Service Put Me There

Service above the group level was never in my plans, but as I write this, I am the treasurer for my region. Thanks to my region-level service, I am about 30 pounds (14 kg) lighter!

After twelve years of recovery and maintaining a 40-pound (18-kg) weight loss, I thought my weight-loss days were over, and I was comfortable with that. But I guess the God of my understanding wanted more, both for me and from me.

About five years ago, I found my way to an emergency intergroup meeting. Our intergroup board was concerned that the same few people had been doing all the service far too long; that unless they recruited new members and rotated service, the intergroup would fold. Because I would have hated to see an end to our newsletter, our updated meeting lists, our hotline for newcomers, and our strong connection with region and the World Service Office, I thought I could do some small part to help.

I volunteered at that meeting to take the minutes because they had no secretary. At the next meeting, they asked if I would be willing to take that job for the foreseeable future. I didn’t accept until I talked to my sponsor and prayed about it. When I did accept, I said okay, as long as I didn’t have to move through the service chairs. They said, “Oh no; you only have to do as much as you want to.”

Well, two years later, I was vice chair and then chair; I was a region representative and a world service representative. Next, I was a funded chair at region, then treasurer for my intergroup, and now treasurer on the region board! It certainly wasn’t my doing, but as a program friend is fond of saying, “I’ve been bitten by the service bug!” I’ve loved every phase of it, proving once again that my HP knows better than I do what’s best for me.

Meanwhile, I’d been thinking about changing my food plan and praying for willingness because I didn’t want to do it, even though I did want to lose more weight. At the March assembly, I talked to a dear program friend whose recovery I’d been watching. She explained her food plan and suggested I write down everything I ate on my current plan until the end of the month.

Then, on April 1, I could try the new plan one day at a time while continuing to write down everything I ate. I agreed to start writing down my food. The next day, I heard the closing speaker share about her own goal to get to a healthy weight, even though she’d already lost quite a bit. Those two people were the angels my HP sent to inspire the willingness I needed. On April 1, I began my new food plan, giving up foods I’d been unwilling to give up just a few days earlier. Today I’m about 30 pounds (14 kg) lighter. I owe it all to my region service and to being right where I needed to be to hear what I needed to hear. Thank you, God and my region (and my intergroup for choosing me to represent them). Today I’m a happier, healthier, and thinner recovering food addict.

— Patti