COMPLETELY CONCURS WITH STEP 2

[schooner]

Hi Gang

I'm sponsoring a fellow that does nothing but takes my suggestions and does 'em. WOW! How my HIGHER POWER works JESUS CHRIST.

TWO QUESTIONS PLEASE:

1- How does one know that they have accepted the; ". . . could restore us to sanity. "

2- Would you guys/gals say he's ready to go to step 3 ?

My sponsee is adicted to: meth. Alcohol is a second with him.

He tried a couple of A.A. meetings and decided it wasn't for him. And keeped DRY for eight months ~ then fall to Meth again.

He was ordered by the court to attend A.A. meetings and court counseling.
There's were I met him @ an A.A. meeting his 2nd. day and slipped him a piece of paper with " Any questions call me." My cell number was on the paper also. And after the first call he asked me to be his sponser.

Thanks gang . . . U - 2 - Dallas . . . lol
GOD BLESS YOU ALL

Schooner

[Dallas]

That's great news schooner!!!!

Nice to see you doing well and doing the work!

He knew enough about Step 1 to get sentenced to AA.

He knew enough about Step 2... to pick up the phone anc call you and ask you to help him!

Just keep in mind that he doesn't have to understand God or Higher Power like you or me or anyone else. As alcoholics, we seem to have a unique way of convincing others that we're trying to convert them, when we're not....

Step 2, is "Came to believe"....... (not yet fully believed... just "coming to believe" a willingness to believe..)... that a Power greater than ourselves can help us.

We might not believe in God... or spiritual things... but, we're willing to keep an open mind and realize that we need help and that somebody somewhere can help us... and we usually have found them in AA. And, that helps us get started.

The power of Good... and the power of the 12 Steps... are powers greater than me.

For me, my initial taking of Step 2, was: I came to believe that it might be possible that AA could help me. So, I was ready to consider Step Three... "Am I willing to make a decision and a commitment... to taking the 12 Steps as fully and thoroughly as I possibly can... not skimping on anything?"

I sure wish I understood that simple explanation when I was on Step 2 and 3!!! It was told to me but I couldn't see it at the time. "I had to be right" so "I had to suffer!" And, prolong my pain and agony about taking the rest of the Steps!

Best regards,

Dallas

[daily reprieve]

I completely agree with Dallas. Step 1 was worked on the streets, living in his disease. Reading of the book (The Doctor's Opinion) offered more than frothy emotional appeal. Step 2 was the culmination of step 1: he recognized the problem and came to believe in the solution, the solution which he saw working in you and your actions. Really nothing more than that. No time line nor strict guidelines offered as proof. He is still working with you. That, to me, is proof of a foundation of willingness. One thing that helped me when I took step 2 was a single word in the step that I glossed over when reading the step: "Could." The word "could" is not a flat-out declaration or even a promise. But is was the foundation of willingness which opened the door to the next 10 steps. Created open-mindedness. A higher power might not restore me to sanity. But HE could. The insanity was the obsession of the mind. A mind which would lie to me to get me to drink. The steps won't fix my body (allergy) but COULD change my thinking (obsession).