Do You Think Of This Motto: " But For The Grace Of God "?

[aasharon90]

Hi Im Sharon and Im an Alcoholic.


When I read or hear these stories, do I/you think about this motto: " But for the grace of God?"



A Police captain once told about certain
cases he had come across in his police
work. The cause of the tragedy in each case
was drunkenness. He told his audience
about a man who got into an argument with
his wife while he was drunk and beat her
to death. Then he went out and drank some
more. The police captain also told about
a man who got too near the bridge of an
old quarry hole when he was drunk and fell
one hundred and fifty feet to his death.

[paulmh]

I hear them often, in my meetings. I have no doubt at all that this disease is a killer. I broke my neck in drink. Yes, I often think, there but for the grace of God. And whenever I hear someone say in a meeting - but for the grace of God - or indeed, when I hear someone say, "I know now that God was looking out for me" - I always look at the empty seats.

Thanks Sharon. You always help me think about the gift of sobriety.

Paul

[aasharon90]

Thanks Paul I appreciate that.

When we came to our first A.A. meeting,
we looked up at the wall at the end of the
room and saw the sign: "But for the grace
of God." We knew then and there that
we would have to call on the grace of God
in order to get sober and get over our soul-
sickness. We heard speakers tell how they
had come to depend on a Power greater
than themselves. That made sesnse to us and
we made up our minds to try it.

Are you depending on the grace of God to
help you stay sober?

[aasharon90]

Do you believe that the grace of God
can do for you what you could never
do for yourself?


Sometimes we try too hard to get this pro-
gram, It is better to relax and except it. It
will be given to us, with no effort on our
part, if we stop trying too hard to get it.
Sobriety can be a free gift of God, which
he gives us by His grace when He knows
we are ready for it. But we have to be ready.
Then we must relax, take it easy, and ac-
cept the gift with graditude and humility.
We must put ourselves in God's hands.

We must say to God: "Here am I and here are
all my troubles, I've made a mess of things
and can't do anything about it. You take me
and all my troubles and do anything you
want with me."

[Music]

Every morning when I wake up, I thank God for His grace. You see, God's grace, is God's gift to me. On March 1st, 1977, I went to my first AA meeting because by the grace of God, I received the "desire" to stop drinking. Here it is, almost 10,950 days later and I still have that desire. Some people don't make it a week. There but for the grace of God go I.

[collinsmi]

Countless other alcoholics who had far stronger positive character attributes (and far fewer) than I have died or will die drunk. I don't have to look far to find them. My own grandfather worked as a civil engineer, kept his job and provided for his family all through the great depression. By the endof his life in the early 60s , he made out quite well financially. Every day after work, he would start drinking, and stop only when he passed out. When his doctor told him he would soon die unless he quit drinking and smoking, he was unable to stop.
I haven't stayed sober through strength of character, that's for sure, I was lucky enough to do the right things, but how did I get in a position to do those things? That must have been a God thing.

[aasharon90]

Any new thoughts on this topic from members just joining SR?

[doorknob]

No, since I don't believe in any kind of interventionalist deity.

When I hear people use that phrase, I think "damn, they lucked out." Some people just catch better breaks. Some people seen to have horrible luck, timing, or whatever. I think most people have some of both. For me, there doesn't have to be a reason for it, it's just 'the way the ball bounces.' But, that doesn't mean I don't apprectiate it when things are going in my favor.

[barb dwyer]

Originally Posted by aasharon90

We must put ourselves in God's hands.

We must say to God: "Here am I and here are
all my troubles, I've made a mess of things
and can't do anything about it. You take me
and all my troubles and do anything you
want with me."

Absolutely. I try to think about it as often during eqach day as I can.
Like ... right NOW!

I've also heard the stories of others' hitting bottom and lower. Also, in the bar where I worked, the first 12 months I worked there, they had 11 wakes for long time customers who died ... in the FIRST YEAR I was there. All but two were alcohol related deaths. One wake a month and I still didn't come back into the Fellowship.

