Twelve Steps Step Nine Healing Broken Relationships (2)
Wednesday December 7, 2016
Step Nine calls for direct amends except when to do so might cause further injury. When we're making amends, we need to be wise in the way we go about it. The pressure of our guilt and fear of exposure may cause us to rush ahead and make mistakes we can't erase. We may be so anxious to get things off our chest that we blurt out our amends without fully considering what is going on in the other person’s life. We need to consider how our actions might injure them.
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. (Philippians 2:3-4 NLT) Since we are not always the best judge of what needs to be disclosed, and when, we need to seek help and guidance in these decisions, firstly from God, then our sponsor, and perhaps other trusted friends in recovery. Reviewing our amends with others helps us consider our motivation and the consequences of our intended actions. Sometimes an indirect amends is the most appropriate choice (i.e. amends through changed behaviour).
It is essential that we become willing to make amends to people we have harmed. However, we need to do so with the motive of taking responsibility for the harm we have caused. When the time is right, and with a prayerful attitude of seeking God’s healing for the people we have harmed, God will guide each of us to the pathway to peace.
Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace. (Luke 1:78-79 NLT)
Heavenly Father, Thank You for caring for me and for teaching me the truth about my life, past, present, and future. Help me to walk in humility as I clean my side of the street. Give me the will and desire to forgive others and to work for reconciliation in all my relationships.
©2016 Partners in Hope
More information on this and other related topics @ www.partnersinhope.ca/resources
Audio for Twelve Steps Step Nine Healing Broken Relationships (2)
Recent Meditations
Giving Hope
Partners in Hope is supported wholly by our friends and community. We are thankful to everyone who partners with us to help bring hope to the discouraged, hurting, and hopeless.