Humility is important...

Step 7: I humbly asked God to remove my shortcomings (my defects of character)…

Step 7 requires prayer… I have to work this step on my knees. My condition, my honesty, and my pain humble me. So now I must open my mouth and pray. This step represents a turning point in the recovery process. It emphasized outer work… changes in behavior.  It’s a bridge between the first 6 steps and the final 6 steps.  Just because I am working the steps doesn’t mean I am where I need to be and it doesn’t mean my life is as it should be.  God will continue to come into my mess and bring me out of it. God is my ultimate help in clearing away my baggage for a better future. He looks forward to removing defects of character. When we come to Him with humility, admitting that we still struggle with many of our short-comings, He refreshes us and gives us courage to continue. He isn’t ‘put off’ by the foolish things we do. He sees what we do but chooses to heal us anyway.

Giving up control can be hard. I find myself wanting to control ‘how’ God removes my defects of character. I am so used to calling the shots. I often demand that things happen on my terms and my time table but God does not work that way. That is why humility is so important to this step.

So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand." Jeremiah 18:3-6 (NIV)

“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’ Isaiah 45:9 (NLT)

In this step I have often had to ask God to forgive me for manipulating Him and others. When we put our life in God’s hands, He will reshape us as He sees fit. It is our humility that allows us to accept the fact that He is the Creator. Our new life may be similar to the one we left behind or entirely different. Whatever He does we can trust that He will recreate our life beautifully… once we move out of His way.

My pride has kept me from asking for what I need. I have reacted to what life has dealt me by becoming self-sufficient. I determined not to ‘need’ anyone for anything. It is this type of pride that holds me back from asking God to help me. In the beginning of this journey it was difficult to ask Him or others for help but I am learning to give up my pride of self-sufficiency and I am more willing to ask for help. Sometimes with God I find I must be persistent and ask repeatedly as my needs arise.

There have been times of self-examination that I have felt cut off from God and from others. I struggle with self-hatred for the things I have done in my life. God welcomes us even when we feel this way.  I am finding it does not matter where people are in society’s hierarchy… it’s the humble heart that opens the door to God’s forgiveness.

What are our short-comings? We all have them! This is one way to say we have fallen short of our personal ideals. At times we all have held high ideals to define what we think our life should be like. I myself learned early in life that I do not measure up to them. Worse yet, I have fallen short of others expectations and the standards of God. What a weight of guilt to carry!! There is so much pain to think of how much I have disappointed those I love!

‘When God removes sin He removes them as far as the east is from the west’ - Psalm 103:12.  

We can trust God to remove our defects moment by moment is we humble ourselves and obey Him. Having faith in Jesus makes up for our weaknesses in both character and action.

Pride often hides behind defenses during the recovery process… we can ask God to change our attitudes. When He deals with our pride, we will be able to stop hiding behind our reputation. We can allow ourselves to become anonymous, each of us known as just another person struggling with addiction. God promises us restoration.

How can we have confidence that God hears our prayers? How do we know He will answer when we ask Him to remove our character defects?  Paul wrote: 

“Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes” Ephesians 1:4.  

God’s primary goal is to make us holy – to form His character in us. Looking through the eyes of love He already sees us as we will be when His work is done.  We can have full confidence that God will remove short-comings in his time.

Sometimes the results of this step can come quickly but I have found for me it comes slowly. As I have admitted and exposed my defects of character so far in my recovery these first two years I have seen some fall away and see others clinging to me and hanging on. I have learned that I experience release from my addiction on a daily basis and this step is far from being complete. I think in reality this step in ongoing…