I hated AA. I decided…okay…if I quit for good, then I would never have to attend another one of these lousy meetings. Of course I had to attend the required meetings while I was in Rehab.
I was saved as a young girl but I quit going to church when I was 16 years old. By the time I was 21 I was a full-blown alcoholic. I wallowed in this condition for another 10 years. I will spare you the ugly details.
The Lord is good. Even though I had turned my back on Him… He never left me. Talking about this with other Christians is important. This is not only part of my testimony but this shows how we can overcome obstacles in our life with His divine help.
When I look back……. after all this time, I remember that I used to believe that somehow I had managed to pull myself up out of this declining situation. When push came to shove I could handle things myself, figure out the problem and solve it. How foolish I was. My strength never came from myself.
When attending AA, we were encouraged to call upon a higher source. Of course for me this is the Lord Jesus Christ. But what about those who don’t know Him. Who do others call upon in their time of need? There is only one higher source.
Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
About 90-95% persons do not make it the first time they go through AA. Many never make it back to sobriety. The addiction of the drink is both mental and physical, so the attempt to overcome both aspects is extremely difficult indeed. Your body craves the alcohol because now it now depends on it. Your mind tells you that it will be impossible to function socially without the crutch of the liquid tranquility.
But you know my friend…there is someone who you can lean on…who will listen to your cares and problems. It is Jesus Christ. The one and only Saviour of the world.
But you need to know…you need to turn to Him because He is the only one who truly saves. You are a sinner and you need to confess to Him. Repent and ask His forgiveness. Ask Him to come into your life. Then be ready to Live Only for Him. Give your life over. If you do this only to try to save yourself,….it won’t work. Do it because you know in your heart that Jesus is the answer, He always was and always will be the answer to ALL things. He died for you so that you would have salvation and life eternal.
So there is hope and your hope is in Jesus.
Here is a great link to check out. Please…please take a few minutes and click it.
http://www.livingwaters.com/good/
kim
(sober 23 years … only because of the Lord)
DiscernIt 
8 comments
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September 4, 2007 at 2:40 am
livingjourney
My brother has finally admitted that he is an alchololic. Unfortunately, he has no real faith. I keep him in my prayers though.
By the way, thanks for stopping by my blog and blogrolling me, I have done the same. You have some good information here, be encouraged to speak the truth according to His Word!
V
September 4, 2007 at 6:00 am
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May 13, 2010 at 5:02 pm
jenny
Praise God for keeping you sober.He has done the same for me.I landed in AA an atheist but because of the tolerence in the rooms and the Christian based principles of the 12 steps I now love Christ and know He is the way.I was alowed to find this truth on my own. I remain in AA to help others who get there the way I did.I love Alcoholics Anonymous for putting my hand in Christ’s hand. My experience in AA has been a true miracle-I’ve been sober/clean since 1999.
May 13, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Kim
jenny,
You are one of the fortunate ones who has put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and preaches Him crucified. Most AA meetings will not allow this. There is some bad history or roots to AA. It seems that the steps were channeled to the recipient. The steps kind of replace the Bible. So a Christian does need to lay down the step book and pick up the Bible.
But God is so good and those who truly seek the truth will find the truth in Jesus as Savior.
Gods blessings to you.
http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org/aaroots.html
May 14, 2010 at 7:28 am
IWTT
Wow,
This is an older post but so glad that I came accross it. My son-in-law just completed 1 yr in AA and is doing very well. Of course He would be the first one to tell you it wan’t AA but the Lord Jesus Christ that has been his source and strength.
My dad was an AA member and after leaving his family, thinking he was no good to us because he WAS a drunk, he awoke one morning after a binge of days drinking, in the gutter in the streets of Mexico and decided this wasn’t ok. He decided to come home. On his way home after he crossed the border he states in his testamony that he pulled off to the side of the road and prayed, ‘Lord if you are real and what Doc said to me in AA about you is real, then please help me because I can’t do this on my own and I commit my life to you.”
Never looking back, I remember when he came home, and from that day forward until his death, he never took another drink. He was sober for 32+ years, became a pastor and started possibly one of the first counseling centers in the nation (at least for sure in Kern County) that focused on alcholism and the higher power being Jesus Christ, related to church program.
He helped develope many different programs regarding help for alcholics until he worked himself out of a job, BUT, he maintained his pastorate through the American Baptist Church and later became a missionary in Israel, (mom and dad) living there for several years until he came home due to health reasons. He later passed away and went home to be with the Lord after fighting cancer.
My dad was a great man of God and was an inspiration to me and many others. I remember, and mom and I started laughing at his memorial service, many people coming up to speak about how dad helped them and everyone of them would start by, “Hi, my name is _____, and I’m an alcoholic!” It was very funny.
Praise God for his love towards us….
May 14, 2010 at 8:19 am
Kim
IWWT,
Thank you for the wonderful story about your Dad and the great news about your SIL
There are true believers who attend AA and I know of many who have been helped by it. But the numbers of those who do not receive any help is staggering, and this must be because of who they pick as their higher power.
Consider this statement from an article of Dave Hunt.
” In Christianity Today, Tim Stafford says, “The 12 Steps are Christian.”4 Yet they contain no mention of Jesus Christ, much less of the gospel. In fact, they are anti-Christian. An official A.A. publication says, “You can, if you wish, make A.A. itself your ‘Higher Power.'”5
AA itself as a higher power? Whoa!
http://www.thebereancall.org/node/5821
May 14, 2010 at 9:44 am
IWTT
Kim,
Yes, and I am sure that is why the pastor of the church we went to at that time wanted to start the counseling center and have it provide something for alcoholics that was more about Jesus than some “higher power”. I mean if a person wanted, the higher power could be a door knob, but that is not true higher power, as you and I know.
I received a few years ago a cd of my dads testamony from the current pastor of the church. Apparently he found it in a desk drawer that had not been cleaned out. It had been there through 2 previous pastors. Amazing that it had never been tossed all these years. Anyway, the current pastor used it as part of an Easter Service. It was pretty cool. I praise the Lord for having that bit of history still available to me.
Blessings
May 28, 2010 at 9:03 am
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