February 4 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2 | 2012 | Today's AA daily: "when faith is missing." Faith was certainly missing from my life from the very beginning. No understanding of God, or simply mistrust of anything religious. And an understanding driven home by real-life that hard work, doing the right thing and standing on my own two feet would lead to success. Coming into recovery, I had no blame attached to anyone but me for my predicament. In early days, the evidence that sobriety was possible started a process of developing a faith of my own understanding. And I began to trust in others in recovery…
Courage and confidence took a while to develop in my early days. Paranoid and fearful and always looking over my shoulder kept me wanting and completely unnerved day by day. Trusting other people, who were on the same journey one day at a time, to remain sober and participate started me on the road with faith. Faith in people and learning to trust was key. And I also needed to realise that as I was fallible so others were fallible too, prone to make mistakes and at the same time learn from them. Progress in learning and having enough courage and confidence helped me start to understand what faith can be for me…
I know the notion of faith is laden with personal beliefs, usually of a religious nature. The nature of personal religious beliefs is what it is for each individual and to be respected in my opinion. Today I have faith to be a learner about all aspects of life including religion, living day by day in a practical way and developing an understanding of how to live and cope one day at a time. I have faith in people, and faith that doing the next right thing if I know it will improve my situation. If I don't know the answer, I have faith that others may and if none of us know the answer, working together we may discover the best path available wherever it may lead. And of course we learn and we can change direction learning what we can and cannot do today…
All the steps in our programme are about being open, honest and willing to change. And change is part of the bedrock of living one day at a time. It is okay not to know the answers and it is okay to be learning life every day. And if I become fearful, hide behind a brave face and try and tough out situations my faith, courage and confidence is undermined by me. Better people know when I need help and asking for help is key at any time in any day…
Many people say, "God works through people" and after years of being a sceptic, I find no argument with this understanding today…
Step 2 Reading Video Link:
"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"
DonInLondon 2005-2011
"I gotta have faith?" I had no faith at all in the final days of my drinking. And in AA it took a while for me to believe and trust that people in fellowship were really sober one day at a time. Today I trust the majority in fellowship, have learned to share my truth. Secrets kept me stuck, truth sets me free. Faith in truth and the majority of good people keep me sober. And tolerance for those who are still stuck most of the time...
"And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in our world by mistake. Until I could accept my humanity, I could not be complete in living; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."
AA Daily: WHEN FAITH IS MISSING ~ FEBRUARY 4, Sometimes A.A. comes harder to those who have lost or rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all, for they think they have faith and found it wanting. They have tried the way of faith and the way of no faith. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 28
I was so sure God had failed me that I became ultimately defiant, though I knew better, and plunged into a final drinking binge. My faith turned bitter and that was no coincidence. Those who once had great faith hit bottom harder. It took time to rekindle my faith, though I came to A.A. I was grateful intellectually to have survived such a great fall, but my heart felt callous. Still, I stuck with the A.A. program; the alternatives were too bleak! I kept coming back and gradually my faith was resurrected.
-/-
Courage and confidence took a while to develop in my early days. Paranoid and fearful and always looking over my shoulder kept me wanting and completely unnerved day by day. Trusting other people, who were on the same journey one day at a time, to remain sober and participate started me on the road with faith. Faith in people and learning to trust was key. And I also needed to realise that as I was fallible so others were fallible too, prone to make mistakes and at the same time learn from them. Progress in learning and having enough courage and confidence helped me start to understand what faith can be for me…
I know the notion of faith is laden with personal beliefs, usually of a religious nature. The nature of personal religious beliefs is what it is for each individual and to be respected in my opinion. Today I have faith to be a learner about all aspects of life including religion, living day by day in a practical way and developing an understanding of how to live and cope one day at a time. I have faith in people, and faith that doing the next right thing if I know it will improve my situation. If I don't know the answer, I have faith that others may and if none of us know the answer, working together we may discover the best path available wherever it may lead. And of course we learn and we can change direction learning what we can and cannot do today…
All the steps in our programme are about being open, honest and willing to change. And change is part of the bedrock of living one day at a time. It is okay not to know the answers and it is okay to be learning life every day. And if I become fearful, hide behind a brave face and try and tough out situations my faith, courage and confidence is undermined by me. Better people know when I need help and asking for help is key at any time in any day…
Many people say, "God works through people" and after years of being a sceptic, I find no argument with this understanding today…
Step 2 Reading Video Link:
"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"
DonInLondon 2005-2011
"I gotta have faith?" I had no faith at all in the final days of my drinking. And in AA it took a while for me to believe and trust that people in fellowship were really sober one day at a time. Today I trust the majority in fellowship, have learned to share my truth. Secrets kept me stuck, truth sets me free. Faith in truth and the majority of good people keep me sober. And tolerance for those who are still stuck most of the time...
"And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in our world by mistake. Until I could accept my humanity, I could not be complete in living; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."
AA Daily: WHEN FAITH IS MISSING ~ FEBRUARY 4, Sometimes A.A. comes harder to those who have lost or rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all, for they think they have faith and found it wanting. They have tried the way of faith and the way of no faith. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 28
I was so sure God had failed me that I became ultimately defiant, though I knew better, and plunged into a final drinking binge. My faith turned bitter and that was no coincidence. Those who once had great faith hit bottom harder. It took time to rekindle my faith, though I came to A.A. I was grateful intellectually to have survived such a great fall, but my heart felt callous. Still, I stuck with the A.A. program; the alternatives were too bleak! I kept coming back and gradually my faith was resurrected.
-/-
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