I didn’t want advice. I didn’t want to go through another person to get to God. I had isolated to perfection—and then I learned what a sponsor could be for me. I still have my first sponsor, and for a brief time, I had an additional sponsor from whom I gleaned a tremendous amount. For me, a sponsor is a …

There is a voice that lives within me. It is calm and soothing and always steers me to the right course, even when my will wants to go the other way. This is the voice of my Higher Power, ever steady and always present. When I’m faced with a difficult decision, this is the voice that guides me. This is …

I don’t really know how a computer works. People with comprehension greater than mine designed this amazing tool. But I don’t need to understand all the intricacies of a computer in order to use one. If I just follow simple directions, I can do pretty amazing things with words and pictures, such as send and receive messages in a flash, …

I am writing for myself and those who feel they don’t really belong in OA. I’m writing for the atheists and agnostics. My Dad was in recovery in another Twelve Step fellowship for thirty years. He was also agnostic. Over the years when I was growing up, I’d ask him, “Do you think there is a God?” He would always …

Fear almost crippled me into inaction this week. I’d begun a new venture but found myself catastrophizing over events out of my control. Now, I know how recovery works. I learn more each day and have been blessed with sixteen years in our program. I find solutions in my God and the Steps, and they have never once let me …

“Act as if” was a concept I found hard to comprehend. Fake it until you make it? Wouldn’t that be lying to myself and being something I’m not? I just did not get it. I had always been encouraged to do things I wanted to do, but never felt that I could. My excuses varied: I was too fat. I …

After more than five years in OA, I can look back and see the grace of my Higher Power in the early actions of my sponsor when she immediately suggested we work through The Twelve-Step Workbook of Overeaters Anonymous. One of the earliest benefits of our work together was that I became aware of how much time, energy, and effort I’d …

Came to believe in a Power greater than myself—that’s where I got stuck. I couldn’t get past me. I was all wrapped up in my old beliefs about religion, God, and church. I became a prisoner of my beliefs, my parent’s beliefs, and other people’s conceptions. I never truly felt a positive connection with a God of my understanding. My …

I went to my first meeting twelve days ago. I have loved the lifeline of daily conversation with my sponsor and the introspection from daily tasks that really help me stay mindful and clean. I have been asking for spiritual help for the last eight years. God has been guiding me, and today, I have a much more open, loving, …

To see where I am and how I got here, I must look into the past, where the God of my understanding put people, places, and situations in my path. Perhaps he was using the Tool of anonymity when he made me trip over coincidences to get me into recovery. I had a chance to try another way of living because …