April 23

When many of us first came to Narcotics Anonymous, we were Spiritually bankrupt, to say the least. The power of the disease used the drugs to control our Will and our Lives. Almost everything we did was motivated by the getting and the using of drugs.

At this point, we were no longer using drugs; they were using us. We Lived to use and used to Live. We lost touch with whatever Goodness we had in our Lives. We were on a destructive mission; we were out of control.

Many of us gave up Hope in whatever God we knew of, some of us never knew God at all. In Narcotics Anonymous we were told that we didn't need to believe in anything. The Belief was THAT (and not IN) a Loving, Caring Power, could Relieve us of the obsession to use. We find a New Way to Live, without the use of any mind or mood altering drugs. For many of us, we had a God of our misunderstanding, and it wasn't working for us.

We were told that if we didn't Believe, just Believe that the rest of us Believe. The evidence of addicts like us, Free from active addiction Living Happy, Joyous and Free Lives, was all the evidence we needed to see. Our Process had to start with Total and Complete Abstinence; and since addiction had spread to every area of our Lives, we had to adapt Spiritual Principles to all areas as well. At first, all we needed was a slight opening in our closed minds, followed by a complete Surrender to the N.A. Way.

After being introduced to our Higher Power in the Second Step, we begin to ask for strength in the Third Step to continue on this Journey. The Steps for us is more than just simple Abstinence. The Steps offer us a Complete and Total Spiritual Awakening, with each Step taken.

We continue Recovering and Sharing this Precious Gift with others in order to keep it.