Been a rough couple days...

Enuff Z Nuff · Member

Been a rough couple days...

jonibaloni · MIP Old Timer

Hi Enuff.

Without help, the demons will ALWAYS get the best of us, every time.

After Step 1 comes Step 2, "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves COULD restore us to sanity". I had to read and re-read what this step was actually saying to me. It wasn't saying I had to show up at Step 2 with a well-prepared, logical explanation of any spiritual beliefs. What it was saying is that I: a) 'Came'... to AA, then I: b) 'Came to'... I started to wake up, then I: c) 'Came to Believe that a power greater than ourselves COULD restore us (but we need to stick together!!) to sanity.' The latter part of this process happened naturally, by my going to many meetings and hearing about the experiences of other Alcoholics. Their own ability to stay sober through a power greater than themselves began to be the proof for me, that I too COULD be restored to sanity, because they indeed had been restored. If it worked for them, it COULD work for me. Faith comes through working the action Steps later in the program. Step 2 is about having some HOPE.

Step 2 does not require identifying or putting descriptions on a Higher Power. It is just letting one's self embrace the idea that: 1) There MUST be some greater power helping all these people in AA, and 2) Although I need not understand what it is, it COULD work for me, too.

Again, the thing that helped me the most was to keep going to meetings, listen and share with other AA's. See how Steps 1 and 2 have worked for them, and ask them how they 'Came to Believe'.

Hope this helps, and best wishes!! This is a process with wonderful promise, and you will not want to miss it!!

Joni

-- Edited by jonibaloni at 11:31, 2006-10-10

-- Edited by jonibaloni at 11:34, 2006-10-10

Quetzal · MIP Old Timer

Hi Enuff,

Getting a sponsor is a great idea. My wonderful sponsor helped me enormously about how I saw my Higher Power in the early days of sobriety.

Here are my thoughts about a Higher Power, religion and God.

My life with alcohol in it is unmanageable, but I do believe in a Higher Power capable of restoring me to sanity. My understanding of a Higher Power is more in accord with Members of AA than with a formal church's teachings. I was raised C. of E., but neither me nor my parents are/were religious.

I truly believe there is something greater and more powerful than me and I believe that it is a benign, positive, loving force. If I spend time thinking about a Higher Power I feel more peaceful and able to deal with new situations without using alcohol.

Since I came back to AA I have always had a willingness to believe in a Higher Power. I am willing to work at having the right relationship with the God of my understanding. After being back with AA for a little over four months I know that something is working, guiding and helping me to achieve and maintain lasting sobriety. Something is working now that hasn't been working for the last eighteen months.

I have come to believe that AA as a whole is a power greater than me. It is here that I found the wisdom, strength and courage to go one day at a time. I have HOPE and know that with continued effort I can lead a normal life.

I now look upon the different meetings, and the people I meet there, as my Higher Power, as I am not really close to dealing with the concept of "God" in a church-defined way yet. I can always feel the healing and the serenity of a Higher Power at work in every single AA meeting that I attend. Meetings always make me feel more peaceful and positively focussed, even if I didn't realise that I needed that.

I cannot pinpoint, exactly, when I realised that I had a Higher Power, but I do truly know that there is a Higher Power who can restore me to sanity and soundness of mind. When I was drinking I could not even believe in me, but now I have the belief that a Power, besides myself, can help me.

Looking back, over my drinking career, through sober eyes I can now see many occasions when my Higher Power was already there and helping and guiding me away from trouble and problems. It is only now that I can see that. I was never able to see it before.

A strong example for me was my conviction for drink-driving. When I passed my driving test I promised my instructor that I would never drink and drive. If I hadn't been caught on my first and only occasion, I know that I would have continued to 'get away with it', until the day came when I, or a passenger or an innocent person could have been badly maimed or worse.

Today, I am truly grateful that I have come to recognize my Higher Power and that I can now begin to learn how to communicate with it. Slowly, my Higher Power is helping me to get some of my self-respect back.

Please keep posting and letting us know how it is going for you. We're all here for each other.

Take care,

Carol

Toni Baloney · Senior Member

Hi There,

Well for this Alcoholic, before Recovery kicked in, one of my Big Problems, was that I did believe in God, but I felt certain that this God had abandoned me. Why else would a Loving God, let someone suffer like this in this Dreadful Disease. As the wrechtedness of this Disease grew, and in a very Powerful way, I became clear, so I thought, that now what I was seeing as far as any Spiritual Help in any way, that God, now, WANTED Nothing to do with the Likes of me.

Looking back, today, it is somewhat clear to me that it was part of the characteristics of this Horrible Disease that we all share, that was the voice behind "God has abandoned you".

Today, I can say with a clear heart, that it was I that had Abandoned God, not the other way around, Alcohol first became my best friend, and then became the destructive force that I could not escape.

I do not Believe that the Loving God in my Life today, would ever abandon me, no matter what is going on. God is watching us. And God is waiting for us, when we cannot find our way to HIM. This Program does not have any Religious affiliations, it never has, we honor and respect any members that have chosen any Path, we respect their right to that Path, Islam, Christian, does not matter, to me, for my own path is Private, and not a Part of AA and this Recovery Program, I think we all need reminders of this.

As Phil says so Eloguently, and ofter, talk to be about anything, just not your Religion or your Sex life. Pretty simple when it is looked at from that prospective, cannot get simplier than that. Hope you did not mind my paraphasing you, Phil.

Hope life is ok, for you, just for today,

Tonikins

Phil · MIP Old Timer

Hi

Carol Quoted..I have come to believe that AA as a whole is a power greater than me."

Simple as that....

You all have a nice night eh....

Dave Harm · Senior Member

For me, early recovery was a battle with a Higher Power. It wasn't till someone shared with me that sometimes our Higher Power has to come from "outside the box." We talked some more as I tried to understand what he meant. And he said "Religion is for people scared of going to hell, while spirituality is for people who've been in hell."

That hit home, I didn't want the God of any church because there was nothing in it that I wanted to hear. I knew what hell was and I really didn't care about saving my soul for the next life, I just wanted some peace in this life.

As our conversation progressed, he told me to look at all spiritual beliefs and include religion in it. I studied Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology. I looked into Buddhism and Hinduism, Christianity, Judiasm, and Islam. Then the pagan beliefs and Native American and I began to see that while the core issues may be different... all believes share one common goal... Love.

Love would become my Higher Power. Love of people, love of nature, love of land. Everything around me would be a part of my universal Higher Power. With everything involved I could learn from it all and in return... share my gift... LOVE

The man whom I had that conversation with would end up being a close friend... and my sponsor...

Creating dreams, from the nightmares of hell...