June 8

“But if we can honestly face our problems and are willing to change, the Twelve Steps of SAA will lead to an awakening that allows us to live a new way of life according to spiritual principles.”

Sex Addicts Anonymous, page 20

Willingness is an essential factor for the addict seeking recovery. Typically born of desperation on the one hand and hope on the other, willingness must precede the actions suggested by the Twelve Steps.

We may be motivated to take certain actions, but we may be unwilling to do so because of fear, anticipated cost, or other factors. Willingness is the energizing force that moves us from idea, concept, desire, or intention into action. It fuels the admissions, the beliefs, the decisions, and the actions that we take working the Twelve Steps in our quest for recovery.

The Twelve Step program of recovery may be envisioned as having two sides—an input side and an output side. Willingness is the gateway to the input side. It fuels our actions. It is the driver behind what we must do to experience recovery.

The second is the output side. It is the transformation that only God can give us. We can be willing. We can work the Steps. But it is in trusting God for the outcome that we find the spiritual awakening that ushers in true recovery.

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When I am willing to go to any length—to do what I can do—God will do for me what I cannot do for myself.