“But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted: “Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said, “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts – so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.”
Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God. – John 12:37-43 NLT
As I listened to him share his story of recovery one evening, there was a genuineness in his testimony that clearly revealed his faith and love of God to all who cared to listen. He wasn’t there to pat himself on the back or to heap all of the praise on the fellowship to which he belonged. He wasn’t like many who begin their story with the generic statement, “I thank God today for my sobriety,” only to then ignore Him altogether for the remainder of their time.
He shared, albeit in a general way, what his life was like without God. He then shared the specifics of what happened that caused him to seek God with all of his heart. And then, with enormous gratitude, he spent the rest of his allotted time talking about what his life is like today with God.
This is the only true message of real, genuine recovery.
Without spending a lot of time specifically mentioning each of the 12 spiritual steps of the program, the gentleman that night basically incorporated each and every one of them in the way he delivered his message. Not just merely the salvation of being rescued from the darkness of alcohol addiction, but the salvation that gives eternal life.
There was no doubt among those who had heard his story that evening that God had not only rescued him from an alcoholic death, but through that encounter God revealed Himself in such a way that it changed everything about his life. Very few who share their recovery story in an AA meeting are willing to do what he did that night, the way that he did it.
In everyday life, most people who privately profess faith in God lack the humility and courage to acknowledge Him publicly. Is it because they fear what others who don’t believe in God may think of them? Could it be that to do so might make them accountable to others who do have faith in God? But perhaps there’s a more valid reason: They’ve not yet found themselves in such a hopeless, dire circumstance to know what that level of desperation is like and what it means to be rescued from it.
Those of us who’ve bottomed out in life because of active alcoholism certainly know of this hopeless desperation on a personal level. But sadly, for whatever reason, that same lack of humility and courage that prevents people from acknowledging and expressing their faith in God in everyday life is even more noticeable in the rooms of AA.
That’s why I remember this man’s story all these years later. He didn’t find God, God found him. God met him where he was, and he wasn’t ashamed to talk about it to people who desperately needed to hear why recovery without restoration isn’t true recovery.
“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.” – Psalm 40:1-3
Few stories I hear in AA resemble that guy’s story.
But his story is my story, too.
Former Blackout Artist 