As the doubter tries the process of prayer, he would do well to add up the results. If he persists, he’ll almost surely find more serenity, more tolerance, less fear, and less anger. He’ll acquire a quiet courage—the kind that isn’t tension-ridden. He’ll be able to look at failure and success for what they really are. Problems and calamity …
Perfect courage, wrote La Rochefocauld, means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on. As we grow in the Gamblers Anonymous Program, we recognize persistent fear for what it is, and we become able to handle it. We begin to see each adversity as a God-given opportunity to develop the kind of courage …
I’ve learned in the Gamblers Anonymous Program that I need not apologize to anyone for depending upon God as I understand Him. In fact, I now have good reason to disbelieve those who think spirituality is the way of weakness. For me, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that …
If I believe that it’s hopeless to expect any improvement in my life, I’m doubting the power of God. If I believe I have reason for despair, I’m confessing personal failure, for I do have the power to change myself; nothing can prevent it but my own unwillingness. I can learn in the Gamblers Anonymous …
So many of us suffer from despair. Yet we don’t realize that despair is purely the absence of faith. As long as we’re willing to turn to God for help in our difficulties, we cannot despair. When we’re troubled and can’t see a way out, it’s only because we imagine that all solutions depend on us. The …
I knew I had to have a new beginning, and the beginning had to be here. I couldn’t start anywhere else. I had to let go of the past and forget the future. As long as I held on to the past with one hand and grabbed at the future with the other hand, I …
Many people pray as though to overcome the will of a reluctant God, instead of taking hold of the willingness of a loving God. In the late stages of our gambling compulsion, the will to resist has fled. Yet when we admit complete defeat, and when we become entirely ready to try the principles of …
To stand on one leg and prove God’s existence is a very different thing, wrote Soren Kierkegaard, from going down on one’s knees and thanking Him. It is my confidence in a Higher Power, working in me, that today releases and activates my ability to make my life a more joyous, satisfying experience. I can’t bring this about …
When I was gambling, I was certain that my intelligence, backed by will power, could properly control my inner life and guarantee me success in the world around me. This brave and grandiose philosophy, by which I played God, sounded good in the saying, but it still had to meet the acid test: how well …
For those of us who have lost our faith, or who have always had to struggle along without it, it’s often helpful just to accept—blindly and with no reservations. It’s not necessary for us to believe at first; we need not be convinced. If we can only accept, we find ourselves becoming gradually aware of a …