12 Steps of Recovery

[SoCal_Counselor]

LDS Family Services runs an addiction support group that can be a wonderful resource to those struggling with any sort of addiction. You can find the nearest group by going to the new website LDS Addiction Recovery Program. These steps are also very helpful for those who need to go through the repentance process. Here is a link to the ARP manual. May the Lord be with you as you strive to overcome and heal from your addictions. Here are the twelve steps:

Step 1. Honesty

Admit that you, of yourself, are powerless to overcome your addictions and that your life has become unmanageable.

Step 2. Hope

Come to believe that the power of God can restore you to complete spiritual health.

Step 3. Trust in God

Decide to turn your will and your life over to the care of God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Step 4. Truth

Make a searching and fearless written moral inventory of yourself.

Step 5. Confession

Admit to yourself, to your Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, to proper priesthood authority, and to another person the exact nature of your wrongs.

Step 6. Change of Heart

Become entirely ready to have God remove all your character weaknesses.

Step 7. Humility

Humbly ask Heavenly Father to remove your shortcomings.

Step 8. Seeking Forgiveness

Make a written list of all persons you have harmed and become willing to make

restitution to them.

Step 9. Restitution and Reconciliation

Wherever possible, make direct restitution to all persons you have harmed.

Step 10. Daily acountability

Continue to take personal inventory, and when you are wrong promptly admit it.

Step 11. Personal Revelation

Seek through prayer and meditation to know the Lord’s will and to have the power

to carry it out.

Step 12. Service

Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, share this message with others and practice these principles in all you do.

[Misshalfway]

This is certainly one way to do it.

[Sharky]

I have seen the LDS ADR Program change lives. Not only in adiction situation & repentance situations but also one simply desiring to draw closer to God. Everyone one of us can apply those same 12 principles to some or many aspects of our lives.

The down side of the Progarm that I was unaware of until a year or so ago is that if there is not access to LDS Social Services in your area, one of the "reccomendations" is that the Bishop or other preishood leader assits the individual by meeting with them regularly & going thru the guide or workbook with them.

Our Bishop is a wonderfully great man, however he has some very firm black & white lines. One of which is: "You are either doing it or you are not".

For me, striving to do or accomplish something, giving something an honest effort, does not always mean you will be the victor after each battle. Over the course of time that honest effort does result in more & more victories however.

The nearest LDS Social Services for us is a 3-4 hour drive, unrealistic for many of us to do on a regular basis.

I know of one young man in our ward that I believe was giving the program an honest effort, he fell away from the church because his efforts fell short of the Bishop's "doing it".

I have been encouraging this brother, letting him come help me with things on the farm. Can't pay him much but he seems to enjoy the opportunity to serve, keep busy, & the time he spends with us. Our evening meals, usually not eaten until after dark, are frequently the only meal he has during the day & seems to enjoy the famliy setting even though it is just the wife & I.

We don't get into many conversations of church or gospel, at least not that are obvious, but that is okay.

I ordered a copy of the ADR Program Guide/workboook from the Distribution Center (later found out you can download it for free from ProvidentLiving.org) & have started trying to work some of those things into the various conversations we have while we are working together.

I don't know how his battle goes but I do feel he is starting to let go of some of his resentment.

Edited September 2, 2012 by Sharky