A NEW BEGINNING STEP 2 "Restore"

STEP 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to a normal way of thinking and living. Having been convinced of our powerlessness over gambling and the unmanageability of our lives in Step One, we are now told that only a power greater than ourselves could restore us to a normal way of thinking and living. (THIS MEANS WE CAN'T DO IT BY OURSELVES.) At this point, we must begin to develop open-mindedness. For only by beginning to be open-minded, can we start to understand the true meaning of the step. Most, if not all of our members, have found a resistance or a reluctance to deal with a higher power. The idea of a power greater than ourselves, restoring us to a normal way of thinking and living, does not come easily to us. However, if we truly believe that we are powerless over gambling and have an illness that will progressively destroy our lives, then we desperately need at solution to our illness. In this step, we are told that there is a solution. Our solution is living a spiritual recovery program. This Spiritual Recovery Program is brought about by a progressive character change that cannot be accomplished through will-power. We need a source of power that is greater than our selves to bring about this change. The change will take place by proceeding with the work required in the remaining steps. What will come with the work is an understanding and practice of kindness, generosity, honesty and humility within ourselves and with others which will lead us eventually to a belief in a Power of our own understanding. Here, many of us had to examine why we refused to believe in a Power greater than ourselves. We found that some of the obstacles preventing us from attempting to believe were pride, ego, fear, self-centeredness, defiance, and grandiosity. In order to recover from our illness, these obstacles must be eliminated. Here, our sponsors can be of assistance. They can share with us their experiences as to how they overcame their resistance to believe in a Higher Power. We found that writing about our resistance is a good method to help us. We had to put on paper how the obstacles blocked us and led us to refuse to accept a Higher Power. Most of us did not fully understand what this Higher Power was at this point, it was only necessary to accept that there was one. Many of used our sponsor, other members or the Fellowship as this Higher Power but eventually, as we proceeded with the work required in these steps, we came to believe this Higher Power to be a God of our own understanding We must have the honesty to look at our illness, the open-mindedess to accept the solution being told to us and the willingness to apply this si tion by proceeding on with the recovery process of these steps.  A Day at a Time here → https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC