prayers of recovery

[beentheredonethatagain]

many addicts and alcoholics have used these prayers in their recovery from active addiction. I personally know them to be a great source of strength.
the serenity prayer has deep roots , not just in recovery, many in everyday life. Check it out , as with the others and always remember , before you pick up and use , think it through from start to finish and ask your self , If I keep doing what I'm doing will I keep getting what I've been getting?
Insanity is going the same thing over and over and expecting the results to be different. So why not try something new?

Third 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!

Seventh Step Prayer
My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good & bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you & my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here to do Your bidding.

Eleventh Step Prayer
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace--that where there is hatred, I may bring love--that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness--that where there is discord, I may bring harmony--that where there is error, I may bring truth--that where there is doubt, I may bring faith--that where there is despair, I may bring hope--that where there are shadows, I may bring light--that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted--to understand, than to be understood--to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Serenity Prayer
GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living ONE DAY AT A TIME; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

St Francis Prayer

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace, that where there is hatred, I may bring love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that where there is error, I may bring truth; that where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that where there is despair, I may bring hope; that where there are shadows, I may bring light that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted; to understand, than to be understood; to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.

[JDreaming]

You know... I think these prayers are beautiful, I think they speak the truth, and I think the people who wrote them were trying to help the world. But because of how passages like this have been used by the 12 step programs as part of an agenda I can no longer believe in, I can sadly not draw any happiness from them anymore.

These prayers and passages are used by the traditional 12 step groups NA and AA. They are also used by more radical 12 step groups derived from these... like a recovery group I got sucked into for a year or two in junior high school, called the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, which has since been acknowledged as a cult and gotten in a lot of trouble.

At Palmer program "functions" we would repeat these prayers as a group, to the point of memorization. You have no idea how many times I stood in a line of militantly "happy" sober people repeating "god grant me the serenity..." when I was in this goofy group at this confused time. After that they would program us with information about what is appropriate to wear, what music is appropriate for "seriously sober people" to listen to, and which friends we were allowed to keep. Eventually we were all the same. I know these texts are still used the same way by similar groups, and thanks to the abuses of these kinds of organizations all I get when I read these now is a creepy "I barely escaped from a cult" feeling.

So now SWIM writes his own prayers, and his own steps to a better life... because he has been let down when he depended upon the literary dreams and inspirations of others. But thanks anyway for the trip down memory lane in reading these again.

[beentheredonethatagain]

I too went for a short period of time to Pdap. I had a friend who's mother was taking us to those rooms, we didn't like it , phoney was kinda written all over it.

I didnt go to aa or na until sometime later as my life was going down the test tubes. My girlfriend was leaving me, to live in a recovery home, because she was going to have a baby , my baby.
My whole life was going before it really was getting started. I was ready to change not for me not for her but for my son.
The meetings and prayers were the help I needed to transition from user to father and husband. I would probaly still be clean if she were still alive.
I did manage over six years clean, but when fate took her my life again changed . I see myself going backward to where I was before.

This time is different , but its probaly the same