Category: 12 Steps
-
God, as we are coming to know Him
There are a lot of references to God in the twelve steps, and yet AA has managed to stay fairly clear of many of the controversies that go along with religion. They meet often in churches (because churches will donate their facilities more readily than others), but the things that keep people commonly away from…
-
A posture of grace
Forget religion. Forget world religions. Forget atheists in foxholes. Forget what’s fair. There are really only two kinds of people in the world. Those who insist on meeting God on their own terms, and those who realize He insists on meeting them on His; and realizing that His terms are beyond their ability to perform,…
-
Club Grace
Remember, we are card-carrying Christians. We established that this week. That means: We are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God; we have all received the free gift of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ that we don’t deserve; and we are depending on Him every moment for His life to be…
-
Why they go
Thank you to those who have written and told us your stories so far. I think I’m finally starting to get it. I’m starting to get AA, and the steps, and why it works. You can find the answer in why people keep going regularly to meetings, sometimes multiple meetings a day, even after years…
-
Card-carrying Christians
Something dawned on me last night during our BlogTalkRadio interview with a veteran AA recovery survivor who will celebrate 27 years of sobriety in June (congratulations, Tom!). He still goes to roughly three AA meetings a week. Why? Wouldn’t you think that after that long, he wouldn’t need the meeting to stay sober? Well there…
-
‘Go East Young Man’
By the time you are reading this, I will be cruising east on Interstate 10 towards Phoenix, Arizona. Destination: Tempe Diablo Stadium, where the spring training version of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will be playing the spring training version of the Chicago Cubs of Chicago at 1:00pm Mountain Standard Time. This is my much…
-
Wondering if I’m willing
Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Okay, well, I think I may have gone far enough with this twelve step program, what about you? Up until now, all has been well and good. Without admitting to anyone my personal struggles, I’ve…
-
Song of a narcissist looking to be released
Time for You by John Fischer from the album, “Casual Crimes” [Click on title to stream song.] I have been the subject of an endless theme And the star in everybody else’s dream I have fought the demons of my own dark night Finding only shadows in the dawning light My ship is in;…
-
In harm’s way
Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. We are at the point in the Twelve Step program where we are thinking about the people we have harmed. To do that we will have to exercise our empathy. I don’t know about you,…
-
We are all together
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Okay, now these steps have taken to meddling. Let’s not bring anybody else into this. This is my own personal struggle. I can handle this myself, thank you. Bring someone else into this process and it…
-
God to the rescue
My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. James 5:19-20 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these…
-
Are you sure you want to get rid of that?
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. I love the way these steps get you ready for something before you actually do anything about it. In Step 2 we came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity before we trusted that power with…
-
Fish or cut bait?
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. Something tells me it’s time to either get serious about this 12-step thing or drop it. I feel like I’ve been dancing around this for at least a week, maybe more. I don’t think…
-
Recovering sinners
Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Hi, my name is John, and thanks to the overwhelming lovingkindness of God, I am a sinner saved by grace. Whatever goodness that is in my life has come from the hand of God. There’s still plenty…
-
A Call to Failure
I had a call to a mission, Signed in my heart and sealed, And I felt my success was certain, And the end seemed already revealed; The sea was without a murmur, Unwrinkled its even flow, And I heard the master commanding, And I was constrained to go. But, out…
-
Who are you going to call?
Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. This is when this starts to get pretty gnarly. “Admitted … to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs?” Is that what it says? Does it have to be a human being? Why not a…
-
Looking in the mirror and remembering what you see
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James 1:23-24 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be…
-
‘Don’t you know who I am?’
I want to personally thank all of you who responded to my “letter” this week asking for more comments on this series. It was good to hear what many of you are getting out of this study. For me, the moral inventory has been both revealing and freeing. Let me try and get at some…
-
Still working on my inventory
So this morning, with two more days left on Step 5, I figured I’d better do my moral inventory (Step 4, and procrastination is definitely on my list of character flaws) before I can share it with someone (Step 5). It flowed pretty easily only because I’d been thinking a lot about what I would…
-
Dear Catch Community,
Today’s Catch is more of a letter than a Catch. We have a little family business to take care of. So far almost all of our feedback on this 12-Step series has been from people who have been in AA for some time, and have already had the 12 Steps affect them in a major…