Today, I have to drive right past that bar, twice a day, to get back and forth to meetings. And each and every day, I say the serenity prayer. Sometimes I say it ,, sometimes I pray it ... and on occasion, I'm practically shouting it when I go by.

The GRACE comes in when I realize that I'm in my car saying the prayer - when I could be in the bar ... killing myself or others.

[Abbadun]

Hi

I think that just about anything positive that keeps you sober is good. All of us can find a way and do not let anyone say you can't.

Abbadun

Originally Posted by aasharon90

Any new thoughts on this topic from members just joining SR?

[requiredfield]

When I came into the halls I was just looking for something different for my life. I didn't even know if I had a real desire to quit drinking. Well, really I didn't because I couldn't see the power that alchohol had over me my whole life. I still thought my drinking was all a matter of willpower. So, I would hear people say," But for the Grace of God" and see the banners and felt envious that they had some special power in thier life that took them away from the nightmare and into a different way of life. I understood what they were saying, but I didn't connect with it. I didn't feel it deep down in my heart. I continued to go to meetings and not drink. I asked my HP to keep me away from a drink and a drug and I knew that it was working, but I also gave alot of the credit to myself.

About 7 or 8 months away from a drink I was doing Step 6 and 7, and when thinking about humility and my jounrey thus far it dawned on me, that I had no idea how I had got to AA. It was almost unexplainable. My LIFE wasn't really that bad at the time, in fact, my lowest bottom was 5 years prior. I really had no idea how much I was really dying inside. I started to realize more and more that the progression of this disease may or may not had ever taken me; meaning, there was a very good chance that if something tragic didn't happen to me as a result of my drinking (dui, arrested, etc) I may have ended up living a lie. Moreover, I saw what my life might have been like. I pictured a lifetime of trying to fill my life with external things to make me happy such as getting married b/c I'm 28 and it seemed like the thing to do since everyone else was doing it. I pictured myself in 15 years, somehow never knowing that it was the booze and taking out my unhappiness and frustrations on my children and the people who loved me since THEY could not fix me. I realized that my life when I was drinking was a miserable unwhole existance full of denial and lies and that had I never ended up in AA I never would have been gifted the chance to see the real truth about myself, and have a real chance at getting closer to my true soul.

After all of this realization, I looked back to my first few weeks in AA where I thought even though I was going through the drill of asking my HP to keep me away from a drink, I really believed I was doing it. Upon this reflection, it dawned on me that when I came to AA, I had every intention of drinking again. I was just "checking it out".

There's an AA group in my neck of the woods named the Choosen Few. And today, I fully understand what that means and it's not an egotistical name. For me, even though my progression might never had put me 6 feet under (even though it very well could have), I realize that I could have lived my entire life as a lie and died a very unhappy unwhole woman. Looking back I see how that could have been such a waste of human life. Overall, I don't know why I was hand picked to get sober. I don't know why or how I was chosen over someone who might NEED it more. And I don't know why some people will never get it, and either live that lifetime full of lies or not live at all. All I know is that I do believe something greater put me where I am for a reason. And for some greater reason, I'm not always understanding of, I was granted the gift of sobriety. And today, the only thing I know how to TRY to pay it back is by sharing my experience, strength and hope and helping the newcomer. My entire life I was always missing "something", and I always thought that a career, car, house, marriage, etc was going to give me some sort of purpose in life. Purpose, was what I was always searching for. Today, the gift of sobriety and trying to give it back, I believe, is MY ultimate purpose in life. Today, I FEEL what "but for the grace of god means". All this, over time, just by NOT drinking ONE drink for ONE day.

Anna

[aasharon90]

WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL SHARES FROM ALL...!

YOUR EXPERIENCES, STRENGTHS AND HOPES CONTINUE TO GIVE ME HOPE AND STRENGTHEN MY BELIEF IN THAT POWER GREATER THAN I.

Just as mentioned in the Big Book of Alcoholic Anonymous on page 60....

That God or ur HP could and would if he were sought.