When people enter recovery, their brains often are not functioning well. Their thinking is so clouded that they are sometimes diagnosed as delusional. The truth is, we all get confused from time to time, and small phrases of truth can help us navigate stormy waters. Support groups rely heavily on these sayings to penetrate cloudy thinking, and many of them, like “One day at a time,” have become synonymous with AA. In Dissecting the Prayers and Promises of AA, we dedicate a chapter to showing where these pieces of truth can be found in the Bible and why they matter to our daily lives.
Here’s a sample:
Let Go and Let God
There is a personal story toward the back of the Big Book by Dr. Paul titled “Acceptance Is the Answer.” In the first three steps, we are encouraged to accept the thoughts: “I cannot fix it, no one else can either, but God can.” For some people, this is just not going to work. Unfortunately for them, the “God thing” is a step too far. For many others, they are comfortable with church attendance and prayer but haven’t been able to achieve long-term sobriety. They start to feel as if they are beyond God’s help.
Both of these types of people actually share the same problem: they are holding tightly to their own control over their lives. The atheist or agnostic doesn’t actually believe in nothing; they just haven’t been shown a view of the God of the Bible that they find compelling enough to follow. They do believe in themselves, perhaps teamed up with science. Science is becoming an increasingly common faith-based religion in the 21st century and is often followed as a replacement for traditional religion.
The frustrated Christian believes in the God of the Bible, but for one reason or another feels the need to be involved in His planning. Their prayers tend to tell God exactly what He needs to do to fix a specific problem. “Please God, take away my thirst for alcohol,” feels like a legitimate prayer that God should completely support. In truth, to His ear, it sounds a lot more like giving Him a plan to follow instead of a true surrender. We can and should still be actively involved in the process, but not by demanding a specific outcome.
Eventually, the pain becomes so great that a person with an addiction must accept the fact that they are clinging tightly to their own version of control. Hopefully, with this realization comes a crack in the ego that allows them to open their hands and let control slip away. This has the effect of leaving them with empty hands for God to fill with His plans. The key is total and complete surrender to make room for our Creator’s healing grace. On page 58 of the Big Book, it states emphatically to “Let go absolutely.” This means letting go of control over the future, as well as letting go of allowing the past to control your thinking. To do this, we must become comfortable with the acceptance that the road will be much smoother with God taking over the driver’s seat.
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21
(From Chapter 10 – Just for Fun)
We truly hope you find this book helpful and inspirational and will share copies with many of your friends. Please buy several copies today!
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