Prayer

2026-06-06

Episode 0072 Grace and Mercy

The Old Rucker talks on the theme of grace and mercy framed through personal recovery experience, mentorship, and reflection on human behavior under stress. Bob recounts formative encounters with a sponsor in a treatment setting, including a hospital visit preceding the sponsor’s death and a later interaction with a priest that reframed judgment toward a panhandler through the lens of unconditional compassion. These events become anchors for exploring the difference between receiving unearned goodwill and withholding deserved consequences, and how both concepts shape ethical behavior and personal growth. The discussion extends into recovery principles, self regulation, and the difficulty of extending the same compassion inward that is often offered to others. Practical reflections include mindfulness of speech, structured self assessment, and reframing adversity through perspective rather than avoidance. The episode also touches on internal dialogue, higher vs lower motivational forces, and the role of practice in developing consistent behavior aligned with recovery and spiritual frameworks.

June 20th: Arkansas Soberfest Picnic at the VFW in Cabot, Arkansas

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2026-06-052026-06-06

Dianne’s Missives June 6, 2026

Thought to Consider…

Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.
Patience with others is Love, Patience with self is Hope, Patience with God is Faith.
The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.

AACRONYMS

F E A R = Failure Expected And Received
C R A P = Carrying Resentments Against People

Four Horsemen

“The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did – then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen – Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair.”

“We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances, there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet.”

“We Agnostics”

“We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves. Instead, we looked at the human defects of these people, and sometimes used their shortcomings as a basis of wholesale condemnation. We talked of intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves. We missed the reality and the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of its trees. We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing.”

“On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.”

“To get over drinking will require a transformation of thought and attitude. We all had to place recovery above everything, for without recovery we would have lost both home and business.”

“I was also able to realize that this bonfire of resentment and rage was beckoning me to pick up a drink and plunge in to my death. Then I realized that I had to separate my sobriety from everything else that was going on in my life. No matter what happened or didn’t happen, I couldn’t drink. In fact, none of these things that I was going through had anything to do with my sobriety; the tides of life flow endlessly for better or worse, both good and bad, and I cannot allow my sobriety to become dependent on these ups and downs of living. Sobriety must live a life of its own.”

Fact

“The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows, and toward God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.”

In A.A. we learn that since we are alcoholics we can be uniquely useful people. That is, we can help other alcoholics when perhaps somebody who has not had our experience with drinking could not help them. That makes us uniquely useful. The A.A.s are a unique group of people because they have taken their own greatest defeat and failure and sickness and used it as a means of helping others. We who have been through the same thing are the ones who can best help other alcoholics.

Dianne

2026-05-152026-05-16

Dianne’s Missives May 15, 2026

Thought to Consider

A.A. is not something you join, it’s a way of life.

The Road to Recovery

The road to recovery is always under construction.

Premature Funerals

“I have been to too many premature funerals due to our good friend alcohol.”

Spiritual and Physical Health

“When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.”

Control

“Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will Control and Enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.”

Sunlight

“It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worthwhile. This business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.”

To Handle Sobriety

“The more I drank, the more I fantasized everything . . . I lived in a dream world. A.A. led me gently from this fantasizing to embrace reality with open arms. And I found it beautiful! For, at last, I was at peace with myself. And with others. And with God.”

Our Survival

“The HONESTY expressed by the members of A.A. in meetings has the power to open my mind. Nothing can block the flow of energy that HONESTY carries with it. The only obstacle to this flow of energy is inebriation, but even then, no one will find a closed door if he or she has left and chooses to return. Once he or she has received the gift of sobriety, each A.A. member is challenged on a daily basis to accept a program of HONESTY.”

Ego Deflation

All of A.A.’s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires . . . they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any Step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.

Big Book Quote

“We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.”

Prayer

“In A.A. we have found that the actual good results of prayer are beyond question. They are matters of knowledge and experience. All those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily their own. They have found wisdom beyond their usual capability. And they have increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand in the face of difficult circumstances.”

The Way of Strength

“We need not apologize to anyone for depending upon the Creator. We have good reason to disbelieve those who think spirituality is the way of weakness. For us, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that men of faith seldom lack courage. They trust their God. So we never apologize for our belief in Him. Instead, we try to let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do.”

