markman

AA talks a lot about spiritual experiences and miracles. I've been sober for almost 15 months now and have been thinking a lot about how come I was able to stop drinking. I think about drinking, but have never once had a single temptation to pick up a bottle. The idea makes me sick. When I checked into treatment I had a BAC of .23. That was after drinking a normal amount for a typical morning. They put me on librium for 7 days. On the 7th day, they took me off it, and from that point on I was all on my own. No more drugs and no alcohol for miles. I didn't know if i'd freak out and go crazy or just dry up and blow away. I felt completely disconnected from everyone and everything I knew, like I was in some parallel universe. For the next few days I was in a real blur, almost like there were two of me. Each looking at the other. About 3 weeks in, when my mental fog lifted, I knew that I could finish treatment and that maybe I could be sober for real this time. I left treatment feeling like a million bucks. For me there is only one explanation that can account for this and that is God. It just doesn't make sense otherwise.
I'd love to hear other peoples stories about how they finally quit.

Latte

My miracle involved a lot of hard work. At the end of this summer I really started to be happy, really seriously happy. No pink cloud etc. just a geniune happiness. My husband asked me to go in for a drug test. I didn't even question and did it. I had been recovering from the physical part of my addiction for so long that he couldn't figure it out.

My DH and my girls are my miracle. They aren't the reason I got clean and sober but their love really pushes me to stay that way.

Kristina

Your miracle sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing it.

I guess my miracle came in the form of the clarity I suddenly experienced the morning after my last drunk. There's really no good reason why I suddenly realized that I could never take another drink, as my last night drinking wasn't particularly memorable. I didn't do anything particularly awful, I didn't drive, I didn't try and pick a fight at a bar (I'm 5'5 and about 110 pounds, so you can imagine how well I'd fare in a fist fight), I didn't go to jail -- I just woke up the next morning knowing absolutely that I had a problem and had to do something about it.

I've not yet experienced the miracle of my obsession with drinking being lifted. Most of the time I don't want to drink, but at times the compulsion is very, very strong. After experiencing a very painful breakup a few of weeks ago, I wanted nothing more than to get trashed and felt this way for several days. Fortunately, I didn't, and celebrated 4 months just a couple of days ago.

CarolD

I had many small victories along the way...
we called them God Shots in D.C. AA.

Thanks for starting this thread...
I'll gladly share my miracle

I consider my miracle happened about 3
years into recovery...I had finished my Steps.

I was in a work situation that allowed me access to cases
of alcohol...and no one would know if I drank.
I needed the job...and I needed to stay sober.

I fell on my knees ...asked God to remove my obcession
Woosh! it vanished....has never returned years later.

espresso

Hi there, good post. For me my last drunk left me so ashamed, remorseful and depserate that I had had enough. I went back into secondary (rehab program) having left the previous one 9 days earlier. I did what I was told, I wanted sobriety so much that I was really willing to go to any lengths. It sounds a cliche but it worked for me together with the steps and my HP. The obsession to drink was finally lifted. Today I have if you like a "healthy" fear of alcohol. I don't want it, don't consciously think about it unless I see an advert/see it in supermarkets etc but I know I need to be vigilant every day.

Timebuster

The miracle happen the day I log on to Sober Recovery.

I finally got the courage ( moment of clarity ) to log in. It was ether my second or third thread, a member here wrote back. She is no longer with us, Trish/miracle. And I quote: Timebuster-I am gonna give it to you straight, ok? New Jersey is not the reason you are relapsing, I sense a big part of the problem is the resistance (I am not hearin surrender).

What a wake up call. When I log off of SR that day those words stuck in my mind. Surrender. I am not hearing surrender. Today I have a little over four and half years clean from all mind altering substances.

Ivan

Kellye C

My miracle began a month and 2 days after walking into my home group. I went in on July 6 2004 sick, dying, and desperate. I was so physically addicted to alcohol that I had to have it every few hours or the withdrawals would set in. I was terrified and although it wasn't the first meeting my mom had taken me too it was the first meeting where I was ready to listen and beg for help. I lasted 4 days without a drink. I picked up another desire chip and reset my sobriety date as July 10. I continued to drink in the evenings although WAY less. I kept my bogus sobriety date, went to meetings every night then would go home and drink myself to sleep. I felt like a worm. AA was getting into my head and those people were becoming people I cared about and I was lying to them! Also I was watching them and listening when they shared and saw that they had broken free from the bonds of alcohol so MAYBE I could too. A seed of hope was planted in my heart.

