September is National Recovery Month.
My blogs will focus throughout September on addiction and its life-destroying tendencies. The writings derive from my experiences of battling addiction and living a life of recovery.
Today is a continuation of yesterday’s post and is the final day I will write about the Acknowledge part of the acronym ACT.
ACT leads to sobriety…
A – Acknowledge you have a problem, are powerless over it, and need help.
CÂ – Connect with a power greater than you and people with solutions to help you conquer your problem.
T – Take positive, recovery-oriented action every day.
As I mentioned yesterday, I hoped my acknowledgment of God would restore my sanity and instantly take my compulsion to use away from me.
Recovery doesn’t work that way. It is not a one-and-done.Â
Recovery is a verb.
I was told during the very early stages of my sobriety that my recovery was contingent upon my spiritual condition, and my spiritual condition was contingent upon my willingness to surrender my life to God daily. I was told by people who were successful in their recovery that I needed to work on Steps 1, 2, and 3 daily.
Step 1–Admitted I was powerless over my addiction, and my life had become unmanageable.
Step 2–Came to believe a power greater than me could restore my sanity.
Step 3–Made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understood Him.
Abbreviated version =Â I can’t (Step 1), God can (Step 2), I think I will let Him (Step 3)
You don’t have to be an addict to benefit from working through this process daily. 🙂
I haven’t mentioned up to this point that my butt was on the line. I was in all kinds of trouble. Due to the fact I was stealing drugs from the pharmacies I worked at, I had my own personal DEA agent I corresponded with every week. The State Board of Pharmacy was most likely going to take my license away, and the local Sheriff and County Prosecutor followed the DEA agent’s lead on what to do with me.
If I used again, I was done. I had no room for error, so I tried my best to listen to the winners who were in recovery and do what they told me to do.
For the last 12,814 days (35 years, 28 days), I’ve surrendered my addiction and life to God first thing in the morning.
For 12,814 days, I’ve acknowledged that I can’t, and God can–so I let Him.
I agree with the opening quote–Transformation happens on the other side of surrender, and, as earlier noted, you don’t have to be an addict to benefit from surrendering your life to God.
Tomorrow I will begin sharing my experiences about the Connect stage of the ACT recovery acronym.
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
