Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
If you’ve done Steps 5, you have humbled yourself. Knowing you need help, asking for help, giving your control over to your higher power, speaking your struggles and weaknesses – these are all humbling experiences. And in Step 6, we simply become willing to change.
In Step 7, we ask God for help. It’s a healing process. It is not a one and done! If you are approaching God with humility, He will help. But removing our shortcomings is not a surgical procedure that cuts them out and throws them away! Removal simply means putting some distance between you and your shortcomings. This gives us the ability to observe these shortcomings – when they pop up, what we are feeling, when they cause problems, recognizing and making up for them. The more aware we are, the easier it becomes to make changes.
But making changes in our lives is next to impossible when we try and do it based on our own willpower. Surrounding ourselves with others on the same journey, learning from those who have been through it, talking to a therapist or sponsor or coach, and daily prayer make the changes possible – or easier, anyway!
For those living with a difficult relationship or active alcoholism, having support is even more important. Often the people we live with are not on the same journey we are and this can feel lonely and frustrating. It’s easy to fall back into the patterns we are trying to change! Understanding our worthiness is key to this. It’s difficult to seek help when we feel we aren’t worth it.
You ARE worth it.