The closer it got to August 10 (which was a month out from my bogus sobriety date) I started to panic. People started to comment that I almost had a month and how wonderful. I was lower than low, I knew there was no way I could continue the lie and leaving AA was not an option. What to do?

On August 8 2004 I was on the river at a family outing with the group and I had a blast even though I had to get through my daily shakes. I was sitting at a picnic when a voice spoke to me clear as day and told me if I was going to do this thing that it was time to do it for real (I will spare you the exact phrasing as it wasn't delicate, it was designed to get my attention which it did). That night I admitted my bogus sobriety date, declared an new one and got a new chip.

So here is my miracle. That was a little over four years ago. When I got there I couldn't go four HOURS without a drink. That night I did what they had told me. I hit my knees and asked my HP to keep me sober. And He did! I did the same thing the next day. I said please in the morning and thank you at night with a meeting in between. And it worked!

Since then I have had many many wonderful things happen and I have seen many miracles unfold before my eyes as I have watched people come in beaten and broken and slowly but surely emerge into happy and confident people.

Thank you for letting me share on this fantastic topic!
Kellye

Tazman53

Well I have had several, the first was in my garage, my wife had just told me that her and the kids were moving out in about a month and I was celebrating that as soon as they were gone I could drink in the house! Then it happened........ I had a moment of clarity, the next year of my life was fast forwarded for me if I continued to drink:

1. I would lose my family. (Already in the works)

2. I would lose my job because I would be passing out on my sofa and not hear the alarm to go to work!

3. I would lose my house because I would have no money!

4. I would get my truck repoed!

5. All I would have left was my bottle and a slow death from alcohol.

That was my bottom, I saw a doctor and went into detox, where I started following suggestions like:

1. Go to at least 90 AA meetings in 90 days.

2. Get a sponsor.

3. Work the steps.

Sometime after doing my 4th/5th I had the second miracle happen for me, the obsession/craving for a drink was lifted.

Today I observe and live miracles, I see them in meetings and in my sponsee's on a regular basis.

zoomer

I was seeing a shrink and they put me on meds. I was still drinking eventhough I was on medication. It dawned on me that I was a danger to myself drinking and taking medication and alls my ex husband and shrink had to do was lock me up to keep me from harming myself. It sure was a wake up call knowing that I could not control myself and that others could if I did not stop drinking and taking medication. BTU, I did a few times ditch the medication so I could drink,but I was "crazy" without meds,so I'd quit drinking and try meds for a few weeks only to return to drinking. I was giving myself a run for my money. It's been over 4 years sober and on medication. I'm no longer "crazy" and no one has to watch out for me. I'm responcible for myself. I'm not sure if it's a miracle or a rude awakening,but what ever it is I'm greatful and so is everyone els.

Stubborn1

For me it was a bunch of tiny epiphany's then what iced my cake was when my female best friend died. It tore my heart out and I realized I wasn't immortal. I also looked at how I claimed to have loved my children so much but yet went out and drink and drove when I would go out on the town. I realized I had no right to do that to them. Since I pride myself in being the best mother I can be for them I knew it was time to stop. I also found a comfort in my God. I never believed in him and fought against him for years. I guess I just got sick and tired and said why not. I never knew that asking him to take over was all it would take. For me I have a bunch of miracles. Three children and I had the unconditional love of a beautiful best friend and the horror of living with an alcoholic. I knew what I didn't want to become and I knew where I was headed if I didn't get a grip.
Nice post. I'm looking forward to all the replies.

Ananda

I left the hospital after being on ivs, picked up a bottle on the way home. The next morning I called in "sick" to work and went and bought another bottle. Then I called some women from AA to take me to treatment.

Now everything except the call I made had happened before...

I don't know what the "mirical" was, and have learned that I have no idea what the "mirical" will be for others....I just know that something changed and I believed I could be sober...just maybe...

