Recovery Reflections: November 8, 2017
Hello there, my name is Leah and I would like to welcome you once more to Detox to Rehab’s Recovery Reflections. Please join us and listen to the experience, strength and hope shared by Madison, Jen, Patrick and Joey.
We pre-record one of our reflections every week for you to watch. In the sessions, these individuals will express how the reading of the week relates to their own experiences in recovery and how it has helped them along their paths.
Alcoholics Anonymous
November 8, 2017: When the Chips are Down
When we develop still more, we discover the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon his perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy and that it would work where nothing else would. If we really depended on God, we couldn’t very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 116
It has been my experience that, when all human resources appear to have failed, there is always One who will never desert me. Moreover, He is always there to share my joy, to steer me down the right path, and to confide in when no one else will do. While my well-being and happiness can be added to, or diminished, by human efforts, only God can provide the loving nourishment upon which I depend for my daily spiritual health.
A Higher Power is Integral to 12-Step Recovery
In the reading, the higher power is referred to as God. While many people in recovery call their higher power God, others have a different concept of it. For some, believing in a higher power is simply believing in something greater than the self at work. Many interpret this as the community of Alcoholics Anonymous or another 12-step chapter.
“I had to come up with a more practical understanding of how God can help me do this,” said Patrick.
Patrick slowly developed a spiritual connection with his higher power. It took a lot of thoughtful effort on his part, though. Everyone has their own unique path to developing this connection.
So many people who, in the throes of addiction, give themselves up to Alcohol or drugs when they don’t know how to move forward in life. Imagine that there is another kind of entity to give yourself up to, though, one that won’t hurt you or hold your life hostage.
Trust in a Higher Power to Stay Sober
However you understand it, being able to trust in a higher power is integral to the 12-step format of recovery. To only rely upon yourself or a loved one will set you up for failure. This is because all people are flawed and we eventually slip up somewhere down the line.
Jen reflected: “I think we’re all just humans trying to do our best.”
No person is perfect; no person accomplishes everything they do without the support of a bigger entity. The millionaire building new condos down the road transports materials with vehicles that others built, and others will drive those vehicles on roads that are maintained by city workers. Maybe the greater mechanism of society is your higher power.
When you place your trust in something bigger than yourself, you practice acceptance, patience, vulnerability and the art of letting go. When you relinquish the idea of having control over your life and the world around you, growth in recovery becomes more accessible.
God Acting Through the Recovery Community
Joey said, “The people of Alcoholics Anonymous is a huge reason of why I am sober today, but I also stand by saying that’s because God was working through them.”
Many people wouldn’t have service commitments or put in the effort to help others who are new to recovery without a higher power. If that power is the community of A.A., then the community has helped them to recover from addiction. Without it, people suffering from addiction would be mainly concerned with themselves instead of becoming active members of the community and of society.
Someone might see the first glimpse of a higher power in the greater force of the rehab he or she attends. Rehab functions as an addiction recovery system made up of addiction treatment professionals, individuals who are working towards recovery, and curriculum that has been informed by years of study and experience.
If you call your higher power God, like Joey, then you might also say that God works through the people in the A.A. or other recovery communities and that God works through you as well. Without the help from that entity greater than you, you wouldn’t be where you are today.
God will Always be there for You
While loved ones and even ourselves can sometimes let us down in life, a higher power won’t. God, or whatever your higher power is, functions on a level that goes beyond any one person.
Think of a huge ocean wave: if you try to push the water into a different direction, it isn’t going to work. If you trust that there is a complex system of physical forces that are at work, you realize that the water is going where it needs to go.
As Madison said: “God will never let me down.”
If you want to learn more about recovery or want to find your own higher power in addiction recovery, there are people who can help you. Addiction to drugs and Alcohol can sometimes seem like an unbeatable force, but there is a greater force of people and resources that can help you recover. To speak with someone about any of this, call (866) 578-7471.
