Healing Addiction
Through God's Love

STEP 9 Justice “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” At this stage, clients attempt to rectify their wrongdoings by confronting the people they harmed. The conversation may take place through a written letter or email or by sitting down face to face. The spiritual principle behind this step is justice. A SOZO Client’s Point of View:  “Step 9 is where we make direct amends to people, in person, wherever possible.  When we do this, we should resist the temptation to blame others, whether they “deserve” it or not. I was told that I needed to clean off my side of the street and keep my eyes off the other person’s side of the street—period. That helped because there were a few people in my life that I needed to make amends to that were actually wrong a lot "Step 9 – Justice – Principled Recovery Series"

STEP 8 Brotherly Love “Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.” During this step, clients make a list of all the people in their lives they have wronged as a result of their substance abuse. These wrongs could be small things, such as a white lie to hide intoxication, or big infringements, such as stealing money to buy alcohol or drugs. The spiritual principle behind this step is brotherly love. A SOZO Client’s Point of View:  I knew that step 8 was about making a list of people I had harmed and become willing to make amends to them all. Although I had read the “SOZO Brother’s Prayer” on the walls of SOZO and our classroom and was beginning to really like my fellow residents, I still did not understand “brotherly love”. My understanding was more like that of "Step 8 – Brotherly Love – Principled Recovery Series"

STEP 7 Humility “Humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings.” Recovering clients ask the higher power to eliminate character defects, which may include impulsivity, selfishness, impatience, or anger. In order to do this, clients must admit they are not strong enough to remove these character flaws on their own. The spiritual principle behind this step is humility. A SOZO Client’s Point of View:  “Because I was now familiar with the serenity prayer and the lord’s prayer, and found both of these prayers to be helpful, I decided to follow advice heard in A.A. meetings and use the seventh step prayer listed on page 76 of our big book, “alcoholics anonymous”, to formally ask God to remove my shortcomings. So, I got on my knees with my sponsor and said the seventh step prayer to God. “My creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and "Step 7 – Humility – Principled Recovery Series"

STEP 6 Willingness “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” At this point, clients admit they are ready to allow their higher power to take away the wrongs they admitted in step 4. The spiritual principle behind this step is willingness. A SOZO Client’s Point of View:  “Both my counselor and A.A. sponsor told me that step six was where I was supposed to get ready to ask God to remove my defects of character. Never before had I ever been challenged to “get ready” to ask God for anything. With my sponsor’s help, I was able to go through my 4th and 5th steps and pull out all those personality and behavior traits of mine that in the past were pretty undesirable, if not downright terrible. Here was my chance to ask God to remove these things. I found that I needed to read, "Step 6 – Willingness – Principled Recovery Series"