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Old 10-21-2009, 07:48 AM   #5 (permalink)
jimhere
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Pugetopolis
Posts: 2,392
Why not do those amends that don't involve debt first?

Up to about fourteen months of sobriety I was doing great. I had went back to work when I was a couple of months sober for a company I had worked for in the past who was willing to give me another chance. When I was six months sober I got a good sponsor who took me through the steps.

I did the steps and was getting back on my feet. I was making amends, active in A.A., starting to work with others, all that stuff. I was making enough to rent a nice little place by the river, make payments on a fairly new truck, make my financial amends, and pay child support. Then it all fell apart.

One day at work, I injured my knee and had to reopen an old industrial insurance claim through the state. I went for three months with no income at all while the state was messing around reopening the claim. I went from making good money to living on less than a thousand bucks a month for the next three years. Many times I didn't know where my next meal was coming from. I couldn't afford cable TV, so I learned that I didn't need TV. I had to get rid of my nice truck and drive a $200 beater. Yet looking back, I get nostalgic for those days. I learned to live simply and frugally. I see now that I was given some time to recover, because it was during this time that began to seek out a prayer life and to really work with others. And I never went without, all my needs were, and still are met.

Taz mentioned that this is a Step Three question. I agree. Many of us miss the point of Step Three. There is a line that says "I offer myself to Thee to build with me and do with as thou will..." (something like that). That means that my life is no longer mine, it is no longer any of my business. It means from here on out, the deal is that are no more deals. It means that I could be rich or I could be poor. I could have a job or lose a job, be single or be in a relationship. I could get sent to Cleveland, or Indiana, or China but these days I think God just wants me to stay home and pay my bills. That is why it says to think well when considering the Third Step, because I've just offered myself up to God and having everything removed that stands in the way of complete and unconditional trust in God.
Jim

Big Book references from Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition
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