Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Psalm‬ ‭103‬:‭1‬

Isn’t it annoying when you’re paying a compliment and the person can’t just take it? They’ve got to weasel their way out by pointing toward someone or something or some other contributing factor.

Recovery can seem this way too. The ones who’ve been around a while and are living changed lives will typically point away from themselves.

They’ll say crap like “but for the grace of God, there go I.” Or, “that wasn’t me. That was God.”

Infuriating for someone trying to get straight answers to a pretty specific problem.

We are miserable and motivated, but we get disgruntled when the prospect of God removing our problem becomes a central piece of the solution to our problem.

Years later, I still get it. It seems like misdirected effort. It seems like Sunday school best practices, not practical life solutions.

But the argument, or rather invitation, that hooked me still holds true. If after honestly giving this a try nothing changes, you can always go back.

Misery is fully refundable.

God may scare people out of AA, but alcohol will run them back in.

The simple truth for me and many has been that through turning my will and life to him (quite imperfectly but with continued effort), the drink problem and compulsion and desire has been taken.

Thank God—truly, thank Him—that we were willing enough to try the things that seemed unlikely.

Am I giving credit where credit is due?