Twice in the last few days I have been completely overwhelmed with gratitude that I am a recovering alcoholic. First was at the meeting Wednesday night. We had a “popcorn meeting.” A “popcorn” meeting is a meeting in which different people are chosen to speak on a topic they “blindly” pick out of a basket of suggested topics or questions. How fitting it was for me to draw out one that asked “What are you grateful for?” I was almost speechless and my mind rushed, “we don’t have enough time,” I said. And that was the truth. How could I sum up all the blessings I have received since I’ve been sober? I couldn’t. I said, “I am most grateful that AA introduced me to a God of my understanding. My relationship with my God is the best relationship I have today and I know that He is always with me no matter what. With out that nothing else matters.”

I don’t remember what else I shared but I remember feeling overwhelmed with gratitude. Standing in front of the meeting, and looking around I saw a beautiful group of about fifty people. They were from different back rounds, different races, different cultures, and different classes. We are different but we are so much the same and we’ve been brought together by a common desire, to live life free of the bondage of alcohol. I stood in awe as I saw the miracles in front of me. I am grateful beyond words that God chose me to be one of these miracles, a recovering alcoholic.

Friday night was another meeting in which I was overwhelmed with gratitude for God’s grace. The topic for Friday nights’ discussion was Step 1, “Admitted we were powerless over alcohol and our lives had become unmanageable.” We, as do most meetings in the area, have a “first step meeting” when someone is in attendance for their very first meeting. We do this to encourage them by sharing our stories of what happened while we were drinking, how we got to AA and how our lives have changed since our involvement with AA.

Looking around the room I saw a diverse group of people, being themselves, being real. As I looked into their faces, I could see fear and hope, sadness and joy, tiredness and stress, peace and contentment. Each face tells a story, a past and a present. However people were feeling, none felt the need to hide it.

We were brought together by a common disease, we stay together by sharing a common solution. While I listened to people tell about their battles with alcohol, the pain and misery they went through I could relate back to my own struggles. The more I looked around the room I became more overwhelmed with gratitude for this program that God has placed at our disposal. A program that walks us out of the deepest darkest miry pits of despair and hopelessness and brings us to an all loving, all powerful merciful God. A God who lays before us a path to peace, serenity and wholeness beyond what any of us could have ever dreamed or imagined. Once we get to the door of AA all that is left to do is to make a choice and take the next step.

True, not everyone that attends these meetings is a believer in Jesus Christ. I wasn’t either at first, but I believe this is the path God intended for me to take.
It is in these meetings that I hear gut level honesty, not just about the past, but about what is happening right now, that I do not hear anywhere else. There is no fear or shame in sharing about our daily struggles, and there is no pride in sharing our daily victories. We have surrendered these condemning feelings, along with our alcohol, to a Higher Power. The program has taught us as Jesus does, there is no room for these self-defeating attitudes and characteristics, in our lives today. I am grateful to be one of the many who have come to believe in Jesus as a result of this program.

AA is a ministry field for me and it is moments like these, that I have shared, that bring an unexplainable fulfillment to my heart and my spirit. God has turned my past into a blessing and the more I share it the more of Him I receive.
Today I choose to share more of me for Him. Will you?