Users from 12steprecovery continue to share their thoughts on the steps. 

Step 6 states: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. This is a check point in our recovery. We have admitted to our problems and addictions, and have accepted that we need help controlling our lives. Now, with Step 6, we begin the cleansing of our souls. These defects need to be removed, and this can only be done by asking God to help us. Step 6 is the concept of being ready, while Step 7 is the metaphorical face to face we must have with God.

Step 7 says: We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. The only way for us to truly become better people, we must ask God to help us change, and to help us removed the burdens we have carried. Sin weighs heavy on our lives, and God is the only one who can remove that weight. You won't notice the weight, because we were so used to the addictions we carried with us. But the feeling of God removing our sins can be felt, and it makes you feel like you can stand a little taller and walk with a little more vigor. Some may be afraid that their sin is woven too deeply into them. You need not fear this, for God or you interpretation of God cleanses everything.

But we can't stop here. Step 7 is the beginning of a long journey, where we mend the problems of our pasts. The next steps aren't simply completed; they must be performed many times, allowing us to get in the habit of not straying from the path of God, and into the hell from which we came. But by accepting God, and putting our sins into his hands, he will help us to become righteous, pure people.

Thanks for sharing and if anyone else wants to share, just let us know or post to your member blogs.

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More Members Share Their Ideas On The Twelve Steps 

Of the 12 Steps of NA, Step 3 involves another one of the most difficult things a human can do: Allowing our lives and will to be taken out of our hands. The exact step states: We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

      Let's take a closer look at what this means. After acknowledging the problem, and accepting that we need help from a higher power, we now have to give up control to this higher power. And that's not the easiest thing for a person to do. Control is one thing that we have a lot of problems with when we don't have it. And willingly giving it up is something very few of us would normally consider. But erasing addiction comes with its own set of rules, and these rules are the only way out.

      Now how would someone go about giving their will up? They first need to understand that God isn't human, so we shouldn't have to worry about our typical distrustfulness with other humans. God is pure, and his guidance will lead you down the right path. Think of yourself as pencil. You have the ability to draw beautiful pictures, all you need is someone to pick you up and guide your movements. This is what God can and will do for you.

Step 4 states: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. This step is a where we start looking beyond the addiction, and seeing the negativity in ourselves that allowed us to get to this point.

     Where do we start with this though? In truth, it is just as hard as admitting our problems in the first place. There may be things in us that we have buried deep down, and as hard as it may be to bring them to light, we have to. We have to hold ourselves up to a magnifying glass, and find out everything about us. We have to know who we are before we move on. Every mistake has to be understood, and as painful as it may be, we must dissect ourselves, and comprehend our wrong doings.

 This goes hand in hand with Step 5, which states: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. This is where we take all the things we found in our moral inventory, and we admit them to God, and to someone close to us. The purpose of this is to bring all our sins and mistakes into the open, so they become real. By making the sins of our past real, it prepares us to be able to face them, and eventually move on.

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