[MajestyJo]

Dear Nick,

Thanks for sharing, I never noticed your post and I apologize for the delay.

Many alcoholics and addicts have found their way back to the church, I was one of them. For identification and people who understand my disease, I find understanding with people in the rooms of recovery. A lot of church members do not understand, while others are often caught up in their own addiction and not willing to be open to their own issues and not willing to acknowledge mine.

I was raised in the Gospel Halls and I found that AA has the same format and I felt comfortable there. When I joined an Associated Gospel Church in recovery, I took the minister sermon and applied the program to it.

I always knew Jesus Loved Me. Somewhere along the way, I figured I had lost that love and that I no longer qualified for it. I went back to church, had communion, it was my amend to God. I haven't been back too often since, because I don't like all the dogma, rituals, and hypocrisy that I found there. I like to keep it simple, I have a direct line and God and I have a little talk, sometimes several times a day.

I feel that when we surrender and ask for help, the Spirit of God enters us and it is up to us to build a relationship with that Spirit. It says in the Bible that Jesus sits on the right hand of God and intercedes for us. So when I pray, I will ask in His name. The way I see it, He has to go to the Source too.

I knew a young fellow about a year sober. He was saved. He believed Jesus made him all better and he didn't have to do anything. He was just F.I.N.E. He relapsed and died from his disease. His sponsor relapse too after 7 years of sobriety. Fortunately, he lived to make it back into the rooms of recovery. He substituted the church for his AA program. I find that my spiritual beliefs enhance my religious ones. An my religious views and beliefs enhance my spirituality and I am doubly blessed.