What do you say to someone, who wants to drink again? Not a new person, but someone with significant time in sobriety.
My only response is what I learned over the years. I remember a moment in my sobriety, the only time I really wanted to drink, that I was told to step outside and say a prayer. I did and the desire was lifted from me. I never forgot that moment.
The same thing happened, when I stopped drinking just before I came into the program. I prayed and asked God to stop me from drinking. He did. That was my bottom. The beginning of this sober life I have been living.
This is what I told the person, when I was asked at the meeting tonight. But I wasn’t the only one. Many of the people, who responded told about their experiences and it all boiled down to prayer.
The BB, as we were reading the chapter, More About Alcoholism says the same thing. The answer is spiritual. The admission of our being powerless and having to get a higher power and engaging in a spiritual life. A spiritual solution is all that keeps any of us sober. The minute I stray from the maintenance of my spiritual condition I put myself in peril of a drink.
It doesn’t matter what I think or how I feel about anything. I may even drift into the thinking that I’m probably wasting my time in prayer. But going to meetings and listening to others always wakes me up and reminds me that I have had a spiritual awakening and this program, if I follow the directions given to me, always works. It has throughout my time in here no matter what has happened.
I was able to talk to the person after the meeting and I know they heard what was being said. Their whole attitude at the end was totally different. They were willing to talk about the power of prayer.
Whatever the results I know one thing, I heard what was being said and I know what I was thinking about. It made me grateful to be reading that chapter tonight. It made me grateful that I am an alcoholic. I would never had the opportunity to find this way of life, if I hadn’t become an alcoholic. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I hope my friend, who was so threatened tonight feels the same way.