The other day, a friend in recovery was speaking about their difficulty in federal prison with periods of solitary confinement. To me, it sounded so much like addiction. It’s as if you are in a solitary state, isolated by your addictive behaviors, living in a secret world, all by yourself. A self made prison from which there is no escape. As if the title they almost gave the Big Book ,“A Way Out.“ Surely capsulizing all of us near the bitter end, searching for a way out.
I heard my great-grand sponsor quoted a few days ago when someone said, “Church told me who I could be, but AA showed me how to get there.” Yes indeed the Oxford group, Bill and Bob and all the early folks in AA designed the steps. A reverse engineered way to salvation. I think of it as God for dummies. Eighty-eight short years ago without the solution of the steps, or the saving knowledge of the way of Christ many just gave up and gave into the hopelessness of alcoholism and addiction. I watched film today about addiction in the streets of Philly a place that is far worse off since the lasst time I was there. What a horrible tragedy that is happening in so many major cities across our country. Since our leaders, and I use the term loosely, have dropped our borders, drugs now are killing American’s at record rates while the cartels are only getting stronger.
Love as always is what it boils down to. Finding a true personal relationship with our loving God. It can be just as simple as taking the twelve steps for the addict, alcoholic. Think about this, if you don’t have that personal relationship with God by now, then maybe it’s time you lay down what you think you knew about God, and start anew. The twelve steps have worked for millions of addicts and they will work for you, IF you let them but, you must give yourself honestly to the work to receive the desired result. As my good friend Earl used to say, “If you want a strawberry cake, you need to follow the directions in order to have one.” It’s the same way here. Remember it’s a process, and it will take some time, so please be patient with yourself. I will assure you in advance, the results are worth infinitely more than any effort you expend to get there. If you need to garner faith in the process to continue, simply attend recovery groups. There you will see for the yourself the results you are seeking in the lives of others. Proof positive it works!