Sometimes I find myself full of hope. Other times I am aware that hope is just under the surface of my thoughts. In any event, over the years I have learned to keep hope close to me.
Hope has become like a flame within. A light in the darkness, which often wants to creep in and take over.
I was given this hope early on when I was hopeless and helpless. A man came to help me and he got this message of hope from another and passed it on to me. When I came to my first meeting I saw the power of AA and it reinforced this hope. I could get sober and stay sober. As I began to compile one sober day after another, hope continued to grow. Even when things seemed dark along the way, I could find hope under the clutter.
Yesterday an old friend of mine sent me a message from a friend of hers working in Africa. I was amazed. Here was this woman, working on a project over there, faced with enormous odds against her, and she spoke of hope. What a lift that gave to my day and my heart. It made me grateful.
I remember coming to the second step and being offered the solution. A power greater than myself…ourselves. Something outside of us, which had the power to remove the obsession and craving which had long ago taken over and was driving me toward a horrible end. I grabbed on with what hope I had and the rest is my history…our history up until this day.
I have found that hope leads to faith and faith leads to love. I saw an example of that in our AA friend in Africa.