Hope for Recovery Course 
Linda  LarsonSchlitz    

By the time you have gotten to step 7 you have done a lot of hard and heavy work and research seeking to weed out those character defects that have hindered your goals and hopes and dreams in life.  You have more than likely figured out that you aren’t so good at fixing things on your own and it just might be a good idea to get a little help in the matter. 

None of us have everything figured out with God. Who or what is a “higher power anyway?” This is a theme throughout the 12 steps and this course. The key to this step is in understanding that there is one who can do  “exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to His power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20  NKJV) Unless we believe that we will be forever stuck in the cycle of insanity doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. 

So with the work done in the previous steps, being “entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character” it is time to do so.  Like was suggested in last week's lesson, this is a process and it is important to be serious about which things you are truly ready to surrender to the care of God. You may have identified many things that need to go on the scrap heap of coping mechanisms and character defects but this is where you are ready and willing to let God remove them. 

When I was writing my book and working these steps something came to mind and this poem always brought me to tears when I was trying to let go of something, someone, or some dream.  I wrote this one and if you get the book on your email you will find this one called “Letting Go of Broken Dreams” and it has an added poem that is not in the hardcopy of the book but it speaks to this dilemma we face. 

CHALLENGE
God has already laid a foundation for us to live a new life. He has shown the miracles of His power through everything we have learned about Jesus and the life He and multitudes after Him have lived. The 12 Step program was born out of
the Oxford Group, a non-denominational 1st-century Christian fellowship that discovered a way to stay sober through their relationship to God, (their higher power) and the support of one another. Are we willing to consider that submission
to God can free us from our challenges?

HOPE
“So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11)

PRAYER
God, so often, I am unwilling even to acknowledge, let alone turn over my desires. Help me to realize when I have things I need to submit to Your power that I might come alive to the new life You have planned for me.

SPEAK TO ME GOD
My Child,
You desire a life of peace and prosperity, yet you falter time and again because you continue to rely on your own desires and ways of living your life. If you would only listen to that still small voice inside that prods you over and over to follow Me, you would experience the power that I have promised when you submit your own will and let Me take over. To die to yourself requires you to let go of the worldly things that beckon your fleshly desires. I can raise your broken spirit to a new life if you let Me.

I Surrender (feat. Lauren Daigle) - Hillsong UNITED  Listen to this song as you decide about letting go  
 "Broken Dreams" 
As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend.
I brought my broken dreams to God because He was my Friend.
But then instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone,                                       
I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried,  "how could You be so slow?" 
"My child," He said, "what could I do? You never did let go."
                                  Author: Loretta P Burns

So we come to the point of letting go and letting God. What are you ready to release to Him today? What will you accept from Him? This is where you get on your knees with all humility give it up. Let it go and then don’t pick it up on your way out the door.  Imagine you truly leaving that defect with him...perhaps writing it on a piece of paper and burning it up or taking it out with the garbage or flushing it down the toilet. Get rid of it and accept what He is going to give you instead. 

Write it out now for each defect you are entirely ready to let go of….add more if needed.  

God today I surrender my _____________________________________ to you.  I am sorry for how this defect has hurt you, me and others.   I ask that through your grace and love that you replace this defect with ______________________________and from this moment on I ask that you keep me mindful that you have made me new. Thank you Lord! Amen

God today I surrender my _____________________________________ to you.  I am sorry for how this defect has hurt you, me and others.  I ask that through your grace and love that you replace this defect with ______________________________and from this moment on I ask that you keep me mindful that you have made me new. Thank you Lord! Amen

God today I surrender my _____________________________________ to you.  I am sorry for how this defect has hurt you, me and others.  I ask that through your grace and love that you replace this defect with ______________________________and from this moment on I ask that you keep me mindful that you have made me new. Thank you Lord! Amen

God today I surrender my _____________________________________ to you.  I am sorry for how this defect has hurt you, me and others.  I ask that through your grace and love that you replace this defect with ______________________________and from this moment on I ask that you keep me mindful that you have made me new.  Thank you Lord! Amen

God today I surrender my _____________________________________ to you.  I am sorry for how this defect has hurt you, me and others.  I ask that through your grace and love that you replace this defect with ______________________________and from this moment on I ask that you keep me mindful that you have made me new.  Thank you Lord! Amen

NOW MEMORIZE THIS- If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Write out what you are feeling now that you have gone through this process. What are your fears? What are you looking forward to? What are you excited about? What will be different. 
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AS YOU CONTINUE IN YOUR JOURNEY I WILL BE PRAYING FOR YOU AS PAUL DID FOR THE EPHESIANS 3 WHEN HE WROTE 

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.