by Deacon James Baker

I recently attended a sobriety conference; I have come to love hearing a recovery story as they are rightly called.  Three days of speakers telling their recovery stories, it was a variety of speakers who were addicted to drugs or alcohol who utilized a 12-step program to find sobriety.  The programs represented were AA, Narcotic Anonymous, and Well-briety (White Bison).

Stories were shared about our powerlessness over our usage of alcohol and drugs.  The common thread is that it was fun in the beginning and then it became a necessity just to feel normal.

More common threads were about hitting bottom.  Many of us came to the same self degrading realization of ourselves.  We came to a point in our lives that we never imagined or even thought about.  None of us ever said I want to be an Alcoholic or Drug Addict.

Another common thread is our struggle of shame, guilt, and remorse.  These 12-step programs teach us how to turn our life around and recover.  We learn to face reality and make amends to those we have hurt and ourselves.

These 12-step meetings give us a place to gather and share our experience, strength and hope with each other.  It is a place where we can meet people, who share in confidence with each other, our past and current struggles. Most important is that we share the steps we took to find peace.

One more Common Thread is the finding of a higher power – the finding of a loving, caring, and forgiving God.  We see that God is working in our lives.  These 12-step programs can give a person a clear path to live a spiritual life.  When we make things right with our fellow man, we make things right with God. The closer we get to our fellow man, as in sharing our struggles and joys, the closer we get to God.  We are able to see ourselves in the struggles and triumphs of others. We can identify the Grace of God.  There go “I”!