From the "12 Steps for Adult Children" book:

"Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings"

"By Step 7 we have abandoned the illusion that we can help ourselves. The pain of our former way of life has caught up to us, and we lie wounded with a self-inflicted injury. We are certainly not interested in doing it by ourselves now. So as we lie helpless and humbled on the sickbed of our disease, we pray: "Remove my shortcomings"...

"Step 7 requires prayer... Our condition, our honesty, and our pain have humbled us so now we must open our mouths and pray. The temptation here is to pray a general prayer. We are tempted to ask God to remove everything as if it were a package deal... If we were thourough, our Step 4 inventory listed each character defect separately. Our admission in Step 5 was also done item by item, and later on our amends will be made individually. So now our Step 7 work is humble prayer for the removal of our shortcomings - one defect at a time...

"We prepare for Step 7 by holding nothing back from our Higher Power - no glimmer of hope in our own ability to control. We prepare for Step 7 by making sure that we have resolved the fear of letting go of our defects. We prepare for Step 7 by learning to draw nearer to Go, by becoming comfortable in God's presence...

"Humility is a recurring theme in the 12 Step program and the central idea of Step 7... We are growing in the wisdom and knowledge of our Higher Power. This growth not only comes because we are seeking it, but also from the insight gained by examining the pain of our past struggles. We gain greater courage by hearing how others cope with their life challenges...

"Step 6 prepared us to let go of our old defective behaviors and freed us to develop the powerful new ones that God intends for us to use. Asking God to remove our faults is a true measure of our willingness to surrender control. For many of us, the surrender of control can be an extremely difficult task - but not impossible. Are we sincerely ready to abandon these deceptions? If so, then we can ask God to help us let go of our past and create new life within us...

"Our partnership with our Higher Power will put our obsession with 'self' into its proper perspective. We will finally recognize the person we have been, understand who we are, and look forward with joy to the person we are becoming...

"When looking to God to remove our shortcomings, we do well to remember that God gives strength to us through prayer and meditation and also through other people. God often uses outside forces to correct our defects. Teachers, ministers, medical doctors, and therapists can all be instruments of our Higher Power's work...

"Through working the Steps, we are progressing toward a happier and healthier life. We see how the opportunities and blessings that God brings into our lives surpass anything we could ever have created on our own...

"Letting go of negative behaviors, however destructive they are, may create a sense of loss and require that we allow ourselves time to grieve. Some of our negative character traits are like old friends. They may be inappropriate and even hurtful to us, but we still mourn losing them...

"Changing our behavior can be temporarily alarming to our sense of self. Our fear of not knowing what is ahead may cause us to repeat past destructive actions. We may retreat into feeling isolated and lose our sense of belonging. Having faith and trustin in our relationship with our Higher Power shows our willingness to release the fear of being lost, frightened or abandoned.

"As we notice our defects being removed and our lives becoming less complicated, we must proceed with caution and guard against the temptation to be prideful. Sudden changes in our behavior can and do happen, but we cannot anticipate them or direct them. God initiates change when we are ready, and we cannot claim that we alone removed our character defects. When we learn to ask humbly for God's help in our lives, change becomes God's responsibility. We cannot accept the credit, but we can give thanks. When good changes begin to happen in our lives, we tend to expect similar changes in others. But our focus needs to remain on ourselves - we still have much to accomplish...

"For the program to be successful, we must practice the Steps regularly. When we have moments of inner struggle, we can simply say, 'This too will pass'; 'let go and let God'... These affirmations are useful to keep us from reverting to our obsessive/compulsive behaviors. Depression, guilt, and anger can be acknowledged and understood to be temporary reactions...

"We need to stop for a moment and acknowledge ourselves for our commitment to recovery... We can accept the positive, spontaneous thoughts and feelings that occur and see that this acceptance results from our personal relationship with God..."