In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous it says, "When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant RELIANCE, NOT DEFIANCE. In A.A. we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay."
Reliance upon God is the basis of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous; humility is the key which unlocks the door to the grace of God. The Twelve Steps of A.A. move us from developing a faith in God to trusting in God and finally a true reliance upon God in every area of our life. This relationship with Him allows us to transcend the travails of life in such a way that we are not self-centered and caught in our own needs and problems. Rather, we are trusting in the will of God as it unfolds in our life - freeing us to be open to the world around us and sensitive to the needs of others. Written by Armand
Defiance was the only alternative to having no one else and nothing else by which to lead my life. As a result, anger, resentment and isolation were sure to follow. Which they did, leading in turn to self-pity, depression and greater consumption of alcohol. I became a solo rider on the bloody merry-go-round. Until one day it all came to a crashing halt. My first-ever true reliance on anything outside myself was my immediate reliance on Alcoholics Anonymous. But AA was only the portal to entry into a completely new world of peace and trust. The Twelve Steps led me to the presence of The Power Within me and to a personal relationship with That Power. From there, I found continued relief from the burden of me, and ongoing comfort in my daily living. In return for this gift of transformation from defiance to reliance, all that was asked was that I give the gift away in order to keep and strengthen it within me. The trade I was unwilling to make became the trade of my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteMichael to rely on anything other than our nature to respond to our environment is difficult but necessary if we are to recover. Life is challanging and we must find a new way to respond. In AA that one is God may you find Him Now. Thw Twewlve Steps of AA leads us to a place where we are "praying ONLY for knowledge of God's will and the power to carry it out."...Thank you so much>>>armand
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