Get Real

"We of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book" Foreword to the First Edition Alcoholics Anonymous----

If you are fighting this disease, if you are trying not to drink one day at a stupid time... Then you have not completed the first 9 steps of our program or have quit working the last three... ...Period! 
 

We have personally seen hundreds of people recover, we have seen miracles... Do not believe the delusion that you are different. Do not believe that it doesn't work just the way it used to.

The problem is that in our egotistical thinking some of us have set ourselves up to be super sponsors. All knowing answer men!!!

Some of us give our sponsees our opinions when asked a question... The answer to every question is in the book. "Let's see what the book says about that" This is what I say and do with these guys...

We have strayed so far in so many of our meetings... AA is not therapy, AA is not therapy, I don't care what you think or what "they told you" AA is spiritual program of action designed to connect you to the Creator... Period...

We don't know what you should do about your ex or about your taxes or your kitty cat... But we can help you get connected to God, who will solve all your problems...

Get a sponsor who sticks to the book, the Big Book, and work the steps from that...

You want to read the 12 and 12... Rock on, just remember the Big Book went through the group conscience of the first 100 recovered alcoholics... The 12 and 12 was written while Bill was under the care of a psychiatrist.... Huge difference... One is opinion, the other inspired by the Creator...

I love you all... But if some of us don't get real, a lot more people are going to die!!!

Jerry

Life today

God continues to reveal Himself to me all the time.  I have never been so humbled and been so blessed as I have the past few days...  God's Power is so real and so strong.  I see It in my brothers and sisters around me.  I hear It come flowing through the speakers at the podium, I see It in the eyes of sincere young men and women who are doing this work...  I feel It in the hugs of old timers and new comers...




Now will I be this aware and sensitive to it everyday, no probably not...  But this program has taught me that my actions need to remain the same, through good times and not so good, because they are all God's time.  I am blessed beyond belief...




God's Grace is sufficient, His Power is unstoppable, His presence is undeniable.




"The Great Fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences that have revolutionized our whole attitude towards life, toward our fellows, and toward God's universe.  The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous.  He has commenced to do those things for us that we could never do for ourselves"  BB pg 25






Peace,


Jerry

Just do it...

Taking the actions "suggested" in the Big Book works.  Every time!!! If this is our experience then why do so many fail to take them on a regular basis?  It is because the true awareness of step one does not remain with us.  When we are driven into the rooms, a lot of us are desperate...  We are willing to do anything to relieve the pain of this disease... But as the pain goes away, the ego rebuilds and we become convinced we are doing a great job at staying sober...


The instant that happens whether 2 weeks in or 2 years in or 20 years in, we try to take back control, demand to have our own way, and the relapse has begun.


The only way I have found to continue to have the step one experience is to work with other alcoholics. It refreshes our step one experience...


I was as recovered on week 3 of this deal as I am today... God removed the obsession to drink and use!!! But I am not cured!!!  The book is very clear on this.  I must help other people I must go out everyday and help God's kids for free and for fun.


It doesn't matter how I feel, what I think, or what I believe... What matters is that I get off of my self centered butt and take some action...


Peace


Jerry

Unchanged

I have been going through some ups and down lately... Nothing major, just changes... Mindy reminds me all of the time, no matter what the problem is the answer is always the same... And it is...


The Solution to my problems big or small, is that conscious contact with God.  It is the absolute certainty we have that our Creator has entered our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous...


The only way I know of to keep that vital connection is take the actions laid out in the Big Book... If we are not doing that on a daily basis then we are not taking care of the maintenance of our spiritual condition and that will result in the loss of our connection to the Creator, our brain will start leading, instead of our God and we will be in real trouble.


Are we doing the "do" things? Stop, pause, turn, ask, help, pray...  If not then why not?  I am recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body... But I am not cured... If I don't take the action the alcoholism will lead me back to those selfish self centered thoughts, the dishonesty, the fear, the resentments and ultimately chaos and doom...


Life can be challenging, but it is never, NEVER bigger than our God...

Trudging...

This spiritual journey has some valleys at times.  Usually, when I am trying to judge the value of something or someone by human standards... By my own will, with my own ego... Sometimes when we won't let go of something it gets pulled away from us...


This is often a painful experience.  The question is what is my reaction going to be.  Will I slip into self pity and remorse, or will I continue to trust my God.


People say that when one door shuts another opens... I don't know if I believe that, but I do know that nothing absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake... I do know that my only choice, my only chance, my only job is to take the actions and keep trudging this road of Happy Destiny...


I have a purpose, it was given to me by the Creator of the Universe.  "Keep on stepping" as a dear friend of mine says....


Just do it...

Control

Just got to go on a great trip...  So glad to be back home...  Came home and immediately, without a thought, started trying to "fix" every one's problems.  I had to hit the pause button... I looked in the book, guess what it said? It opened to page 95 and it said "If he is to find God, the desire must come from within" 


And guess what if we are going to grow and expand our spiritual life, that desire must come from within as well.  I can't make anyone do anything... I need to remember that more... Me trying to control any situation and determine its outcome doesn't work, even though my motives are good...


Seems like I remember that from step 3...  I produce confusion not harmony... Thank you God for showing me that, one more time...


And now I am home, and I am ready to jump in with both feet and be of service to some folks, or do what ever else God wants me to do... Not what I think needs to be done...

The New Year

What will I bring to the New Year?  God will be sure to bring me many opportunities, as long as I am spiritually fit... Therefore I must take the prescribed actions everyday... Steps 10, 11 and 12...

We have lost so many this year to this disease... Will I do my part in 2014?  "Near you alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship" (BB pg 153)  Will I be in the trench or resting on my laurels?  Why has God poured His Grace upon me?  Will I carry this message?  Will you?

As I look forward to the New Year I think the most fitting thing I can do today is to say this prayer, and to repeat it each and everyday, until it becomes part of my innermost being, part of my everyday actions... May I depend on God to make those changes, may I seek His will each and everyday...

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be comforted as to comfort;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

 

God bless each and everyone of you today and all through the New Year...