So here is my outline for reaching God as I've come to understand it. If you can say it's a 12 step program then I would say I'm on step 3 or 4, but I have seen how the rest of the steps go. I just haven't gotten that far yet. As it turns out steps 1-12 can take years if not decades each. So step 1 should be -sit back and relax, it's going to be a long long long journey.
Step 1: At some point you have to acknowledge that things aren't working out. This usually happens when you hit rock bottom. For me it was when I was 21 and wanted to die. I knew suicide wasn't an option but I also felt like my life may as well end because it wasn't worth anything. A tragic limbo of a state to be in where you're living physically but not spiritually. You're dead inside and life is empty and you want it to end but you fear death. You have no place to go. You are down.
At this point you don't necessarily need to have "felt" God was in your life before. I had when I was younger. I was very close to God in Elementary school which was weird because neither of my parents spoke about Him or went to church. But I would talk to Him and think about Him often. I was a weird kid. Very spiritual and "out-there".
But to end Step 1 you need to acknowledge you're life is sh*t and you need some kind of spiritual intervention to get over it. You can't do it on your own. Life is too empty and you are too weak.
Step 2: Let God In. Having established life without God sucks, you start to think: Can life really be that much worse if God was in it? I had heard a rumor that if you give your life over to God, He will take it and make it His own. On the down side that might mean becoming a nun. On the upside your life ends up accomplishing more than you would have otherwise. Give it over. Step 2 concludes when you hand your life over to God and let him "take the wheel" as Carrie Underwood so eloquently put it.
Step 3: Follow Being Led. When God steps in it is in subtle ways that will start to become clearer as time goes on. "Small" coincidences and major life shifts are ahead. You start to get "steered" into the right direction -which can be a painful transition when you don't see that's what it is. For me 3 major life events occurred that helped guide me to finding myself over the course of a 2 year span of time. And throughout those subsequent 2 years there were also little moments that God let me know He was there.
Step 4: Recognizing when God is There. As Step 3 reaches it's close it will become easy for you to see how God has woven Himself throughout your life. At this point, seeing all the good He has brought you it is time to fully commit yourself to His path -which is clearly superior to wandering off alone. Commit. Swear yourself over to Him. If it's baptism -do it. If it's a public declaration -do it. If it's wearing the cross -do it. Outwardly express your inward connection to God. Own it. Be it. He is a part of who you are now. Don't hide Him.
Step 5: Listening to God. At this point, having signed-on officially, God will see fit to inconvenience you. "Testing you" is one way of putting it. Coaxing you outside your comfort zone is another. You'll feel "called" to do things. It won't be as obvious as a cell phone conversation though. You'll get a subtle sense of the direction or action God wants you to take. It will be annoying and you may try to ignore it our shrug it off, but it will keep coming up and you will continue to suspect it's where God wants you to go. At some point you'll have to bite the bullet and follow through. Usually at this point God's calling is for you to begin connecting with other people.
Step 6: Opening up to Strangers. The hardest thing for a person to do is share their heart, their beliefs, their soul, and everything else they hold to be precious and sacred within themselves. You feel judged and vulnerable. Talking about "deep" things and feelings and faith is hard when you don't know people that well. It's easy one-on-one with the right friend, but in a group -it's a challenge you WILL be pushed to overcome. Until you do it will be a silent torture inside. A ripping between your soul and your voice -one wanting the to speak and be heard while the other remains silent.
Step 7: Seeking Help. At this point, having opened up to other people, God will test you some more. Only this time it will be others who need help and YOU that is looked to for answers. You will be thrown in an impossible situation you cannot resolve on your own. You will have to seek help -either for your sake or another's. The help may come from a person who is closer to God and has overcome far more experiences with Him than you. But what God wants is for you to realize HE is the person you should look to first. Pray to Him, open up to Him, seek Him. Let him be the refuge for your troubles and He will bring about the solution. Trust in God.
Step 8: Having proven yourself a responsible follower - answering when called, knowing where to turn, following in faith, setting yourself and your own personal agenda aside for God's will -things will take a turn. God will actively start to call upon you to do things. This time the calls will come in much clearer. They will be distinct calls of action without the doubt and the haze. You'll usually be called on to help people in distinct situations -learning and growing in new "gifts" as you do. You will begin to realize how great an impact you can have on the lives of complete strangers when God works through you. You will perfect the art of being an instrument played by the greatest musician of all.
Step 9: Abide in Silence. Then after a while of doing, doing, doing and being called upon, God will fall silent. He won't call on you for a while -maybe even years. You will go crazy. Doubts will set in. You will think God has left you or you have done something wrong to fall out of touch with Him. You will feel alone and you won't know what God wants or what you should be doing. God is testing you. He wants you to remember that He loves you. He doesn't need you to do everything. Sometimes it's just enough to know you're breathing. Existing with God in your soul is enough. It's not always about proving yourself to God. Sometimes He is perfectly content to have you just BE.
Step 10: Having "staid the course" in patients waiting for God's new line of calls, He may then see fit to raise you up and use you to a far greater extent. Each step along the path is a challenge needing to be mastered. When you master each He throws you into a new set of unfamiliar circumstances because He knows you can master those as well. Each step will also serve to sever and subvert your sense of "Self Above All Else". He will see how well you follow His lead above and over your instincts to serve your own desires. By Step 10 your "self" should be pretty well undertow.
He will be looking to you as more of a leader now -a person for others to turn to for guidance having come so far on your own journey through life with God. He will ask you to reach out to others you don't know. Life will be far more fluid and easy letting God step in.
Step 11: Tend Your Flock. Look after those God has given to you to guide and look after. Teach them what you know -and let them grow with God in their own way on their own individual path. Pass what wisdom you have learned to others. Give. Give it all. Give as much of God as you can.
Step 12: Go Home. When you have reached the end of your time -whenever it may come -go home. Go where you know you belong. Rest in the peace you were able to find in this life with God in your soul. Go home. You have given all that you needed to. You did good. You served well. Now rest. Go home.
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