That is the thing I most hope that any new person to SR or AA can find.

Boleo

Even though I believed in God, I really only suspected that there was a God. I guess you could have said that I was agnostic.

I once prayed to God to teach me the meaning of humility. Three days later I found myself broke, homeless and living on the streets of Denver 1200 miles from home. My life changed so quickly and so drastically that I knew for certain that it had to be the result of a cruel joke that God had played on me.

The irony of the situation was that in spite of all the tragic evidence surrounding me, I somehow felt a sense of peace and optimism. Much to my surprise, I had no temptation to drink as well (for the first time in years). I have come to accept that this was God's way of teaching me that true humility (as St. Augustine believed) is the foundation of all other virtues. Including optimism and courage.

I later came to appreciate Bill Wilson's definition of humility; "a clear recognition of what and who we really are followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be" (12&12 P. 58).

Cathy31

Oh my gosh wonderful posts!

I have also had a series of miracles...and each day is still for me a miracle to wake UP sober, to go to bed sober and to not have the desire to drink. It has been removed.

I don't know which of the miracles was 'thee' one - possibly the one when I woke up at 4am on the couch as my ex h was putting a blanket on me - I had passed out and had a HUGE day at work consulting that day which I had to cancel...the lsat thing I remembered was rushing past him at the door and jumping in the car to get more alcohol, driving drunk as a skunk! Again not anything unusual but that same morning I sent a text to a lecturer and said I think I need to stop drinking, but how do you face life without alcohol...he called me the next day and soon after I went to my first aa meeting.

That was another miracle - the love and acceptance I got there...SR was a miracle helping me to identify that I was an alcoholic...everyone's stories here were my own!

I carried on in and out of AA for 18 months...possibly the greatest miracle was when I moved back to South Africa from Ireland and something inside me clicked - you gotta get sober...you gotta do what they suggest in AA. So I did that. Soon I don't know when the desire to drink disappeared. I am becoming a better person. I am conscious of how I can be of service to God and others...I really love my life and I like myself - that's the biggest miracle. I am a grateful alcoholic today.

Cathy31
x

maloneshawn32

I was just about to deploy to Iraq and was nervous as hell. I have a great wife and two great children so nothing scared me more than to lose my life and leave them. I was already a heavy drinker and hit depression and drank even more to try and get the painul feelings to go away, needless to say that doesn't work. The day before deploying I was sober but dying for a drink but a voice told me that if you aren't coming back don't let the last time your family sees you have you being hammered. I decided that night that I would not waste anymore time on alcohol and concentrate on my family.

Grizzled

My miracle was walking through the door of AA.

Other than that I agree with what everyone else says.

RufusACanal

I believe that I was walking down my driveway when I noticed that the obsession was gone. I marvel at the freedom since that moment, for I have dome little to accomplish anything. It had to be something Greater, because I simply could never do it myself.

Boleo

"We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. "

(Big Book First Edition page 85)

Harley3801

.

I drank for 28 years and for the last 15 of those years, I knew I was an alcoholic. I drank every day (with the exception of about 10 days . . . that were not consecutive . . . . during that 15 year period).

Every morning for 15 years, I woke up and my first thought was "I'm not going to drink today." I have no idea what I thought at night when I went to bed because I was a blackout drinker . . . And every day, the first thing I did when I got home from work was head for the bottle. When I tell my story in AA, I often say that I relapsed every day for 15 years.

On the morning of March 8, 2001 I woke up and even though I'd said it over 5,000 times before, I knew. I was dead certain sure, that I was not going to drink again.

The obsession was gone. And it's never come back . . . . and I haven't had a drink since my last one on the night of March 7, 2001 . . . . and I hope I never have a drink again.

I don't believe in a Higher Power who is directly involved in our lives or one who hears our prayers . . . but every now and then I think that perhaps the reason my obsession was removed was because the universe knew I couldn't stop drinking on my own so the universe removed the obsession for me.

Slowbriety

Single car minor wreck. After that I knew it was time. Nothing too exciting about mine.

Harley3801

I disagree about the "nothing too exciting" part . . . . I think that anything that got someone to stop drinking is pretty darned exciting! :bounce