A growing concept of God
“The only suggested guidelines are that this Power be loving, caring, and greater
than ourselves. We don’t have to be religious to accept this idea. The point is that we
open our minds to believe.”
Basic Text, p.24
In a lifelong process of coming to believe, our understanding of God will change. The
understanding we have when new in recovery will not be the same when we have a
few months clean, nor will that understanding be the same when we have a few
years clean.
Our initial understanding of a Power greater than ourselves will most likely be
limited. That Power will keep us clean but, we may think, nothing more. We may
hesitate to pray because we have placed conditions on what we will ask our Higher
Power to do for us. “Oh, this stuff is so awful, even God couldn’t do anything,” we
might say, or “God’s got a lot of people to take care of. There’s no time for me.”
But, as we grow in recovery, so will our understanding. We’ll begin to see that the
only limits to God’s love and grace are those we impose by refusing to step out of
the way. The loving God we come to believe in is infinite, and the power and love we
find in our belief is shared by nearly every recovering addict around the world.
Just for today: The God I am coming to understand has a limitless capacity for love
and care. I will trust that my God is bigger than any problem I may have.