Step 7: Humility, Healing & the Courage to Ask God for Change

Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

— From the 12 Steps

 

Step 7 is deceptively simple at first glance.

Just a sentence.

Just a prayer.

Just a request.

 

But spiritually?

Emotionally?

Personally?

Step 7 is one of the most intimate steps in recovery — because it requires us to let God move where we have been unable to change ourselves.

If Step 6 is the willingness to be changed,

Step 7 is the courage to ask for it.

What Makes Step 7 So Sacred

Many of us spent years trying to manage our own lives, our own thinking, our own impulses, our own pain. Willpower was our only tool, and shame was our constant companion.

We tried to:

• “be better”

• “try harder”

• “fix ourselves”

• “muscle our way through”

But Step 7 acknowledges a truth we’ve resisted:

We cannot remove our own defects. Only God can.

Not because we’re hopeless —

but because real transformation happens at the level of the heart,

and only God can reach that deep.

Humility: The Heart of Step 7

Humility isn’t groveling.

It isn’t thinking poorly of yourself.

It isn’t shame disguised as holiness.

Humility, in recovery, is simple and powerful:

“I can’t do this without You, God.

And I no longer want to try.”

This kind of humility opens the soul to grace.

It creates space for God to shape what addiction twisted:

• anger into honesty

• fear into faith

• pride into teachability

• resentment into compassion

• restlessness into peace

Humility is not humiliation —

it is alignment.

God Removes — But We Participate

Step 7 honors a beautiful tension:

God does the removing.

We do the surrendering.

We don’t sit passively.

We partner with God through:

• prayer

• inventory

• meetings

• amends

• accountability

• service

• daily surrender

Transformation is God’s miracle,

but willingness is our offering.

Step 7 in Scripture

The Bible echoes Step 7’s invitation:

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

— James 4:10

Not:

Lift yourself up, then come to God.

But:

Come to God as you are — and He will do the lifting.

Again:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God…”

— Psalm 51:10

Not:

“I will create a clean heart.”

But:

“Create in me…”

“Do what I cannot do alone.”

This is Step 7.

Shortcomings: Not Moral Failures, but Human Realities

Shortcomings are not proof we are terrible people.

They are signs we are human beings shaped by wounds, fears, and the fallout of addiction.

Step 7 doesn’t ask us to hate ourselves.

It asks us to trust God with the parts of ourselves we’ve never been able to heal.

Your shortcomings do not shock God.

They never have.

He knew them long before you did —

and His love has never wavered.

What Step 7 Looks Like in Daily Life

Step 7 is lived out in quiet, real moments:

• choosing honesty when lying would feel easier

• practicing patience when frustration rises

• apologizing without defensiveness

• responding gently instead of reacting harshly

• seeking help instead of isolating

• pausing to pray before acting on impulse

Each of these moments is a small miracle —

evidence of God removing what you could not.

Reflection Questions

1. Which shortcomings feel “too big” for you to bring to God — and why?

2. Where have you already seen God soften or shift something in you?

3. What does humility look like for you today — not forever, just today?

4. How can you participate in God’s transforming work this week?

A Step 7 Prayer

God, I come to You in humility —

not pretending,

not performing,

not hiding.

Remove from me the defects

that keep me from living in freedom,

honesty, and love.

Shape me into the person

You intended me to be.

Give me courage to cooperate with Your work

and faith to trust that You are not done with me yet.

Amen.