You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go
Step Two
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
We come to believe in a better life through the powerful gift of other people - hearing them, seeing them, and watching the gift of recovery at work in their lives.
There is a Power greater than us. There is real hope now that things can and will be different and better for our life and us.
We are not in a "do it ourselves" program. We do not have to exert willpower to change. We do not have to force our recovery to happen. We do not have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps just so we believe that there is a Power greater than ourselves - one who will get the job done in our life. This Power will do for us what your greatest and most diligent efforts could not accomplish.
Our Higher Power will restore us to a sane and beneficial life. All we do is believe.
Look. Watch. See the people around you. See the healing they have found. Then discover your own faith, your own belief, your own healing.
Today, regardless of my circumstances, I will believe to the best of my ability that a Power greater than myself can and will restore me to a peaceful, sane way of living. Then I will relax and let Him do that.
This was, without a doubt, my hardest step ... ... ... this is where the 'rubber meets the road' as the old saying goes ...
How in the world does one 'come up with' a 'power greater than them' ??? ... much less turn everything over to it ??? ...
This one step kept me from 'getting it' for over 13 years ... I know, I'm a 'dumb-Ass', but still ... you just can't do the 'poof' thingy and everything's okay ...
I know what got me through this step and have shared that with you guys often ... so ya'll know about me ... I'm curious how others did it ... Stepchild???, you said this one step was no 'struggle' for you ... How did you get through it ??? ... was your belief and concept of a 'higher power' 'already ' present in your life??? ... if so, or if not ... just how did you suddenly become trusting of this power to do such miracles ???
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
I had a belief in God as a kid...I used to go to church in the morning before school with my father...Daily. I turned my back on God when alcohol became the only thing that mattered to me....And it cost me everything. It brought me to my knees and I started praying for my life in rehab...I was penniless and the only reason I ended up in rehab was I have a brother that didn't want to see me die...Pay for it. They gave me a Big Book there as my treatment plan....A lady took me to a meeting...And I knew it was where I needed to be...I have no doubt finding AA was an answer to prayer...And I thank God daily for the program and the people He has put into my life. I also think this is a God given program...For anybody that wants it..Why have I made it so far?..When I've seen so many that haven't? I haven't a clue....But I pray for them.
Okay, I hope this helps someone else out there ...
I had a belief in God as a kid too, Stepchild ... My family was the 'church-going' type ... three times a week, Sunday A.M. and P.M. and Wed. nites ... ... ... I even continued this after leaving home and joining the military ...
Somewhere along the road, I began to question my 'Concept' of God ... you know, I was always told what to believe as a kid ... I was shown pictures and everything ... everybody else accepted this idea or concept of God without question ... But me??? ... as I became an adult, I think I began to rely on myself for everything ... and when I got married and a year and a half later we had our first born child, a son, whom I thought would make my life, our lives, complete ... Turns out he had a DNA disorder similar to downs (1974) ... this is not a problem you deal with and it's fixed ... this is a 'life sentence' you must come to grips with ... so for me, God was either just plain cruel, or simply not there ... and my concept of God grew to become 'non-existent' ... (yes, I turned my back on Him also) ...
I didn't go along with the suggestions in rehab that I should let a 'babbling brook', or an old 'oak tree', or the 'clouds', or the 'sky', or the 'sun', or some other insane 'thing' be my 'higher power' ... ... I'm not a total idiot ... I do have a high I.Q., maybe not as high as Dean's, but still high enough to know stuff ... (my ole 'country-boy' act here is more for keeping others interested in recovery than for any other reason!!!) ...
I became the 'show-me' or better yet, you 'prove-it' to me kind of person ... otherwise I'll just get me another bottle when I get outta here and I'll be okay for a while ... so you see, I made ZERO progress til I confronted this Step 2, where I had to definitively put a face to a God of my understanding ... Without doing that, I could not take even ONE step forward ... that was 5 years ago(coming up Feb. 25th) ...
My concept of God 'today' is as solid as a rock ... thanks to His/Her patience with me ... Anybody out there want to know HOW it happened??? ... just keep going to meetings and read the BB and the 12 & 12 and do the work ... also ... (keep coming here and asking questions if you like, we'll try to lead you in the right direction ...)
