SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Sept 28, from “Strengthening My Recovery” daily reader
“Education alone is not enough to gain the greatest benefit from our spiritual experience. We also learn that spiritual experiences have greater meaning when matched with a dedication to work the ACA program.” BRB p.284
“Most ACAs like to read. Our bookshelves, nightstands, or e-readers may be full of books, and certainly some of them provide guidance. But all the knowledge we may gain from reading will only be as good as the effort we make to use that information in our recovery process.
Recovery work, that four-letter word that many of us have avoided at great lengths, seems to be the catalyst for our spiritual growth. Our spiritual work may consist of reading, regularly supplemented with attending and sharing consistently and honestly at meetings, taking the Steps with fellow travelers, journaling, and giving service. Yes, it seems like a daunting list of tasks. It may even seem impossible. It’s hard to get used to taking care of ourselves.
We know we can be gentle with ourselves, that some of the work will become a habit after a time, and that some of the work will have a different feel at different stages of our recovery. We practice patience and tolerance with ourselves, and softly allow the spiritual experience to flow naturally and easily.
On this day I will practice working the ACA program’s many facets with ease and grace, realizing that the spiritual experience comes with work.”
My Experience:
How true this is. I know in the beginning I swore I would never go to a meeting. But after reading several books and the encouragement from each of them to go to meetings, I found myself in the rooms of recovery. What a blessed decision that was. That is the beginning of the work. Just showing up and hearing folks help move you closer to a spiritual experience. I then began meeting regularly with a fellow traveler to talk about the program and what we each had going on. It was not a sponsor/sponsee relationship, but more of a lets have some more contact out of the meeting and get more in depth of what we got out of the meeting or other topics of interest that were borne from the meeting. I started doing service work that helped connect me more to the meeting. My service work consisted of clean-up after the meeting, becoming the literature person, and sharing. Yes, sharing is service because someone on any given night needs to hear what you have to say and knows there is help for them like there was help for you. I finally got a sponsor and started working the steps. The spiritual awakenings that have happened since working the steps have been many and come at any time. I just have to be ready to receive them and not try to control them. I understand that my Higher Power is speaking to me and guiding me on my healing journey and he only wants the best for me. I willingly go down the path he directs and am always pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Put in the work and the spiritual experiences will occur, trust me!!
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