Freedom From Bondage

05/28/2026

Oldtimer said, "The truth will set us free, but before it can, we need to know exactly what lie is holding us hostage. The big lie that held us hostage and exacted a high ransom for our release was the lie we told ourselves about drugs,alcohol or both. We believed they were doing something for us when, in fact, they were doing something to us—destroying us one drink,hit,line,snort,pill,needle,blunt at a time.

This lie overrode our most powerful instinct: that for survival. Once we overcome it, we are faced with the more subtle lies we hold about our instincts for s*x, society, and security. If we were willing to sacrifice our lives to support a lie that was killing us, how deep must our deception be about what we need to live long and happily in this world?

These not-so-blatant lies keep us in bo***ge to self-will, the antithesis of God's will. Only through rigorous honesty can we uncover the untruths that we have, for so long, mistaken for the truth. With each layer of falsehood we expose to the light of truth, we find a greater degree of freedom from bo***ge to the ideas, emotions, and attitudes that work against our spiritual development.

We can only experience spiritual growth to the extent we embrace the truth about ourselves. The ugly truth we uncover allows us to discover the hidden beauty that is our spiritual essence. For every fear we discard, we find that behind the False Evidence Appearing Real was a courage we did not know we possessed that revealed itself only when we exercised the simple act of pursuing the truth.

Every resentment we hold reveals a commitment to the beliefs we hold. If we passionately defend that which will destroy us, how much greater will our passion for forgiveness grow when we discover its true benefits? When we discover that giving is truly receiving, how richly charitable shall we become? When we uncover, discover, and discard the falsehoods that block us from the truth of God's love for us, how much deeper shall be our commitment to serve Him?

Identifying our falsehoods only takes the key of willingness to walk the path of truth, holding nothing sacred but truth itself. In fact, we seek not God, but the truth, and in the truth we find God. It is our pride that blocks the pathway to true happiness that awaits our arrival in the fourth dimension of existence. When we humbly lay aside our desire to be right and accept the error of our ways, we begin to build a life that gets infinitely more wonderful as time passes. The true gift worthy of God's creation!"

05/18/2026

My Spiritual teacher once told me after I asked him, "Why do i have a hard time surrendering to God?" He said, "FEAR! It's not that we're afraid to surrender to God but rather we're afraid of what it will cost us."

MIND BLOWN. 🤯

Thought for Today

The deal that God makes with us Alcoholics/Addicts
By: Pharm C.

A drunk/addict is walking home, feeling sick and hurt. He is at that magic moment of surrender.

On his way he sees God and notices He has something in his hand. The addict/drunk asks "What's that?" God responds "This is sobriety". The drunk/addict said "Oh man, I need that! Geez, I need sobriety. How much does that cost?" as he only understands buying things. God returns with "How much do you have?" The addict/alcoholic says "I have about 20 dollars." God responds "All right, for you, sobriety costs 20 dollars." The man, trying to back out of says, "If I give you all twenty dollars, I won't be able to buy any gas for my car."

God responds "Oh! so you have a car? I'm sorry, but sobriety is going to cost you your car."
"Whoa, whoa!" Says the man. "If I give you my car, how am I going to get to my job?"

"You have a job?!" Exclaims God. "No, no, no. Sobriety is going to cost you your job."
The drunk responds "But, if I give you my job, how am I to pay for my house?" House!!

You have a house!?" God says with surprise. "I thought you lived in a cardboard box under the bridge! Your file is completely out of date! Sobriety is going to cost you your house."

The man responds "If I give you my house what about my wife and kids?"

"A family! That's right, you have a family! Yes, yes. Sobriety is going to cost you your family.

The alcoholic/addict responds "But if I give you all that, what good is my life?"

God states "That's right. Sobriety costs you your life."

The alcoholic/addict, because he is at that magic moment of surrender is willing to give his God his money, and his car, and his job, and his house, and his wife and his kids, and his life and for that God gives him sobriety.

Then God looks him deep in the eyes and says:

"All right. I'm going to give you your money back but, it's not your money anymore, it's my money. I'm going to let you spend it for me."

"I'm going to give your car back but, it's not your car anymore, it's my car. You get to drive it for me."

"I'm going to give you your job back but, it's not your job anymore, it's my job. You get to work at it for me."

"I give your house back but, it's not your house anymore, it's my home. But, you get to live in it for me."

