September is National Recovery Month.
The focus of my blogs throughout the month of September will be on addiction and its life destroying tendencies. The writings derive from my own personal experiences of battling addiction and living a life of recovery. My latest book, “Victory Over Opiates,” is a fifty day chronicle of my journey. Click the link if you’d like to check it out.
For the next few days I will be focusing on the Acknowledge stage of the acronym ACT.
ACT leads to sobriety…
A – Acknowledge you have a problem and you are powerless over it and you need help.
C – Connect with a power greater than you and people who have solutions that will help you conquer your problem.
T – Take positive, recovery-oriented action every day.
Today’s blog is a continuation of my September 5th post.
So how did I tackle the three feelings (pride, shame and guilt) that were destroying me?
It was through divine intervention…literally.
The 2nd Step of the 12 Steps is: “Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
I am grateful the 12 Steps were in place when I jumped on the road to recovery. I was turned off by religion at a young age but I knew God was the answer to my problems. The 12 Steps led me to experiencing a spiritual awakening with a God of my understanding…more on my spiritual transformation later in the month.
When I read the 2nd Step, I saw three key parts:
CAME TO- Meant I was out of it. I was in some ways, unconscious. If I was going to get better I needed to “come to.”
POWER GREATER- Meant there was a power greater than me that could take the key elements of insanity (pride, shame, and guilt) away from me and restore my sanity.
SANITY- In order to be restored to sanity I first had to admit I was living in a state of insanity.
This may be a bit confusing for a normal person but the 2nd Step gave me hope. I acknowledged the fact that my addiction had made me insane, and was willing to trust a power greater than me to restore my sanity.
But I was hoping a quick prayer to God would take care of my problems…it wasn’t that easy.
More on this tomorrow.
Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