Dianne

2026-05-152026-05-14

Episode 0069 Clash of Cultures

The Old Rucker reflects on the emotional collision between what he calls the “culture of darkness” and the “culture of light,” exploring how stress, grief, road rage, media negativity, politics, and everyday frustrations can slowly pull people into chaos and despair. Drawing from personal experiences, including the pain of losing longtime pets and navigating seasons of “death by a thousand cuts,” he breaks down the role emotions, habits, and personal responsibility play in shaping character and recovery. The episode centers on practical tools for rebuilding mindset and stability through positive habits like reading, exercise, meditation, kindness, prayer, and intentional living, while encouraging listeners to reject doom-driven culture and pursue hope, self awareness, and spiritual growth one small action at a time.

Character Carved in Stone by Pat Williams.

June 20th: Arkansas Soberfest Picnic at the VFW in Cabot, Arkansas

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2026-05-082026-05-06

Episode 0068 Cody Then & Now

In this episode “The Old Rucker” reconnects with returning guest Cody for a candid conversation about recovery, grief, incarceration, faith, and rebuilding a life after loss. Cody reflects on the years since his wife’s sudden passing, the spiral into addiction that followed, and the hard road through incarceration into sobriety and accountability. Now nearly five years sober, he shares how faith, community, physical fitness, recovery programs like Forever Free, and reconnecting with his children have transformed his life. The episode dives deep into grief, emotional healing, work ethic, rebuilding trust with family, and the importance of staying connected to a supportive tribe while learning to live authentically and one day at a time.

forever-free.net

June 20th: Arkansas Soberfest Picnic at the VFW in Cabot, Arkansas

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2026-04-242026-04-23

Episode 0066 Charlie Depression

In this episode the Old Rucker and returning guest Charlie sit down for an unfiltered conversation on depression, anxiety, and the internal battles that don’t always show on the surface, challenging the idea that recovery alone solves everything. Speaking candidly from lived experience, they move beyond statistics into the reality that no one is immune, unpacking how depression can coexist with sobriety, success, and strong relationships while still pulling individuals into isolation, self criticism, and hopelessness. Charlie shares deeply personal moments of recent struggle, describing the paradox of choosing to stay in that “dark place” despite knowing the tools to get out, while both hosts emphasize surrender, connection, and service as imperfect but necessary paths forward. The episode avoids easy answers, instead offering honesty, relatability, and a reminder that while the fight is internal, no one has to face it alone and that simply showing up, speaking out, or being present for someone else can make a critical difference.

June 20th: Arkansas Soberfest Picnic at the VFW in Cabot, Arkansas

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2026-04-10

Dianne’s Missives April 10, 2026

Thought to Consider…

Spirituality is the ability to get our minds off ourselves.
Serenity isn’t freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.
Joy isn’t the absence of pain – it’s the presence of God.
“If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.”

AACRONYMS

H O P E = Hearing Other Peoples’ Experience
W I S D O M = When Into Self, Discover Our Motives

Will Power and Choice

“We A.A.’s know the futility of trying to break the drinking obsession by will power alone. However, we do know that it takes great willingness to adopt A.A.’s Twelve Steps as a way of life that can restore us to sanity. ‘No matter how grievous the alcohol obsession, we happily find that other vital choices can still be made.’ For example, we can choose to admit that we are personally powerless over alcohol; that dependence upon a ‘higher Power’ is a necessity, even if this be simply dependence upon an A.A. group. Then we can choose to try for a life of honesty and humility, of selfless services to our fellows and to ‘God as we understand Him.’ As we continue to make these choices and so move toward these high aspirations, our sanity returns and the compulsion to drink vanishes.”

“. . . the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience.”

Humility

“Our A.A. program is spiritually centered. Most of us have found enough humility to believe in and depend upon God. We have found that humility by facing the fact that alcoholism is a fatal malady over which we are individually powerless.”
“Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.”

The Past

“Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worthwhile to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have – the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.”

From Loneliness to Solitude

“As the sober weeks go by, we can enjoy and treasure the few moments of solitude we are able to find in the rush and hurry of life today. When we cease to fear loneliness and begin to cherish and use our solitude to advantage, we have come a long way. We realize a little solitude is necessary to think and to try to work some of the Steps. In solitude, we take our inventories. In solitude, we admit to ourselves the exact nature of our wrongs. In solitude, our spirits seek that Power greater than we are; in solitude, we seek through prayer and meditation to be aware of God’s will for us.”

Prayer

“I knew I had to have a new beginning, and this beginning had to be here. I could not start anywhere else. I had to let go of the past and forget the future. As long as I held on to the past with one hand and grabbed at the future with the other hand, I had nothing to hold on to today with. So, I had to begin here, now.”

