That's one I've heard, and wondered about myself a bit..hence working the steps, the "If I am powerless, how does that lead me to not take the first drink? Not taking the first drink is the only way I can stay sober"
It seems almost self contradictory, that you have to be powerless not only over alcohol, but even over taking or not taking the first drink. That's why I like going to meetings and reading my daily, because like alcoholism is progressive, so is recovery, that's why the big book is big, and why steps need to be worked and studied.
I look at the people in AA, some of the counselors I see, some people here, and I think of them as "living proof." And that's what I want to be now, living proof for someone else someday when I can tell them all the hell I went through with alcohol, and now here I am, 6 years sober, 20 years sober, yes, still with trials in life, but sober trials, and success after success after success under my belt.
I know that is a long time away, but for me just that feeling is a big deal, because until saturday, I had always wanted to 'fix' my drinking enough to prove I was 'normal' and drink without the bad.
Oh, also, the Higher Power, mine is the Christian God, and I am struggling with that right now. Simply because of shame, of the feeling that I've been absent/ignoring for so long, why would He listen to me now? I know that's stinkin thinkin, and I have started talking to Him again, but I still feel incredible guilt and worthlessness and all that in that respect.