It was one year ago today that I came before you asking for prayers for my daughter, Christina, who had been involved in a head-on collision with another car. My daughter was a social worker for hospice for 10 years and was using alcohol to deal with her anxiety and inner struggles and on this day she was drinking coming home from a hospice visit and caused the wreck that injured an elderly couple. You rose to the occasion and today marks her one year "Happy Birthday" anniversary celebration of sobriety.
My family is grateful for all the prayers that have been given up on our behalf. I am grateful for the advice of friends that helped determine the necessary course of action and for those that continually remember our family in prayer as things have evolved over the past year and will shortly come to a final conclusion...from a legal standpoint anyway.
Christina was charged with 4 felony counts (injury/DUI). The couple has recovered and they won a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit against her former employer. They told Christina through their civil lawyer that they forgive Christina and are praying for her, which meant a lot and has helped her to forgive herself for being responsible for their injuries.
Christina has 2 children aged 4 and 7 who she left to do rehab in March of last year for one month. She has faithfully attended Alcoholics Anonymous and is learning how to live life sober. She says the most important thing she has learned is to live in the moment, which opens up a whole new way to live life...much different than how she was living. She is in counseling and after 10 months went to a chiropractor and discovered she had chipped her tailbone in the accident. This has been a very LONG year for my family but God has been faithful and healed so much that was broken.
Her husband has also attended Al-Anon and he is learning valuable insights into how to live with someone that has abused alcohol. He also accepted the Lord as his Savior this year which is such a blessing. There is much healing and growth.
Her case is scheduled to come before a judge in March. We are praying that God will be merciful and that she will not go to prison. There is certainly earthly justice but we are praying for God's heavenly mercy that will allow her to remain with her family. She has beome stronger over the past year and is prepared to accept whatever the future holds but we know our God is able to do exceedingly more than we can ever imagine.
I ask for your continued prayers as March approaches and I thank you all for your prayers and lovingkindness toward me and my family. God never promises a life without struggle...but He assures us that He is carrying us through to the end and He is the healer of broken hearts and dreams. It is so wonderful to bask in the everlasting love of our Abba...His faithfulness cannot be measured. Thank you all for being there...prayers have been answered.
Happy Birthday Christina...one year sober with many more to come!
Now with 35 years clean and sober, I will tell anyone that I didn't do it alone. I have a loving God and all my friends in AA who helped me along the way. Now I sponsor five other guys who are newer to the program and I try my best to keep my spiritual house in order.
If I could tell a newcomer only ONE thing (and I have told many of them this), it is DON'T PICK UP THAT FIRST DRINK. I spend most of my energy in AA simply not taking the first drink. As our literature from the 1940s (the "Big Book") says, the first drink sets up a new craving that cannot be satisfied. I know this is true because I had to test it myself back 35 years ago. So I work the First Step every morning to remind myself that I am powerless over alcohol and that my life used to be unmanageable, and I ask my Higher Power to help me stay sober today.
That's my best AA advice in a nutshell. Other things are to keep going to meetings, have a sponsor to call frequently, and help others. But the paragraph above is my advice to people who want to keep it simple.
Thank you...invaluable advice...from a "pro"...it truly is "One Day at a Time"...
I’ve been noting that it seems to be the case that there has to be a constructive alternative, because sin removed and replaced with nothing seems to leave a vacuum.
Is that something that’s taught there? It’s seemed to be effective with me.
(“Thanks, Saul Alinsky!”)
In my long-time understanding of recovery (from alcohol and drug abuse) is something that the co-founder of AA, Bill Wilson, discussed in correspondence with the famous psychiatrist Carl Jung. In one of the letters Jung sent Bill, he said that all humans have a need for a spiritual fulfilling, and if that spiritual filling is not met, they will fill it with other things, like alcohol. Jung said that it is no coincidence that we call alcohol "spirits"... because it is a poor and cheap substitute for real spiritual fulfillment.
So AA is not solely about stopping alcohol drinking, it is an entire way of life and a spiritual program that says, no matter how far down the scale you have gone, there is a place for you in AA.
The stories I have heard from people in AA would curl your hair, and most average folks would scarcely believe they happened at all. I know a man who spent 16 years in prison for a murder he could not recall doing because he was in a blackout. I know people who had lost everything, but are now walking, talking, and laughing miracles.
Drink and drugs are just a symptom of spiritual sickness and a life out of control. Only after the drugs and alcohol are no longer in charge, people in recovery can then set about rejoining the human race as productive and valued members. By working the 12 Steps of AA, people become whole again and even the most devout former atheist can become a spiritual believer.
I've seen it happen.
Halleluyah!!
Congratulations TNBM!! What an accomplishment!! God bless you for helping others find the path!