Prayer...
 

I'm just curious how many of you use prayer in your recovery....For me I think it's the most powerful tool I have. I'm a member in good standing of Alcoholics Anonymous and my 11th step which is a big part of my daily routine is this.

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

When I got to AA...I didn't even know how to pray...All I knew how to do was drink. Like everything else...That book even told me how to do that. Whether you use AA or not...Whether you have two days or two decades...I'm just curious if you work prayer into your recovery...Because I know I couldn't stay sober without it.

When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken.

On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.

In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.

What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.

We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn't work. You can easily see why.


bb pg 86 - 87

Thank you Sapling. I find it easy to forget to pray when I'm feeling good. Thank you for reminding me that is the most important time to pray.

I pray every morning, God, please keep me sober and I thank him at night. That is definitely not the extent of my prayers, but those two actions keep me sober.

That's really helpful, Sapling. I have been praying a bit recently but I am not sure I have been effectively taking that mental review of my actions during the day. And heaven knows, when I was drunk I just crashed out in a mess at the end of each day with no thoughts of kindness to anyone else whatsoever, I am afraid.

Literally every time I have stopped praying I have drank. I have to keep close contact or I get the obsession back with a vengeance and I drink.

Yes..prayer is what keeps me in daily balance...:approve:

Especially ......

Hi Sapling,

For me prayer is absolutely at the centre of my recovery programme. I am following a 32 week prayer 'retreat'. While it is not specifically aimed at alcohol or other addictions a theme that runs through it is understanding the 'attachments' we have and learning to recognise when we have healthy and when we have unhealthy attachments.

I start the day with 30 mins of quiet prayer using the retreat programme and try to fit in other times during the day and especially at the end of the day (though the morning prayer time is one that I never miss). I'll be going on some weekend retreats as well.

So, yes, for me recovery is absolutely centred upon prayer and God. But that doesn't mean I don't think there can't be other good ways as well.

I am only on day two and I am praying believe me I am a Christian so truly truly believe in God and that he answers prayer......

My day begins on my knees.

When the alarm goes off usually the old drunk wakes up first.......
"Geez, is it morning already" "I'm tired" "I didn't sleep good" "I don't WANT to go to work" etc. etc.

I roll out of bed and down on my knees and ask God for HIS will, not mine.
My day begins to turn around immediately.
I get up and turn the coffee on and go read my 24 Hr book. Things improve dramatically.

I take my H.P. (that I call God) with me everywhere.. and I use HIM.

At the end of the day I get down on my knees and thank HIM before getting into bed.
I sleep pretty good .

Good post, Sapling.

All the best to everyone.

Bob R

I do not use prayer in my recovery. I do spend time daily in quiet reflection.

Thank you for posting this. I have to admitt, I am not as diciplined as I should be on prayer. Which is only hurting me really!! I just finished a 6 week big book study and it really opened my eyes to waking with God and going to bed with prayer. Also, I like the review at the end of the night. What did I do, who have I helped..... but to answer your question yes, prayer is and working on being a bigger part of my recovery!

I heard this said in a meeting once and I liked it.

I wake up now and say "Good morning God".....And I used to wake up and say "Good God it's morning".

Step 10 at night, 11 in the morning, all is well here!

prayer, meditation, contemplation, visualization, and lots and lots of gratitude

Amen to that Threshold....One of the shortest prayers is Thank You.

I use meditation. As a Buddhist I suppose that's my form of prayer. It really centers me.

That works!

Michael66. I'm really interested in your prayer retreat. It sounds cool. Can you PM me more about it?
Jen x

I am learning the difference between being a Christian and believing in God and what it means to depend on God.

I always believed in God, but that didn't stop me from harming myself and others by drinking too much.

Belief in and dependence upon God.

That's where it's at.

Be encouraged!

Charles Stanley explains it nicely. You can search his ideas on the subject.

~

"The spark that was to flare into the first A.A. group was struck at Akron, Ohio, in June 1935, during a talk between a New York stockbroker and an Akron physician. Six months earlier, the broker had been relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience, following a meeting with an alcoholic friend who had been in contact with the Oxford Groups of that day. He had also been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less than a medical saint by A.A. members, and whose story of the early days of our Society appears in the next pages. From this doctor, the Broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God."

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