I was sitting in the sun, trying to recuperate from an upper respiratory infection. The sun was shining so brightly as I was comfortably sitting in a lounge chair by the pool at the retirement center where we live. All of a sudden it turned dark. I looked up at the sky.
My story regarding accepting the SA sobriety definition begins when I was first dabbling in accountability and monitoring from others—but not yet in SA. My main goal was to stop masturbating, but I wasn't yet ready to give up sex outside of marriage and certainly didn't have a desire to stop lusting.
Four years before I came to SA, I sought help with a professional therapist. I was out of control and knew it, acting out in ways that put me in immediate danger of death. There was a titillating news story of a man who accidentally hung himself in a sexual escapade.
When I was still in the addiction and looking for a way to stop, I came across SA. I had approached SA before, a year earlier, but had done so only half-willingly, and at that time I never made it to a meeting. Needless to say, things got worse.
"Slowly but surely, some wisdom and humility began to creep in. I became more teachable. I found God working all around me where previously I was sure I had been alone. When I opened my eyes enough to see the miracle, it was right in front of my face. I was growing in God’s love" (AA 430).
Aussies and Kiwis are very committed to recovery. Over a decade ago, in a place called Mount Tambourine in Queensland, an English fellow ran a 12-Step workshop where a dream was born. The English man, an Irish man, and a bunch of Aussies and Kiwis got together with the vision of forming a region.
Can you help? SA’s Board of Trustees is served by a number of committees who assist it in administering the policies and decisions of the General Delegate Assembly. One of these is the Legal Committee whose mission is “to advise the Trustees on legal matters affecting the Fellowship.” (SA Service Manual, Ch. 13, p.2)
What a wonderful fellowship we have! Whenever someone reaches out, SA is there. Through a dedication to service by members like you, we have an effective international organization to keep us available to the next newcomer—and to all of you.
Are you experiencing freedom from the slavery of “having to have sex”? Have you found progressive victory over lust and an ongoing spiritual recovery? Have you become rigorously honest?
One of my most important recovery guidelines is from Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 132: “We absolutely insist on enjoying life.” Roy’s version of this is his notion that if we don’t find in recovery what we were looking for in lust, recovery wouldn’t work (SA, p. 164). Joy that comes from self-acceptance and group-acceptance is one thing my lust was looking for.
