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Bigmama
New Member
USA
75 Posts |
 Posted - 12/16/2007 : 13:30:44
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Before beginning the steps the sponsor must first qualify the person
who has requested to follow the path. Find out if they really are
alcoholic and, just as important, if YOU feel that they willing and
ready to go to any lengths to change their lives and not drink
forever. (Page 142, Big Book: "Will he take every necessary step,
submit to anything to get well, to stop drinking forever?")
Ask your prospect 3 qualifying questions:
1. Do you think you have a drinking problem?
2. Do you want to do anything about the problem?
What are you willing to do about it?
If you get the answers: (1) yes, (2) yes, and (3) anything, and you
feel that the person is ready to follow directions without question,
you both are ready to continue all the way.
If you feel that they are not ready, tell them so and go on to the
next person. (Page 96, Big Book: "To spend too much time on any one
situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and
be happy.") The program and your own recovery are not dependent upon
winning friends and influencing people.
If you feel that they are ready, then you start. There are five
phases to the Steps:
1. STEP 1: ADMISSION,
2. STEPS 2 and 3: SUBMISSION,
3. STEPS 4, 5, 6, and 7: CONFESSION,
4. STEPS 8 and 9: RESTITUTION,
5. STEPS 10, 11 and 12: THE LIVING STEPS, CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE
STEP ONE: Who's boss -- them or the alcohol? (The above
qualification should pretty much answer the first half of the
step)...That our lives had become unmanageable, not only our
drinking -- all phases of our existence were and are unmanageable.
It stands to reason that if we can't manage our lives and we are
acting in a manner that is not very sane (unmanageability is not
sane living) then we have to take...
STEP TWO: Come to believe that a power GREATER than ourselves,
something other than us can manage our lives. A power that can bring
sanity back to the way we live. Who are we to believe that WE are
the greatest? When we did Step 1, we admitted that we couldn't
manage our own lives. When we took Step 2, we said that someone
greater than us could manage us and restore us. We needed new to
have a new manager, a living, loving God.
STEP THREE: We made the decision that we needed to come under new
management since our own management got us nowhere. So we turn our
wills and lives over to the care of our new manager -- Jesus. He
will take care of us and manage our lives since we admitted in Step
1 that our lives were unmanageable, and in Step 2, that He could
restore us to a manageable state and sanity. At this point both of
you get down on your knees... Both on knees, the sponsor
says: "Jesus, this is ___(name)____, he is coming to You in all
humility to ask You to guide and direct him. ______(name)
_____realizes that his life is messed up and unmanageable. _____
(name)_____ is coming to You Lord in all humility to ask to be one
of your children -- to work for you, to serve and dedicate his life
to You and to turn his will and life over that he may be an
instrument of Your love. Person repeats after sponsor:
"Lord, I ask that You guide and direct me, and that I have decided
to turn my will and life over to You. To serve You and dedicate my
life to You. I ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ. I thank you
Lord; I believe that if I ask this in prayer, I shall receive what I
have asked for. Thank you Jesus. Amen."
Now that we have gone under new management, we believe what it says
in the Big Book at the end of the Steps in How It Works:
A: We were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives,
B: No human power could RELIEVE our alcoholism,
C: GOD COULD AND WOULD IF HE WERE SOUGHT!!!!!
Then we have to take an inventory.
STEP FOUR: Take a searching and fearless moral inventory. We must
find out what we've got, what we need to get rid of, and what we
need to acquire. There are 20 character defects to ask about -- the
individual wrongs are not necessary to go over, just the defects
that caused them. Going over the questions, you ask that the person
be honest and admit his defects to himself, to you, and to God
(where two or more are gathered in His name, there shall He be.) By
admitting, the person also takes.
