Continue Personal Inventory - Step 10 in Addiction Recovery
We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. Alcoholics Anonymous
Have you been sober for a while now or experienced victory over an eating disorder or some other self-destructive behavior? When we’ve been free over one area of difficulty, we need to continue to take personal inventory because God will reveal another area of our lives He will help us with. It’s rare to be free from all hurtful behaviors and thinking patterns just because we’ve gotten free from one area of addiction. Many of us may even stumble back into a destructive behavior and this continual personal inventory becomes the catalyst for admitting we’ve slipped up and need to get back on track.
Think of it as peeling an onion. When the first layer is removed, the next layer awaits. The goal is total healing—in this case, to the very center of the onion.
In my life, God cleansed me of alcohol first, then cigarettes, and then pot. These occurred with years in between. Had I not continued to seek what God wanted to change in my life, I might still be smoking. In fact, now that all those things are gone from my life, God is now teaching me about another destructive pattern. Evidently, I’m addicted to having peace at all costs - even if it means living in denial or running away to avoid dealing with stress. I don't want to stay this way because God's shown me that it's not the healthy way to handle conflict or sorrow. I don't know how God will help me become the person who stays put and deals with negative things, but this one thing I know: I didn't know how to do life without drinking and He sure taught me how to do that. He's faithful. He takes the willing soul and performs miracles. I don't have to know HOW God will do it, I just need to trust that He WILL do it. He will help me find ways to be comfortable with conflict and not dodge it anymore.
The reason I bring that up is to demonstrate that recovery is a process. We will be at different stages with changing mindsets and behaviors, all headed toward the goal of living a healthy life in close relationship with our Creator. We don't stop. We look deeper with God's help. Step 10 encourages us to continue in the process. We admit we have a problem (Step 1), ask God to help us get rid it (Steps 2 & 3), face uncomfortable truths and tackle difficulties along the way to getting rid of it (Steps 4 - 7), apologize to people we’ve hurt (Steps 8 & 9), and continue to repeat this cycle as life goes on (Step 10).
What have you experienced that you believe relates to this step? Please share what you’ve learned about continuing to take personal inventory and promptly admitting wrongs.
Copyright 2010 Beth Livingston. Used by permission.