Addiction: Is it "god's" Fault or Yours?

So what is the answer? What does "God" have to do with it? Is it his fault that you became an addict? I think not. Then is it His responsibility to participate in your recovery? I think not. God did not have anything to do with picking up your first drink or ball of heroin. He did not hand you your first oxycodone or light your crack pipe. He did not misaligned the planets to create the set of circumstances which were so grave that you had no choice but to relapse. He cannot in any way be held accountable for your addiction. And so because of this you cannot ask "God" to hold your recovery in His hands. Like it or not, that is all on you!

Steps 2 and 3 of the the 12 Step Program bring "God" into recovery. First, in step 2, by saying that it is a higher power that will in essence set you free and then, in step 3, by saying that it is "God" specifically who will guide you on your path to recovery.

I am a Catholic. Raised in a traditional Catholic Italian small town family. I attended Catholic school from kindergarten through graduate school. I am not an addict, but I have "lived' in that world for the past 8 years and I can tell you one thing. "God" has nothing to do with your recovery.

Addicts often say that their recovery is in "God's" hands. That in the midst of their recovery they are "blessed". We are all blessed and the course of our lives is in our own hands. The higher power that will drive you to recovery lives in the power of your mind and spirit which creates the determination and drive that you need to change the course of your life. That to me is known as spirituality. It is not the spirit "above " us but rather the "spirit" within us. Every addict is responsible for their addiction and therefore they are responsible for their recovery. It is equally their responsibility to utilize the tools around them--therapists, doctors, family, programs, sponsors, and themselves--to assist in that recovery. But don't put it on "God's" shoulders. That just gives you someone else to blame if you relapse. Take control of your own life. Be the source of your own power.