With no religious or spiritual background upon coming into the program of AA, I didn’t even think much about it. My prayers were limited to “God get me out of this and I will never do it again.” And he would get me out of it and I would chump him or he wouldn’t and I would believe that he chumped me. My sponsors insisted that I give this new, to me, idea a chance. I didn’t know how it works. So, they told me to fake it until I made it. I was very unsure if it works or not but I also was hurting physically and emotionally and wanted it all to stop.
I saw the people at AA meetings smoking and joking about what I considered horrible things and I thought that if they had my problems they would either drink or be miserable too. They seemed to be actually happy, joyous, and genuinely free. I wanted that. So, I paid close attention to the second paragraph of How it Works where it says that if I wanted what they had then I should be willing to go to any lengths to get it. I was of the mind that anything was better than my life at that time so I was willing to go to any lengths to get what they were showing me. It didn’t take long and I soon was not faking it as much and feeling much better. The strong desire for a drink left rather quickly.
I was feeling much better about myself which led to thinking better of others. I once thought about most people as jerks. As I practiced these principals in all of my affairs, I was amazed at how these jerks seemed to turn into pretty nice people. My faking it until I made it attitude was leading me to a genuine like and then love for most of them. When I surrendered to the 3rd step, which was surrendering to my Higher Power, I actually started liking myself and this led to loving others. Even real love was also new to me. I had thought I knew how to love before but I soon discovered that it was usually more like or lust than love. My Program was showing me that it works.
The short version of the 3rd step is very simple and easy to remember. I simply say “God Help me,” then let Him, and life becomes a joy. The “Help me God” has turned more into “Thank you God.” I am truly Happy, Joyous, and Free. Happy that I can deal successfully with situations that used to baffle me. Joyous because I no longer feel all alone in any situation. And Free of any mind altering substances in my system. This is the beginning of truly knowing that it works for you. You see it and most of all you FEEL it.
No matter how long or short you have been in the program, you can truly become Happy, Joyous, and Free if you only get over any inhibitions about “The God thing. ” This can be done at first by simply faking it until you make it. This good life is yours for the taking. If this formerly very large, very angry, very violent, well trained, and well armed guy can do it, you can too. It is never too late to start all over if you have to. My Higher Power, who I now choose to call God, has my and your six. Try it, you’ll like it! God bless you!
Please let us know what you think. We can be reached at Spiritualityandrecoveyr@gmail.com or 810-965-6140 usually within hours and many times instantly.
Please come join us at our AA Zoom meeting. It is every Monday through Friday, 3:00 PM EST, including holidays. Meeting ID is 6035280704. Password 399778. It is simple to locate the blogs and Facebook pages. Simply search #spiritualityandrecovery For the podcasts, just go to https://anchor.fm/james-b-boylan
