Language of Letting Go - July 2014

[MajestyJo]

Sunday, July 6, 2014

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.

Step Seven falling short of who my God would have me be in today. Step Seven is my worry and anxiety that I act out on instead of taking them to my Higher Power.

As it says, "Trusting the process." The healing is there. I no longer have to get off of buses. I can go into a grocery store and shop and not leave my cart in the aisle because I can not cope. I can walk over bridge and grates. I can stand at my window and go out on my balcony when there is a thunder storm instead of hiding under the bed covers. For so many years I used my bed to hide from reality.