12 Steps

Here are the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous:

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step 6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Here is how we will present them as we think through them in a relationship with Jesus:

Step One: Admitting weakness, acknowledging powerlessness 
Step Two: Looking to a Higher Power beyond ourselves, believing that God really cares 
Step Three: Surrendering our will and our lives, giving up “playing God,” letting go and letting God 
Step Four: Facing ourselves, examining our lives honestly, growing in self-awareness 
Step Five: Coming clean, sharing honestly with others, asking for feedback 
Step Six: Willingness to change 
Step Seven: Learning to ask, acquiring humility 
Step Eight: Accepting that we have hurt others, becoming willing to make restitution 
Step Nine: Making restitution, taking responsibility for what we have done 
Step Ten: Daily reflection, ongoing self-examination, and self-awareness 
Step Eleven: Prayer and meditation, seeking God’s will 
Step Twelve: Serving others, sharing what we have experienced, passing on the Twelve Step message