A Vision For You
“….We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us. Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what
you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you—until then.”
From Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous 4th edition, from the chapter A Vision For You, page 164
This passage from the Big Book has been coming up again and again for me recently. Every time I am met with unrest, unwillingness, negative emotions, everywhere I look in my spiritual toolkit I am led back to this. Whenever I get lost and unsure of what to do, I can easily find direction from these words, purpose, clarity. A beautiful reminder to bring me back down to earth and back to AA. Keep coming back!
Being a part of Alcoholics Anonymous, being able to share openly and honestly with you, my fellow women in recovery, as well as the God of my understanding is so immeasurably healing. Continuously taking the stairway of the steps through life in both good and bad times has reached me on such a deeper level, grown me up so much as a human being and woman.
I am coming up on 9 years of sobriety September 1. For roughly eight years of that time I was in do it yourself recovery. Just me, God, the big book and my also diy recovering boyfriend. I didn’t work the steps other than maybe 1-3, and that was strictly the alcohol and drugs, everything else I was not surrendering. I stayed sober/dry solely by the grace of God but I was extremely lacking in emotional sobriety and that led to a bottom where I was depressed and suicidal and having using dreams like consistently every night. It was enough to bring me into the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, get a sponsor, work the steps and be willing to sponsor women… and for this girl, the miracle is real, beyond description and this program truly has saved my life.
How does this passage impact you when you read it? I find it just so amazingly succinct in addressing our condition and showing us always, one day at a time, how you find hope, how you make beauty from ashes.