Hello everyone! My name is Bianka. I would like to give you another warm welcome to Detox to Rehab’s Recovery Reflections. Please join us each Monday at 12 pm PST on our Facebook page to listen to the experience, strength and hope shared by Reisto, Connor, Corey and myself.
We will live stream a reading from Narcotics Anonymous: Just for Today and Alcoholics Anonymous: Daily Reflections. We express how this reading has helped our recovery or how it has impacted us. Please join us, engage as an audience member, post questions and or leave feedback for us at 12 pm PST. We thank you and hope we can inspire your recovery journey!
Narcotics Anonymous
January 9th, 2017: Returning Our Sponsors Kindness
“Our earliest involvements with others often begin with our sponsor” Basic Text p. 55
Our sponsor can be an abundant source of recovery information, wisdom, and loving words. They’ve done so much for us. From the late-night telephone calls to the hours spent listening to our recovery writing, they’ve believed in us and invested their time to prove it. They’ve lovingly and firmly shown us how to be honest. Their boundless compassion in times of turmoil has given us the strength to go on. Their way of helping has prompted us to seek our answers within ourselves, and we’ve become mature, responsible, confident individuals as a result.
Though our sponsor has given so generously and has never demanded repayment, there are things we can do to show our appreciation. We treat our sponsor with respect. They are not a trash can designed for us to dump our garbage in. They have their times of trial, just as we do, and sometimes need our support. They are human, have feelings, and appreciate our concern. Maybe they would like to receive a card in the mail or a phone call expressing our love.
Whatever we do to return our sponsor’s kindness will enhance our personal recovery, not to mention the joy we’ll bring to our sponsor.
Just for today: My sponsor has cared for me when I couldn’t care for myself. Today, I will do something nice for my sponsor.
Just for Today: http://www.justfortodaymeditations.com/2015/01/09/
What is a Sponsor?
A sponsor is someone who shares his or her experience, strength, and hope with you. A sponsor will take you through the 12-steps and give you suggestion on how to handle life without the use of drugs, alcohol and all mind-altering substances. It is someone who believes in you and wants nothing but the best for you. A sponsor will become more than just someone who takes you through the book, they will become your friend.
“My sponsor was kind of the first friend I had in recovery,” Corey said.
Walking in to the 12-step rooms is intimidating. You will see unfamiliar faces, get awkward hugs and hear the famous saying, “keep coming back.” A meeting is going to do a lot for your recovery but a sponsor will do more. In order to stay sober, you need a sponsor. He or she will soon become the person you go to for anything.
“Usually, [my sponsor is] the first person I go to when I need advice on something,” Corey said.
They will even know what to tell you about something silly like, “hey some guy cut me of driving today and I really don’t know what to do about it.” A sponsor just knows the right thing to say to you to keep your mind on the right track. In the beginning, they are like a savior you have been searching for your whole life.
“A sponsor in the beginning for me is like a life line,” Connor said.
In early recovery, you are usually lost. A sponsor will be the person you go to when you need to be found. They will be able to connect you to the things you need in order to stay clean and sober like meetings, people in recovery, the steps, and most importantly, your Higher Power. A sponsor is a loving individual who truly cares. If you have a sponsor and you feel like he or she has helped you through your recovery, give thanks and make sure you don’t take him or her for granted.
NA and AA
The NA: Just for Today focuses on sponsorship while the AA: Daily reflections puts attention on providence. While each reading is somewhat different, they share the same importance. They give me hope and guide me in the right direction. Also, it reminded me of how blessed I am to be living a life clean and sober.
Alcoholics Anonymous
January 9th, 2017: An Act of Providence
It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of Providence can remove it from us. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 21
My act of Providence, (a manifestation of divine care and direction), came as I experienced the total bankruptcy of active alcoholism – everything meaningful in my life was gone. I telephoned Alcoholics Anonymous and, from that instant, my life has never been the same. When I reflect on that very special moment, I know that God was working in my life long before I was able to acknowledge and accept spiritual concepts. The glass was put down through this one act of Providence and my journey into sobriety began. My life continues to unfold with divine care and direction. Step One, in which I admitted I was powerless over alcohol, that my life had become unmanageable, takes on more meaning for me – one day at a time – in the life-saving, life-giving Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Daily Reflections: http://www.justfortodaymeditations.com/2015/01/09/
We are still here because of God
God was working in my life well before I got clean and sober. There were several times that I should be dead or doing serious prison time. I experienced overdoses, surgeries due to IV drug use and homelessness in a terrible area, my life could have been taken from me at any minute. Yet, I am still here. I am living a clean and sober life and have never been happier. I don’t understand why I am here but I do understand God has something to do with it.
“I believe God was working in my life long enough to get me here,” Corey said.
Although in active addiction a lot of us don’t really believe in God- He or She was still working in our lives. It isn’t a coincidence, all us recovering addicts and alcoholics are still here just because we survived. We didn’t just survive, we made it through Hell with the help of God.
“I don’t know if I would have survived if it had not been for [going to jail],” Corey said.
In active addiction, we all went through things that took us away from drugs and alcohol, like jail. At the time, we hated it but now that we look back we can see it was God saving us from something terrible like an overdose.
“As soon as I got back into AA, the 12-step program, my life changed and I never want to look back. When I do look back, it is just a good reminder of where I don’t want to be,” I said.
It also reminds me of how blessed I am just to be alive. It is something I thank God for on a daily basis. I am a miracle and so lucky to be alive and I know I would be dead if it wasn’t for a power greater than myself.
“I tried to get sober without God so many times that I absolutely cannot deny that’s what I was missing from my life,” Connor said.
God works in mysterious ways. If you went through addiction and survived there is something greater than you watching over you. Don’t deny the fact. It isn’t just a coincidence – it is God. He or She was loving you when you couldn’t love yourself.
