Daily Reflection Podcast Michael L. & Lee M.

Unable to stay sober for many years, Jean shares a powerful story that includes multiple relapses, and a final surrender of self-will to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Surrendering Self-Will
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 34
No matter how much one wishes to try, exactly how can one turn his own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is? In my search for the answer to this question, I became aware of the wisdom with which it was written: that this is a two-part Step.
I could see many times where I should have died, or at least been injured, during my previous style of living, and it never happened. Someone, or something, was looking after me. I choose to believe my life has always been in God’s care. He alone controls the number of days I will be granted until physical death.
The matter of will (self-will or God’s will) is the more difficult part of the Step for me. It is only when I have experienced enough emotional pain, through failed attempts to fix myself, that I become willing to surrender to God’s will for my life. Surrender is like the calm after the storm. When my will is in line with God’s will for me, there is peace within.
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If you’re struggling with alcohol or addiction, or wondering how to stop drinking it’s helpful to know that there’s a solution that has worked for millions of people. The Daily Reflection Podcast provides hope, and inspiration through the shared experiences of people that have found a way out.

Rich speaks with authority about his experience with the service structure of A.A and also shares about the important ways even those with little time can get into service by helping to carry the message at meetings. During this interview Rich mentions SEPIA, which is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Intergroup Association of AA. There are approximately 757 Inter-Groups or Central Offices registered with A.A.’s General Service Office; 514 are located in the United States and Canada. If you're interested in getting into service as part of an Area Integroup, reach out at your home group and talk to your General Service Representative (GSR).

https://aa-intergroup.org/

WHAT? NO PRESIDENT?
When told that our Society has no president having authority to govern it, no treasurer who can compel the payment of any dues, . . . our friends gasp and exclaim, "This simply can't be. . . ."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 132
When I finally made my way to A.A., I could not believe that there was no treasurer to "compel the payment of dues." I could not imagine an organization that didn't require monetary contributions in return for a service. It was my first and, thus far, only experience with getting "something for nothing." Because I did not feel used or conned by those in A.A., I was able to approach the program free from bias and with an open mind. They wanted nothing from me. What could I lose? I thank God for the wisdom of the early founders who knew so well the alcoholic's disdain for being manipulated.
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Need the Daily Reflection Book?
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Support the Podcast:
- On Patreon: https://patreon.com/dailyreflection
- On PayPal: https://paypal.me/dailyreflection
If you’re struggling with alcohol or addiction, or wondering how to stop drinking it’s helpful to know that there’s a solution that has worked for millions of people. The Daily Reflection Podcast provides hope, and inspiration through the shared experiences of people that have found a way out.

Tony identifies as an atheist. His deep knowledge of the faith traditions and love for the program of recovery makes for an incredible discussion of today’s reflection… his is truly no ordinary success story. 

NO ORDINARY SUCCESS STORY
A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 35
Upon entering A.A. I listened to others talk about the reality of their drinking: loneliness, terror and pain. As I listened further, I soon heard a description of a very different kind—the reality of sobriety. It is a reality of freedom and happiness, of purpose and direction, and of serenity and peace with God, ourselves and others. By attending meetings I am reintroduced to that reality, over and over. I see it in the eyes and hear it in the voices of those around me. By working the program I find the direction and strength with which to make it mine. The joy of A.A. is that this new reality is available to me.
Support the show
Need the Daily Reflection Book?
Visit our web site
Read about Recovery on our Blog
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Support the Podcast:
- On Patreon: https://patreon.com/dailyreflection
- On PayPal: https://paypal.me/dailyreflection
If you’re struggling with alcohol or addiction, or wondering how to stop drinking it’s helpful to know that there’s a solution that has worked for millions of people. The Daily Reflection Podcast provides hope, and inspiration through the shared experiences of people that have found a way out.

Joe found the program but didn't get a sponsor. He thought he had it all figured out until he realized the only true victory is through surrender. He decided to take some suggestions like getting a sponsor, working the steps and today, he's lives a happy, joyous and free life.

