Last Updated on 3 August 2023
12 Step 23rd Psalm
The Lord is my Shepherd,
In my addiction and in my life I badly need someone or something outside of myself, my higher power Christ my good Shepherd.
(In my addiction and in my life I badly need someone or something outside of myself.)
I shall not want.
Trusting God quietens discontentedness and restlessness in me. I have enough.
He leads me beside the still waters,
There is turbulence in the world around me, and within me. The still waters of God’s steadfast love calm my mind and heart.
He restores my soul.
In some sense I am broken, but God restores my integrity, makes me whole again.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
One day at a time I am learning to live right. And while God’s guiding is making me the best me I can be today for me, God is doing it also for a bigger purpose, his purpose beyond me in the world.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I am surrounded with life-denying distractions in my addiction.
I fear no evil,
I have been afraid of so much in my life; I will once again hand over these fears today.
For you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.
You are with me mysteriously but also more concretely in word and sacrament and in my fellows both current and past. And in the tools and resources of the program.
(You are always with me, in ways sometimes hard to pinpoint, and sometimes much more concrete, in the resources of the program, and in all those who are supporting me.)
You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
I have so much to be grateful for. You continue to take away my difficulties and replace them with blessings. You free me to be a witness in my life to those around me, including those I have experienced as critics and judges.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
There is and there will always be no judgement from you, you will continue to love and care for me no matter what. My almost lifelong disease of not being fully at home in myself in relationships, in the church, in my work, this is overcome each day by knowing that my home is with you, my good Shepherd.
Written by Andrew J
