June 24 We are only operating a spititual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect. As Bill Sees It p.95
When I came to A.A., I was run down by the bottle and wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn't really know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I understood Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was removed and -- one day at a time -- my life went on, and I learned how to live sober. Daily Reflections p.184
I could not get sober without getting a HP, but first, I had to let go of all my distorted images of what I *thought* God was.
These distorted images of God were implanted into me from an early age. After I saw this spiritual abuse for what it really was - *abuse*, I let go of all my old ideas about God and found my own conception of a Higher Power.
The tricky part was to actually challenge "the old punishing God idea".
