Former Blackout Artist

There is only one key, and it is called Willingness. Once unlocked by willingness, the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: “This is the way to a faith that works.” ~ AA, 12 Steps and 12 Traditions p.34

Step Three in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous states: “(We) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him.”

Early on in my sobriety, I was too spiritually unfit to understand how important it was for me to allow a God of my understanding to play a role in my recovery. After all, wasn’t it God Himself who had allowed most of the problems enter my life that led to my eventual demise?

But as I listened to a fellow AA share his recovery story one evening, I began to see God in a completely different light.

As he talked about the carelessness with which he had lived much of his life, I was listening to someone who had come to the realization that it was his own attitude and outlook on things that had brought him so much dissatisfaction and unhappiness that had led to his drinking. “God clearly played no part in the horrible decisions I had made; had no role whatsoever in how I treated others. I said whatever I wanted to say, reacted however I wanted to react, and did whatever I wanted to do. In other words – I was living life on my terms… living a life of self will.”

As he went on to talk about how much his life has changed after beginning a sincere, communicative relationship with God, one in which involves daily prayer and meditation, I was left with no other choice but to consider that perhaps this same spiritual deficit that had afflicted him all those years had likewise gained a foothold in my own destructive lifestyle. He had clearly found something that had turned his life around, and that something turned out to be Someone.

Today, I have the blessing of sharing a similar story to others who are looking for a solution to their drinking… a story that continues to grow, evolve, and produce good fruit in my life.

I came to realize, in time, that God wasn’t the creator of problems in my life.

He is the Solution.