CHARACTER BUILDING

When I uncovered my need for approval in the Fourth Step, I didn’t think it should rank as a character defect. I wanted to think of it more as an asset (that is, the desire to please people). It was quickly pointed out to me that this “need” can be very crippling. Today I still enjoy getting the approval of others, but I am not willing to pay the price I used to pay to get it. I will not bend myself into a pretzel to get others to like me. If I get your approval, that’s fine; but if I don’t, I will survive without it. I am responsible for speaking what I perceive to be the truth, not what I think others may want to hear.
Similarly, my false pride always kept me overly concerned about my reputation. Since being enlightened in the A.A. program, my aim is to improve my character.

Dianne

2026-03-28

Dianne’s Missives March 27, 2026

Thought to Consider…

Trying to pray is praying.

It has been well said that “almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough.”

Recognizing someone else’s human dignity cannot cost you your own.

Together we can do what we could never do alone.

AACRONYMS

B S = Before Sobriety

D E N I A L = Don’t Even Notice I Am Lying

Illusion

“Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.”

Rationalization

“There are cases where our ancient enemy, rationalization, has stepped in and has justified conduct which was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we had good motives and reasons when we really didn’t. We ‘constructively criticized’ someone who needed it, when our real motive was to win a useless argument. We sometimes hurt those we love because they ‘need to be taught a lesson’, when we really want to punish. This perverse wish to hide a bad motive underneath a good one, permeates human affairs from top to bottom.”

Isolating

“The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker.

And No More Reservations

We have seen the truth again and again: “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.” . . . If we are planning to stop drinking there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years.

Honesty

“Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.”

AS WE UNDERSTAND HIM

My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea . . . “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?” That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.

Prayer

“As the doubter tries the process of prayer, he should begin to add up the results. If he persists, he will surely find more serenity, more tolerance, less fear, and less anger. He will acquire a quiet courage, the kind that isn’t tension-ridden. He can look at ‘failure’ and ‘success’ for what these really are. Problems and calamity will begin to mean his instruction, instead of his destruction. Wonderful and unaccountable things will start to happen.”

“On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.”

Dianne

2026-03-272026-03-26

Episode 0062 Dwight’s Journey

In this episode of Dwight one of the most seasoned voices in the room shares how a lifetime of discipline, success, and faith still led to a late in life battle with alcoholism after retirement stripped away his sense of purpose. What followed was a rapid descent into daily drinking, followed by an equally powerful turnaround through AA, spiritual reconnection, and the unexpected strength of community. Dwight’s story cuts through the noise, addiction doesn’t care about your background, but recovery demands honesty, structure, and connection. From “lone wolf” to tribe member, this episode delivers a clear message there’s a way out, but you’re not doing it alone.

March 28th: kicks off Arkansas Soberfest Golf and runs through October.

April 4^th: Grand opening of Crystal Palace, a family friendly, alcohol-free, event center at 173 Hwy 11 in Searcy, AR. Please tell them you heard about it from the Old Rucker. More on this in a bit.

April 16-19: is an Arkansas AA Convention. This one is the 49^th Annual Springtime in the Ozarks, in Eureka Springs. No flier for that one so check out springtimeintheozarks.com.

June 20th: Arkansas Soberfest Picnic at the VFW in Cabot, Arkansas

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2026-03-132026-03-19

Dianne’s Missives March 13, 2026

Thought to Consider…

Swallowing your pride will not get you drunk.
To help each other, is to help ourselves.
Remember that we deal with alcohol – cunning, baffling, powerful!
The best things in life aren’t things.

AACRONYMS

N U T S = Not Using The Steps
F A I T H = Fear Ain’t In This House

Selfishness

Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. B

No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master.”

Fear

“Unreasonable fear that our instincts will not be satisfied drives us to covet the possessions of others, to lust for sex and power, to become angry when our instinctive demands are threatened, to be envious when the ambitions of others seem to be realized while ours are not. These fears are the termites that ceaselessly devour the foundations of whatever sort of life we try to build.”

3rd Step Prayer

“God, I offer myself to Thee to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”

Self-will

“No matter how one wishes to try, exactly how can he turn his own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is? A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness.”

Inventory

“We continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to look for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear.”

Meetings

A “spiritual experience” to me meant attending meetings, seeing a group of people, all there for the purpose of helping each other; hearing the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions read at a meeting, and hearing the Lord’s Prayer, which in an A.A. meeting has such great meaning – “Thy will be done, not mine.” A spiritual awakening soon came to mean trying each day to be a little more thoughtful, more considerate, a little more courteous to those with whom I came in contact

In time, I learned that a Higher power – a faith that works under all conditions – is possible. Today this faith, plus the honesty, open-mindedness and willingness to work the Steps of the program, gives me the serenity that I seek. It works – it really does.

