In Good Times and In Bad

"We in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living” that really works." Alcoholics Anonymous Page 28


We all struggle. We all have our ups and downs. Some days everything just seems to go our way. Then there are the other days that it seems like the world is against us. When I think about those sentences the phrase that relieves me is "nothing in God's world happens by mistake".

The twelve steps when practiced and lived thoroughly, allow us to take life as it comes at us. The common mistake that I make is that just because I got sober that life shouldn't throw curve balls. When those days come, and they do, I must practice what has been taught to me. I have so many different things that I can do before I act on my thoughts. The first thing I can do is call the people that have gotten me this far and ask them for help. That practice never, ever fails me. It is truly a miracle that a meeting or a talk with another alcoholic can distract me, sometimes just enough, to persuade me that everything is not as impossible as I thought.

My friends, or my new family as I call them, have brought me to God. I trust in God. My ego does not. My ego tells me that I have to handle everything. I alone have never been able to handle much. The greatest thing my friends in AA have taught me is to humbly ask God to help me. I talk to God today. I ask for direction in my successes and my failures.

The life the twelve steps grants us is "a design for living that really works". There is nothing too overwhelming that the twelve steps cannot handle. We have found a power greater than ourselves that can solve our problem. The problem is me and the solution is AA/NA and the principles they teach us.


Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for being a member of a recovery group. Today I will work on being the best member I can be. I pray that I see the need to be an active member of my home group.