Welcome to the March 2021 Jackson County A.A. Central Office e-Newsletter brought to you by Jackson County A.A. Central Office.
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What allows me to be part of this amazing fellowship is a desire to stop drinking. Once here, I come to learn and accept that my life is unmanageable. I am an alcoholic and addict, and only God can restore me to sanity.
So, now I learn through Step Three that I have to turn the manageability of my life to God. I must surrender a lifetime of self-will run amok. I can stop wearing myself out trying to make and force everything to happen as if I were in charge of everything in the world, namely people, places, things, and situations.
Recovery is a spiritual process and Step Three allows us to walk through the doors of hope, faith, and trust and experience one of the greatest gifts of sobriety – serenity. The essence of Step Three is turning over our will, getting out of the way, and being restored to reality, honesty, balance, and peace of mind.
Is it that easy and simple? So many times, I get tired, I get in my head. I feel like giving up. But I don’t and I won’t, and you won’t either. Why? Because through walking the Steps, being part of a fellowship, and with God carrying us through life, we are strong and we come to realize that we are worth it. Besides, we survived through all the shit our addiction put us through, we can survive recovery.
Therefore, I have to understand that the goal of recovery isn’t to be sober and the purpose of A.A. is not to create a bunch of “miserable rationalizing dry drunks.” I believe that the goal of recovery and A.A. is to establish or reconnect a personal relationship with God through which I learn to love myself so much that I don’t want or need to drink or use… ever again.
I have to remind myself that we were never created to live depressed, defeated, guilty, condemned, ashamed or unworthy. That’s the life we left behind. Through A.A. we learn that we are forgiven, redeemed, transformed, worthy, happy, joyous, and free. In fact, we were created to be victorious.
I wish I can tell you all that life from here on out will now get easy. It won’t. Life is life, and it will continue to beat us up, but I will tell you that it will all be worth it. Life is not fair, but it is good, and it will get better. We all have to stick it out and stick together.
This brings me to one of the greatest things I love about A.A. The program teaches me that I am not alone in recovery. No matter how alone and lonely I may feel in my personal life, I take great solace that others who I have come to know and care for walk the road to recovery with me and that each of us take that walk through the Twelve Steps alongside God.
So, my friends, I am here … for all of you and each one of you. I love you and hold you all close to my heart. I’m here to help and to serve you all. I pray that God keeps you and protects you, and most importantly I pray that you, none of you, let go of God.
Sincerely, your friend,
Winslow C.
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