“Inner Voice”:

“Long before nagging and pressures from others concerning my excessive use of alcohol made any impression on me, the nagging voice of conscience my own inner voice of truth and right apprised me of the irrevocable fact that I had lost control of alcohol, that I was powerless. I know now that the inner voice was God, as I understand Him, speaking. For, as I had been taught from earliest memory and as A.A. has emphasized, God or good emanates from within each of us.”

Giving Without Demand

“Watch any A.A. of six months working with a Twelfth Step prospect. If the newcomer says, ‘To the devil with you,’ the twelfth-stepper only smiles and finds another alcoholic to help. He doesn’t feel frustrated or rejected. If his next drunk responds, and in turn starts to give love and attention to other sufferers, yet gives none back to him, the sponsor is happy about it anyway. He still doesn’t feel rejected; instead, he rejoices that his former prospect is sober and happy. And he well knows that his own life has been made richer, as an extra dividend of giving to another without any demand for a return.”

Dianne

2026-02-13

Episode 0056 Just Keep Swimming

On this episode of Shout Out From The Pit, the Old Rucker reflects on the cycle of struggle, relief, and complacency; how we can go from desperate prayers to comfortable ruts faster than we realize. Through stories of addiction, near tragedy, job rejection, and recovery, he explores why motivation fades, why inspiration comes and goes, and why gratitude must be actively maintained. His message is simple but not easy: good things don’t just happen, we participate in them. When life feels great, serve someone. When life feels awful, serve someone anyway. Action, faith, and helping others are the antidote to stagnation, and the road back to hope.

New Year One Honest Challenge – you can use the links below to submit.

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2026-02-062026-02-05

Episode 0055 Joel B’s Journey – ESH

Joel’s story is a blunt reminder that rock bottom doesn’t always involve handcuffs or headlines. In this episode, Joel opens up about childhood trauma, addiction, ego, control, relapse, and the moment his internal voice shifted from self hatred to hope. He shares how detox, honesty, service work, music, and community, especially Bridging the Gap, became the foundation of his recovery. This episode explores shame, guilt, faith without dogma, the danger of isolation, and why “the only thing waiting in the comfort zone is alcoholism.” If you’re new to recovery, stuck in the middle, or questioning whether change is possible, Joel’s experience offers a grounded, lived example of how growth happens one honest step at a time.

New Year One Honest Challenge – you can use the links below to submit.

Text Us at 501-613-8915

Leave a voicemail 501-613-8915

Email us team@shoutoutfromthepit.com

2026-01-30

Dianne’s Missives January 30, 2026

Thought to Consider…

Listening feeds the spirit.
The two most dangerous words in a recovering alcoholic’s vocabulary are, “I’m different.”
Adversity introduces us to ourselves
Newcomers are the lifeblood of the program. But our old-timers are the arteries.

AACRONYMS

D E A D = Drinking Ends All Dreams
Y A N A = You Are Not Alone

Illusion

No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control And enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.

The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.

“For the type of alcoholic who is able and willing to get well, little charity, in the ordinary sense of the word, is needed or wanted. The men who cry for money and shelter before conquering alcohol, are on the wrong track.”

“In the beginning, it was four whole years before A.A. brought permanent sobriety to even one alcoholic woman. Like the ‘high bottoms,’ the women said they were different; A.A. couldn’t be for them. But as the communication was perfected, mostly by the women themselves, the picture changed. This process of identification and transmission has gone on and on. The Skid-Rower said he was different. Even more loudly, the socialite said the same – so did the artists and the professional people, the rich, the poor, the religious, the agnostic, the Indians and the Eskimos, the veterans, and the prisoners. But nowadays all of these, and legions more, soberly talk about how very much alike all of us alcoholics are when we admit that the chips are finally down.”

Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
“Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit bottom. For practicing A.A.’s remaining eleven Steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking. Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer?”

Belief

Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed. They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them.

On the foundation of sobriety, we can build a life of honesty, unselfishness, faith in God, and love of our fellow human beings. We’ll never fully reach these goals, but the adventure of building that kind of a life is so much better than the merry-go-round of our old drinking life that there’s no comparison. We come into A.A. to get sober, but if we stay long enough, we learn a new way of living. We become honest with ourselves and with other people. We learn to think more about others and less about ourselves. And we learn to rely on the constant help of a Higher Power.

Prayer

Dianne