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The Twelve Steps:
A Guide for Living Faithfully
The Twelve Steps of
Alcoholics Anonymous
have served as a recovery
guide and “architecture for
living” for countless people
since their creation 66 years
ago. Though they were crafted originally for alcoholics,
these wise and simply-stated Steps have been anchors
for people overcome by addictions of all kinds. Friends
and family have also looked to them for life-saving guidance.
Through the months of 2005, your Faith Partners team
ministry at House of Hope will cover each of the Twelve
Steps and discuss their particular meaning to recovering
people of faith. Understanding these Steps—and their
carefully-crafted sequence—will give you a glimpse into
the miracle of recovery.
“All things are possible to those who believe.”—Mark 9:23
Step Two: Came to believe that a power greater than
ourselves could restore us to sanity.
After people admit, in Step One, that they are powerless
over their addictions and that life has become
unmanageable, Step Two offers hope and assurance. For
us at House of Hope, that “power greater than ourselves”
is God.
Remember that “addiction” may take many forms:
addiction to alcohol, street or prescription drugs, food,
work, gambling, sex, even other people. As humans living
in a world that offers joy, as well as searing pain, we
may turn to addictions to ease the pain, feel better or forget
—if only for a short time. But reality always returns.
For us Christians, Step Two is natural. We are believers,
and we have faith in God. Many of us were raised in this
tradition. But when an addiction takes over our lives, we
forget that God is always there. We think that we are
unworthy of God’s love. But this is never true. In Step
Two, we embrace the power greater than ourselves: the
Presence and Power of God within us. Christ within us.
By definition, “restores” infers that we were sane at
one time. We were sane, in the Mind of God, and we
were sane before the addiction took control of our lives.
With belief, we can become sane again. When we surrender
to the God’s Presence and Power within us, transformation
and recovery begins.
“Your faith has made you well.” —Matthew 9:22
—Carol Pine, Co-Chair,
House of Hope Faith Partners Team Ministry
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions: A..A. World
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