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MY SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

2/15/2021

8 Comments

 
Picture
My OA friend said, “I have an assignment from my sponsor.  Can you tell me about your Second Step experience?”  I didn’t have an immediate answer.
 
Later that week I was reading a wonderful story in the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition) titled “A Drunk, Like You.” On page 405 a spiritual awakening was discussed.  Aah!  My friend had been asking about my spiritual awakening!  In the story, the writer was disappointed that he hadn’t had a “more dramatic” spiritual awakening.
 
I was transported back to 1976, when I first entered the rooms of the 12 Steps at the tender age of 26. I had accompanied a friend who didn’t want to go alone.  I had been very depressed, but didn’t know that I was about to find the answer I needed. Walking into that room is something I’ll never forget.  It felt like walking into sunshine (and it was winter in Fairbanks, Alaska). I felt loved and accepted. And I kept coming back. That was my first spiritual awakening!
 
Jumping ahead to 1987. I was no longer a member of that first fellowship.  I was desperate to lose weight. I saw an ad for Overeaters Anonymous in the paper and wondered if it could be a Big Book fellowship. Their meeting was held fifteen minutes after I got off work and only three doors away, so I brought my Big Book and found that they were starting a Big Book study that night!  It was a renewal of my spiritual awakening.  Here was where I belonged!
 
Fast forward to 2009. We had moved and moved again. I had wandered away again. I had tried other methods of weight control.  Nothing worked. I got the bright idea of going to an Oregon OA retreat to get back on the wagon, but thought that afterward I wouldn’t have to attend meetings afterward—that I’d be able to do it by myself. But I discovered at the retreat that I love meetings!

Later that year we had to move again, back to my home town of Ketchikan to care for my mother.  I found an ad for OA in the paper, but when I went to the meeting no one else showed up.  I called the paper and was told the meeting wasn’t happening and they didn’t know how the ad had gotten back in the paper.  The time and place for a meeting were provided for me, and there were many weeks of just myself attending, but slowly a fellowship has grown around me.

I pray I have learned the lesson for good that this is where I belong and where I can stay spiritually awake, growing in recovery!
 
Lesley – Region One
 

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE LAST NAMES IN BLOG POST COMMENTS

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE LAST NAMES IN BLOG POST COMMENTS
8 Comments
Cindy C.
2/15/2021 12:18:57 pm

Thank you Lesley - my spiritual awakening was gradual through showing up and using the tools. One day I looked back and realized I had experienced those emotional shifts inside. "Keeping Coming Back" is a simple phrase but oh so powerful.

Reply
Bonnie J
2/16/2021 10:10:26 pm

Thank you, Lesley! SO glad you keep coming back, so we could join you!!!

Reply
Beverly
2/17/2021 12:31:16 pm

Thank you for sharing your story, Lesley. My spiritual awakening has been gradual, over many years of doing my best to show up and be honest, open and willing. At any given point I can get to thinking I haven't made much progress (or had much of an "awakening"), but my sponsor taught me to take a look back at where I started and where I'm at now. That's when I realize I've had many small spiritual awakenings that when added up have been life-changing. I am grateful for OA. :)

Reply
Jean M
2/18/2021 09:52:39 am

Six months after I entered the rooms of recovery, my spiritual awakening was a blinding light. A GIANT leap. Throughout my years in the rooms, there have been many smaller steps. As I continue to trust God, study the BB and listen to sharing, the small steps take me on this wonderful journey of healing and recovery.

Reply
Carrie A.
2/18/2021 12:03:20 pm

My spiritual awakening in OA was when I was early in the program. I remember vividly I was walking along Independence Avenue in the city where I was living, and a voice from above told me "God cares about what you eat." That was a pivotal moment for working the first three steps, they were real and true and personal.

Reply
Tina
2/23/2021 05:30:53 pm

Thank you, Lesley. I am in the process of trying to "find" my awakening.

Reply
Laurie M
3/4/2021 02:29:35 pm

Wow! Just love this! Life is so much better in OA. I left for a couple of years and came back in April 2020. This time is so differently with the gradual development of my own higher power. I absolutely had to start from scratch and let go of all that I had come to know before. Developing trust, building a relationship that both gives and takes, has just been monumental in my recovery. I can't do life trying, I can do life relying, on a power greater than me <3 Thanks again Lesley

Reply
Erin F
5/18/2021 10:50:16 am

Sometimes quickly - sometimes slowly. Perseverance is the affect I forget to be grateful for the most often. Thank you for your perseverance!

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