RESCUED BY SURRENDERING
Characteristic of the so-called typical alcoholic is a narcissistic egocentric core, dominated by feelings of omnipotence, intent on maintaining at all costs its inner integrity. . . . Inwardly the alcoholic brooks no control from man or God He, the alcoholic, is and must be the master of his destiny. He will fight to the end to preserve that position.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 311
The great mystery is: "Why do some of us die alcoholic deaths, fighting to preserve the 'independence' of our ego, while others seem to sober up effortlessly in A.A.?" Help from a Higher Power, the gift of sobriety, came to me when an otherwise unexplained desire to stop drinking coincided with my willingness to accept the suggestions of the men and women of A.A. I had to surrender, for only by reaching out to God and my fellows could I be rescued.
Support the show
Need the Daily Reflection Book?
Visit our web site
Read about Recovery on our Blog
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Support the Podcast:
- On Patreon: https://patreon.com/dailyreflection
- On PayPal: https://paypal.me/dailyreflection
If you’re struggling with alcohol or addiction, or wondering how to stop drinking it’s helpful to know that there’s a solution that has worked for millions of people. The Daily Reflection Podcast provides hope, and inspiration through the shared experiences of people that have found a way out.

Yuchen was born and raised in China and immigrated to the United States when she was fourteen. She remembers having trouble with the language and feeling very different from her classmates. She solved the challenges of being different using drugs and alcohol and this only served to create more problems. At the age of nineteen, she ended up having to enter the psychiatric unit of a hospital where she first felt the realization that she needed to get sober. Today, she has a wonderful, full life as a medical student at one of the most prestigious universities on the planet and maintains a very full schedule in addition to being a vibrant member of the recovery community and helping other women to get what she's gotten. I'm so proud to know her and to have her on the show to share on the daily reflection for today.

GOAL: SANITY
". . . Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate my life. I can't say upon what occasion or upon what day I came to believe in a Power greater than myself, but I certainly have that belief now."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 27
"Came to believe!" I gave lip service to my belief when I felt like it or when I thought it would look good. I didn't really trust God. I didn't believe He cared for me. I kept trying to change things I couldn't change. Gradually, in disgust, I began to turn it all over, saying: "You're so omnipotent, you take care of it." He did. I began to receive answers to my deepest problems, sometimes at the most unusual times: driving to work, eating lunch, or when I was sound asleep. I realized that I hadn't thought of those solutions—a Power greater than myself had given them to me. I came to believe.
Support the show
Need the Daily Reflection Book?
Visit our web site
Read about Recovery on our Blog
Visit our Facebook Group
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Support the Podcast:
- On Patreon: https://patreon.com/dailyreflection
- On PayPal: https://paypal.me/dailyreflection
If you’re struggling with alcohol or addiction, or wondering how to stop drinking it’s helpful to know that there’s a solution that has worked for millions of people. The Daily Reflection Podcast provides hope, and inspiration through the shared experiences of people that have found a way out.

Ceci joins us today to share on the concept of the group, the program and the fellowship coming before our own personal desires. She also shares a beautiful poem by Mary Oliver entitled "Praying"...
It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
OUR COMMON WELFARE COMES FIRST
The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has . . . We stay whole, or A. A. dies
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 129
Our Traditions are key elements in the ego deflation process necessary to achieve and maintain sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. The First Tradition reminds me not to take credit, or authority, for my recovery. Placing our common welfare first reminds me not to become a healer in this program; I am still one of the patients. Self-effacing elders built the ward. Without it, I doubt I would be alive. Without the group, few alcoholics would recover. The active role in renewed surrender of will enables me to step aside from the need to dominate, the desire for recognition, both of which played so great a part in my active alcoholism. Deferring my personal desires for the greater good of group growth contributes toward A.A. unity that is central to all recovery. It helps me to remember that the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts.
Support the show
Need the Daily Reflection Book?
Visit our web site
Read about Recovery on our Blog
Visit our Facebook Group
Follow us on Twitter
Support the Podcast:
- On Patreon: https://patreon.com/dailyreflection
- On PayPal: https://paypal.me/dailyreflection
If you’re struggling with alcohol or addiction, or wondering how to stop drinking it’s helpful to know that there’s a solution that has worked for millions of people. The Daily Reflection Podcast provides hope, and inspiration through the shared experiences of people that have found a way out.