Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, share this message with others and practice these principles in all you do.
Service will help you grow int he light of the Spirit throughout the rest of your life. You learned in step 10 that you evaluate your life each day and be accountable for your actions. Then in step 11 you learned to remember the savior from moment to moment so you will have the guidance of the Holy Ghost as constant as possible. Now Step 12 involves the third anchor and that is service to others. This step aids in your continued recovery and a remission of sin and to remain free of addiction, you must get outside of yourself and serve.
Desire to give service is a natural result of your spiritual awakening. (ARP Guide) So, how do we serve? One way is through sharing the message of hope with other addicts or to those who are troubled. When you share with others, you can share your testimony of the mercy of the Lord and let others know that they too can receive this same mercy through the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many addicts feel alone and don't think that they could ever be forgiven of the hurt that they have caused to themselves and to others, but you can stand as a wittiness to the truth of the Atonement.
President Ezra Taft Benson taught: "Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their mussels, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life."
When you personally have reached step 12, it is important that you realize that you should not put away your ARP book and say I am done. You should still continue to attend meetings and participate as you have through the entire 12 step process. Open your book and read your journaling to strengthen your own resolve to continue to move forward for the rest of your life. Set forward thinking goals, which will probably be much different than those that you have set while in this program. Now that you are living free from your addiction, you have so much to look forward to and you need to live in maintenance for the rest of your life.
Service is a way for you to be able to maintain your addiction free life. Many individuals choose to become facilitators in the addiction recovery program. Facilitators are not a church calling but a volunteer service and a greatly needed service in the Addiction Recovery program. As you attend meetings and see that after the Missionaries present their part of the Addiction Recovery program, the sharing portion of the meeting is turned over to a facilitator. Facilitators set a positive tone, invite the spirit and give a directed focus for the sharing portion of the meetings. They can draw upon their own personal knowledge to lift and give hope to the other participants. Their sharing is directed toward what they have learned as they work the particular step of study for that week. What a blessing Facilitators are, and how great a service they render.
Services doesn't just stay within the Addiction recovery program. Service can be given everywhere. Serve in your wards and stakes. Serve in your homes and neighborhoods. Serve in your community and in the world. Everywhere you look there are opportunities for service and they are not hard to find if you are looking. One recovered addict is now the High Priest Group leader in his ward, and is constantly involved in helping out the widow's of the ward and he is also a facilitator and and serving as a missionary in the LDS Addiction Recovery Program. In a different ward and Stake, a returned missionary who learned Spanish on his mission, helps out in with the Spanish community and attends and assists in many ways using his time and language skills giving service.
If you think about this world being filled with Heavenly Fathers children, and you realize that you are actually all related through Him, then maybe serving your family members would be easier to think about than serving someone you don't know. Humanity is really just one big diverse family. When I personally think about service, this scripture comes to mind... "When Ye Are in the Service of Your Fellow Beings Ye Are Only in the Service of Your God" (Mosiah 2:17) The result of service is a crowning blessing, as the Lord promised: I delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory. ( D & C 76:56)
I pray that we can all lose ourselves in the service of our fellow beings, because as the scripture says, when we do so, we are only in the service of our God!
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