't have to "do it ourselves." All we have to do is strive for an attitude of willingness and humility. All we have to do is ask God for what we want and need, and then trust God to do for us that which we cannot do and do not have to do for ourselves.
We do not have to watch with bated breath for how and when we shall change. This is not a self-help program. In this miraculous and effective program that has brought about recovery and change for millions, we become changed by working the Steps.
Today, God, help me surrender to recovery and to the process by which I become changed. Help me focus on the Step I need. Help me do my part, relax, and allow the rest to happen.
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
All we have to do is ask God for what we want and need, and then trust God to do for us that which we cannot do and do not have to do for ourselves.
I wanted to trust God, I wanted to believe that He could do for me what I could not do for myself...but it took time and patience and hindsight for me to see how true this was. All I had to do was ask.
Hugs
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hackettstown, NJ
Posts: 692
I am finding (and in some cases, just being reminded ) that the way my higher power brings about that freedom from my defects of character is not necessarily how I would do it!
Well, of course. If it looked just the way I would have it look, how would I know it was God, and not me who has the Power?
Some things (behaviors, attitudes), it seemed, were either removed or lessened quickly and seemingly while I wasn't looking - or while I was looking elsewhere.
Some things are the subject of continued prayers, and now, years later I see the hand of my higher power, gently pushing me in a direction that offers hope in this area or that- one that I never heard about before or else one that I dismissed in the past.
So comforting to keep desiring to change, but to also keep believing my God will provide the ways and means for it to occur when it is supposed to occur. I just have to keep myself honest, openminded, and willing - and keep my eyes and ears open.
Well, of course. If it looked just the way I would have it look, how would I know it was God, and not me who has the Power?
Some things (behaviors, attitudes), it seemed, were either removed or lessened quickly and seemingly while I wasn't looking - or while I was looking elsewhere.
Some things are the subject of continued prayers, and now, years later I see the hand of my higher power, gently pushing me in a direction that offers hope in this area or that- one that I never heard about before or else one that I dismissed in the past.
So comforting to keep desiring to change, but to also keep believing my God will provide the ways and means for it to occur when it is supposed to occur. I just have to keep myself honest, openminded, and willing - and keep my eyes and ears open.
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