Most all of us here have buried friends that didn't stick around ... Alcohol does not remove your choice, but it does remove your desire ... it's all in how we think ... we have to re-learn how to think ...
Love you guys, and God Bless, Pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
I'll tell you what the process of working those steps did give me....A better relationship with God than I'd ever had.....And AA also taught me the correct way to pray....I'll always need more practice...But I'm getting better. I had a guy in a meeting today say he wasn't a step 11 guy till about 8 years sober....He liked step 10. I've always liked the 11th step. Spiritual progress...Not perfection.
I'll tell you what the process of working those steps did give me....A better relationship with God than I'd ever had.....And AA also taught me the correct way to pray....I'll always need more practice...But I'm getting better. I had a guy in a meeting today say he wasn't a step 11 guy till about 8 years sober....He liked step 10. I've always liked the 11th step. Spiritual progress...Not perfection.
Agreed, ... that is what ultimately happened to me as well ... after 13 years of just coming up for air every now and then ... but I still had to get past step 2 before anything else mattered ... else it was all wasted energy ...
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
This was, without a doubt, my hardest step ... ... ... this is where the 'rubber meets the road' as the old saying goes ...
How in the world does one 'come up with' a 'power greater than them' ??? ... much less turn everything over to it ??? ...
This one step kept me from 'getting it' for over 13 years ...
For me it pretty much worked like it mentions in the book....on page 48 Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were.
looking back, steps one and two are just things we need to be willing to believe and have a open mind. There is nothing earth shattering here. it's either yes or no. If the answer is No, then you are not powerless and you thus won't need a power greater than yourself because you are saying you have the power to overcome your problem. In which case why would you ever come into a AA room or even forum?
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
I was raised in the church let it all go from 16 to 31 years of age I was so desperate when I got to recovery I had no problem with the 1st 2 steps as the years passed I tried all kinds of spiritual paths now at 22 years sober my GOD is good orderly direction that I recieve from my home group actually the love and support I get in every meeting no one tells me what to believe and thats IMO one of the reasons for the success of AA action open mindedness service staying connected to people in the meetings thats GOD working in my life I always remain open for change
At this point I will add, that after my initial contact with AA, it took me 13 years of searching for a concrete 'concept' of a higher power that made it easy for me to believe ... you know, believe beyond any doubt, a faith, that He/She was indeed there beside me, at all times ... I found my answer at the end of the book called 'The Shack' ...
That book brought it all home for me ... It answered the question I had of "What exactly am I looking for?" ... It was, for me, the needle in the 'haystack' that I could never see before ...
All of a sudden, I knew things ... you know where it says that 'things that used to baffle us'? ... I mean the promises started coming true for me almost immediately then ... 90 meetings in 90 days wasn't nearly enough for me ... as I've said before, I was so sick with this disease, I went to 7 to 8 meetings a week for almost 2 years ... (about 700 in 700) ... (I was sicker than most) ... and yes ... more was revealed ... and in a way that wasn't confusing any more ... I started to understand things ...
Don't take this the wrong way ... but I actually think my 'church background' was a 'liability' in my coming to know a God of my understanding ...
I came to AA looking for a way to avoid death by alcohol and found a life solution that very well may save my very soul ... thank you Lord for AA and all its fellowships both here and abroad ...
Love you guys and God Bless,
Pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Jeepers! Two Step 2 meetings yesterday, and now THIS? "Do I now believe...or am I even WILLING to believe, that there is a power greater than myself?" Step 2 BB........Step 2 Promises: "When a person expresses even a WILLINGNESS to believe, they commence to "get results" & begin to be possessed of a "new sense of power and direction" !!!!!! I KNEW God when I got to you guys, and He had tried to KILL me on Angel Dust once! ;) But I could believe, that the other drunks believed, and I could borrow THEIR faith......I still borrow You Guys' faith, when I feel like god is pickin' on me lol! Its been a sad and rough week, one that I feel God has left me, or is mad at me....and last nights meetings (and one in a detox, which ALWAYS saves me!!!!) were BOTH about 2! I had written a fear inventory focusing on my fear, that I cannot Trust God.....and......once again....its seems He is listening and answering.......I look up, from the bottom of the (sober) pit......and receive ANSWERS!!!!! ((((Room)))) Love, Lady Eli
