For others, it is the process of doing our inventories that leads us to see for the first time that God is at work in our lives. For still others, it is when we begin making amends that we recognize that God is not just some magical, metaphysical, Santa Claus but rather a powerful, personal presence in our lives. The point of this part of Step Twelve is not to define exactly the nature of the spiritual awakening which is taking place in us but to gratefully, humbly acknowledge that it is, in fact, happening. We were asleep. Now we are waking up.
Testimony is a spiritual practice with a long history in the Christian community.
Unfortunately, in many Christian communities the spiritual discipline of testimony has become a predictable, tiresome exercise in evasion, half-truth and hype. People have learned how to give a good testimony but have forgotten how to give an honest one. The spiritual core of this part of Step Twelve is intimately connected to all that has gone before. We have been learning how to tell the truth and this step suggests that we continue that truth telling in relationships with other people. Neither biblical teachings nor Step Twelve encourage us to pretend we are further along in the journey than we actually are.