The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

Step One

We admitted we were powerless over
alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step Two

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves
could restore us to sanity.

Step Three

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God, as we understood Him.

Step Four

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step Five

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being
the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step Six

Were entirely ready to have God
remove all these defects of character.

Step Seven

Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Step Eight

Made a list of all persons we had harmed,
and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step Nine

Made direct amends to such people whenever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step Ten

Continued to take personal inventory
and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Step Eleven

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve
our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His for us
and the power to carry that out.

Step Twelve

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps,
we tried to carry this message to alcoholics,
and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The Twelve Steps are reprinted and adapted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the content of this publication, nor that AA agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholism — use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after AA, but which address other problems, does not imply otherwise.

Join the Prayer Steps Group to make prayer requests, pray for others, share your thoughts on prayer, and how best to begin and maintain Serenity Groups.

The Prayer Steps to Serenity websites are copyrighted by L.G. Parkhurst, Jr., © 2007.
Contact: L.G. Parkhurst using this e-mail address (lgp@PrayerSteps.org).