August 21

“Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.”

Sex Addicts Anonymous, page 21

I am just beginning Step Seven and my first thought, after the previous steps, is how can I humbly ask when my character defects include pride, willfulness, grandiosity, and shame? Humility is not in my repertoire. I can talk the talk, but can I really walk it? No, I cannot humble myself by myself.

Intellectually, I grasp the helplessness, and even the irony of this predicament. Just as I had to pray in Step Six for willingness to be willing, I see that I must pray for the humility to even ask humbly. I have prayed to God for much of my life, and my Higher Power has been there for me despite my glaring moral flaws. Yet, through the Steps, I realize that my defects have not only led me into sex addiction, causing much suffering to myself and others, but have also kept God out of my life, at a “safe” distance. I have lived my life in my will, not God’s will.

Seeing myself more honestly in the Steps has been difficult. I find I have to ask God for the humility to ask God for humility! My Higher Power has graciously led me to the fellowship and to this step. I am ready to have God remove these shortcomings and to be fundamentally changed.

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I trust that God will give me the grace I need to grow steadily in humility, no better or worse than others. It’s up to me to ask.’’