STEP FIVE: The inventory is of our defects, not our incidents. Here
are the defects:
1. Resentment, Anger
2. Fear, Cowardice
3. Self pity
4. Self justification
5. Self importance, Egotism
6. Self condemnation, Guilt
7. Lying, Evasiveness, Dishonesty
8. Impatience
9. Hate
10 False pride, Phoniness, Denial
11 Jealousy
12 Envy
13 Laziness
14 Procrastination
15 Insincerity
16 Negative Thinking
17 Immoral thinking
18 Perfectionism, Intolerance
19 Criticizing, Loose Talk, Gossip
20 Greed
Now that you've admitted these defects, ask, "Don't you want to get
rid of them?" These same defects caused your life to be
unmanageable. How can you ask God to get rid of the THINGS you did
in your past? YOU CAN'T!! You can ask to get rid of the defects,
which caused you to act in the manner you did by taking...
STEP SIX: You were ENTIRELY ready (not almost, not just about, not
partially) to have God remove ALL (not some) of these defects. He
cannot remove things that have already happened. You are ready to
get rid of ALL of them, even the ones that are fun. REMEMBER, YOU
TURNED YOUR WILL AND LIFE OVER TO GOD IN STEP THREE. Now comes...
STEP SEVEN: On your knees you ask that these defects be removed,
these shortcomings listed in your inventory... Both on knees, the
sponsor says: "Lord, here is your child, ____(name)___. He is coming
to you in all humility to humbly ask your forgiveness, believing
that anything he asks in prayer, he humbly shall receive. Person
repeats after sponsor: "I, ___(name)___, humbly ask you oh Lord, to
remove my shortcomings and forgive me, my sins and trespasses, and
ask in all humility that you will remove my defects and shortcomings
because I am one of your children and I truly believe. Thank you
Jesus, Amen." Sponsor: "Your sins are removed in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Both: "Thank you Jesus,
Amen."
STEP EIGHT: You make a list of all persons you have harmed, starting
with yourself, family, friends, employers, employees, etc. If the
person was involved in the occult, God's forgiveness must be asked.
We discuss briefly this list, and ask if they are willing to make
restitution and amends. (Since the sponsor is boss - you really
don't ask... it is assumed.) Then restitution is made to all as soon
as possible, except in certain instances where it is turned over to
God. They will have done STEP NINE: by making restitution. After
doing these 9 steps, your slate is wiped clean. You are reborn as it
says in the Big Book on page 63, "We were reborn." II Corinthians
5:17 says, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:
the old things are passed away; behold, all things are made new!
STEP TEN: We continued to take personal inventory every night: did
you harm anyone, have you done something wrong? Do you deserve a
gold star or a black mark? You ask forgiveness honestly, and all is
forgiven by the Lord -- clean slate. When you are wrong, promptly
admit it. When you don't, use the inventory at night to do so. Deal
with your life by the four absolutes: ABSOLUTE LOVE, ABSOLUTE
HONESTY, ABSOLUTE UNSELFISHNESS, and ABSOLUTE PURITY. Did you act
out of Love? Were you honest? Were you unselfish? Were your motives
pure? All things must be based on these four things...
STEP ELEVEN: Prayer is talking to God -- meditation is listening to
Him. Pray, go to church, read the bible, read the Big Book. Get to
know the Word of God so that you will understand it when you
meditate. Thy will, not mine, be done!!!!
STEP TWELVE: A spiritual awakening is THE RESULT of working, doing,
and LIVING, ALL of the 12 Steps! Then you have this message to carry
to others. There is no message unless you have done the first 9
Steps and are living the last three. You can't give what you don't
have. You must practice these principles in ALL your affairs.
Now it is your responsibility to give this message to others as you
have received it. Not changed, watered down, or how others may want
it in their lives. If they want what you have, they must do what you
did. It is now your legacy to hand down, AS IT WAS GIVEN TO YOU --
NO OTHER WAY!!!! It is recommended that two people work with the
newcomer through the steps whenever possible, so that both may learn
as well as give.
There is no easier, softer way -- this is it. This is the PROGRAM OF
RECOVERY as it was in the 1930's in Ohio, as Dr. Bob gave it. You
can and DO recover, you don't have to stay sick -- you can and do
get WELL!!! This is the solution; this is HOW IT WORKS.
Don't trudge the Happy Road to Recovery; walk with your head high,
knowing that through you, God will help others to RECOVER as you
have. May God bless and be with you.
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I love you all and there's nothing you can do about it.
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1944 A.A. Sponsorship Pamphlet part 2