"I give your family back to you but, it's not your family anymore, it's my family. You get to take care of them for me."

"I give your life back but, it's not your life ever again. But, you get to live it for me."

That's the deal a loving God makes with us in the 3rd step.

05/07/2026

Oldtimer said, "Cunning, baffling, powerful! This is how the Big book describes alcohol's (and drugs) effect on the addict/ alcoholic mind. For alcoholics and addicts, this is a primary truth we must accept, or else we perish. This is difficult for a mind that has been warped by years of drinking and using. Alcohol and drugs distort our reality with pleasure, and the pursuit of this pleasure became our primary purpose, which we pursued with unbridled passion.

Even in the face of the all too obvious destruction it brought to our lives, we remained enslaved to our addictive pleasures. It enhanced our s*xual instinct, then enslaved it to serve its sordid purposes. It enhanced our social instinct, then left us isolated and wallowing in a pit of loneliness and despair. It enhanced our sense of security, then took everything from us and left us with nothing. Drugs and Alcohol gave us wings, then took away the sky.

To the outside observer, it appears the alcoholic/addict drinks and uses too much, but for the addict/alcoholic, the reality is we cannot use or drink enough to satisfy a maniacal craving for alcohol and drugs that takes us to the gates of insanity and death. We cannot see their version of the truth, and this keeps us baffled about the nature of our problems, of which we have many.

Sweet relationships become battlegrounds and a test of wills as we defend our right to consume that which is destroying our lives. We see ourselves enjoying life with our drinking and using. They see us on a su***de mission we commit one drink,hit,line,pill,needle at a time. We feel in control in our stupor when exactly the opposite is true.

It is when sober that the real problem of the addict/alcoholic manifests. We are restless, irritable, and discontented when sober, so we seek our solution. Drugs and Alcohol relieves us of these feelings of insecurity and gives us a sense of ease and comfort, even as it systematically destroys our lives.

The true power of addiction wields over us is the delusion of control and choice. We can't say for certain, on any given day, whether we will use or drink or not. And once we start to drink use, or both we cannot control how much we will consume Only when confronted with a crisis that overwhelms our delusional mind with a reality we can no longer postpone or evade, do we consider sobriety as a viable option to the way of death drugs and alcohol delivers.

This is when the true power of addiction exerts itself. Even though we are not using or drinking, we remain under the influence of addiction. Not with getting high or drunk, but with an obsession that overpowers our strongest desire to not drink or use. We think willpower, common sense, or reason should bring a sufficient defense against the first hit, drink,pill,line needle and yet we return !

This is when we experience that we have truly lost the power of choice when it comes to drugs and alcohol. This insanity repeats itself over and over again with every desperate attempt to abstain from alcohol and drugs. These countless vain attempts to quit using and drinking on human power drive home our desperate need to bring a Power greater than human power into our lives.

When we came to the rooms we acknowledged that addiction was too much to overcome by ourselves. We had to have help, and it had to come from a Power greater than human power. It had to come from the source of all power. That one is God. Fortunately, the Steps provides us with the path to this Power source.

This path is the essence of every addicts and alcoholic's recovery from a hopeless state of mind and body. It is a path open to all who earnestly seek it. When we work the Steps, we remove from our psyche the selfish ideas, emotions, and attitudes that block the Power we need from entering our lives. As a result, we find contentment with life on life's terms and become a channel for the peace, prosperity, happiness, and joy that come with freedom from our bo***ge to this terrible disease .

05/06/2026

04/10/2026

April 10, 1939.

On this day, a book was published…
that would go on to change millions of lives.

Not written by professionals.
Not written as theory.

But written by alcoholics…
who had found a way out.

“We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered…”

That was the promise.

And for the first time…
recovery could travel beyond a room.

Before this book existed, the message was carried
one person to another…
one conversation at a time.

But on this day—
that message was put into words…
printed…
and placed into the hands of anyone willing to read it.

It was written in 1938 by Bill W. and early members of Alcoholics Anonymous, built from real experience — not theory — with one purpose:

To show other alcoholics precisely how they had recovered.

The first printing was just a few thousand copies…
and at first, it barely sold.

But something happened.

The message spread.

Hand to hand.
Meeting to meeting.
Generation to generation.

And today…

That same book has reached millions around the world — translated into dozens of languages — carrying the same message it did in 1939.

The message has never changed.

And the miracle has never ended.

87 years later…

It still works.

One day at a time.