Step Seven - Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 1. How d I humbly ask God to take my shortcomings? 2. What can I do to cooperate with my Higher Power in removing y shortcomings? 3. What slogan could remind me to find a substitute for a negative behavior I wish to release? 4. As I turn my defects over to God, are new shortcomings coming to light? If so, can I continue to ask God for help? Sorry to be late with our questions. A good friend of mine whom I was helping to care for died while I was with her Saturday. It's been a sad week. Love and hugs to all - Dot

no problem at this end, Dot.. but I was wondering, and missed you. Since we haven't really done shares yet,  if you like we can go another week befor doing Step 8.

My share on 7 - I find that when I get to a new level of recovery, and start using new tools and skills successfully, it is then that I can look back and see how inadequate my former behavior was, and then I see a choice, and want to let go of the old behavior, and then really do an assessment, Step 4 again.. to see where related things are in my life, and as they are uncovered, revealed to me, I can do the 7th Step again, and that means 8 and 9 again in that area.

The first time I did Step 7 I did a broad inventory and wanted to make a lot of drastic changes,,  but after that, and now,,  it is when something or someone motivates me to want to go to the next level, and that means getting past the old one,,, and that means humbly asking God to change me,,,  with my cooperation.

amanda

Hi Dot,,, may i suggest tha you read my post in "step seven already' !!! I believe that on that nite when i typed that post,, twasnt me, Just God moving my fingers !!! all the things i did to be rid of many of the shortcomings in my life have been listed !!! Please read it and tell me what you think !!! thanks raman an addict clean and serene just for today in NA !!!

hi, raman.  I read it, and thank yu very much for sharing. Dot puts up the alanon Step, and I put up AA and ACoA.  I hope the NA is similar enough to ours that everyone can relate. It is fine to share on the current Step anywhere from the time that Step is first put up until the next one is put up. We put up some helps to sharing like the questions or something, and people can share on that, or start a new thread if they want to.

I'm really glad you're here and participating raman. You have a positive and refreshing point of view, and I hope you continue.  And I'm glad to see some NA perspectives too.

God bless you,

amanda

Thanks and God Bless You too Amanda,,,

please allow me to say how happy I am to be a member,reader and writer on this wonderful,truly International site,,,

Truly we are a World Wide Fellowship !!!

actually,though i identify as an addict, i use the Steps in context of family too=

my grandfather,two uncles and few cousins from my mothers side were all alcohlics !!!

My uncle died directly of the disease and my gandpa and one uncle were affected to die because of alcoholism, my grandpa getting affected in the liver and dying later of that problem and my uncle being groggy and falling off a second floor, although he never did drink that day !!!

1 cousin who we were able to convince into treatment went out for just that one last drink

and he never returned,, he drank himself into a coma and died  one day later at the young age of 22 !!!!

My own father emberassed me no end due to the personality change he went thru each time he drank,,, not violent or anything but either he got very silly and floating or he became very adamant and isolated !!!

I used to wonder why i felt bad about me and my family ,,, but Hp led me to the wonderful 12 Step Tradition !!!

Thank God ive gotten and stayed clean and sober and serene  now, but my younger brother is still fighting, on and off and has taken many geographicals,, but he is still a problem drinker.

Why we even had him in AA meetings here but seems the charm(or threat)wore off and he got back againg to drinking and drunkenness !!

the many fist fights and visits to the [police station,even though i was sober gives me a shudder even now !!!!

but the miaracle of this step is we havent fought for long,,and as things stand we will never have to ever again,just for today!!

my first sign of release from the demons of the past was when I was willing to let go of my self centerd fear that activated anger in return for my brother and mothers accusations that i was the reason he was behaving that way !!

at first I believed i was responsible but the three Cs of Alanon which i heard of by chance set me free of the guilt and shame i was feeling !!!

basically i was not the cause,i couldnt control and I couldnt cure him, so i was not responsible for his bad behaviour and i need

 

not have to feel any low self esteem or take any blame for his waywardness,,,,

I am responsible for my recovery !!!

and that in itself(the emotional recovery) came from accepting myself and my family as we are !!! we were all suffering from a disease !!!from which by Grace of God Im recovering !!!

I was no longer afraid to identify myself as an addict and my family as one that was severly affected by alcohol abuse!!

Once I let go that self centered fear,, many  miracles have taken place !!!

I believe that we trecovering people need to start ther first,,, that is to look at self centyered fear as the chief motivator of all the defects and minifestations of defects we have experienced !!!

Defects and shortcomings cause us pain,,, and who isnt willing to let go of that ???

I pray that we who are sharing on this subject and want to recover from the painwill do so !!!!

Thanks for letting me    share,waiting eagerly to hear yours too !!!

raman

-- Edited by raman at 09:44, 2006-03-05

Hi Ramen - Wow - a lot of good stuff you said and thank you for sharing about your family. You are certainly one of our Al-Anon and ACOA family. You've been on both sides. I like your concept of realizing you can do without something - whatever it may be - and then turning to your Higher Power for help. We sometimes forget that before we can get rid of a defect we have to accept that we no longer want to hang on to it and sometimes that's scary when it's been a coping tool for many years. Glad you're here. Keep coming back. Love and hugs - Dot

Love and hugs to you too Dot,,,

Thank God for this wonderful Worldwide Fellowship and finding great,understanding folks like you !!

Bless You !!