December 12

“The program tools being offered to you are the same that kept your sponsor sober, and they can keep you sober too.”

“Getting a Sponsor”

I am grateful for the people who walked this path before me and paved the way for my recovery. A sponsor is able to introduce me to these precious gifts and walk with me on my journey of recovery. The tools that worked for my sponsor can work for me too. At first I needed to take this statement on faith. Later I came to know the truth of it through my own experience of being restored to sanity and finding joy through these tools. On days that I don’t experience this joy, I remember the acronym Y.E.T. (“you’re eligible, too”).

The program tools are all available to me today because my sponsor chose to use them and to pass the benefits and wisdom on to me. Thank God that someone has gone before and blazed this trail for me and countless others! And thank God that it’s now my turn to pass on my experience, strength, and hope with others coming to the fellowship today.

I once heard the phrase, “Have a sponsor, use a sponsor, be a sponsor.” That slogan puts my program today in a nutshell. I can’t keep the gift of recovery all to myself. I need to give it away in order to keep it.

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God, thank you for my sponsor and others who have walked this path before me. Help me give as I have been given.