IN THE CURRENT MAGAZINE

Recently, I was waiting for some medical results, which, if negative, may have meant some serious consequences. Fear gripped me, but I did not share my feelings with anyone. Without even making a conscious decision to do so, I found myself back in self-reliance, relying on finite self instead of infinite God.

It took me nine years in SA to realize that continually praying to God to “keep me sober,” and to “take away my lust” wasn’t working for me. I discovered that this kind of prayer was just another subtle way of trying to manage my life by asking God to do what I thought He should do for me.

Recently, I awoke early to start my day before it became hot and humid. I prayed my usual prayers, but thought to myself that I would save morning meditation to a more convenient time. Perhaps this was the beginning of obsession trying to creep into my mind as I ignored the line, “On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day …” (AA 86).

The morning smells like smoke A building is burning The siren is running But I am humming

Last Sunday nine of us came together to celebrate at the 5-hour Newcastle Australia Conference, while an average of another 20 members zoomed and called in. Among us were two first nation Australians and one woman. We had guest speakers from all over our island—Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle.

We recently had our annual fall speaker marathon in the US Capital Area (District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland), which we call “Gratitude Day.” The 12-hour marathon on Zoom had several attendees throughout the day. With more than 10 speakers from SA Regions in the United States and Canada, plus a keynote speaker, the support was great.

Greetings from an extremely grateful member, just 9 weeks into SA, and sober in no small part due to the UK November Convention. I am writing to thank you.

At this moment there are strong and foundational fellowships in Kenya (54 members), South Africa (16 members), and Egypt (90 members). Other countries like Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia, Zambia, and Reunion Island have only one or at best a couple of members.

Over 2500 sexaholics from 80+ countries around the world came to experience for themselves that God is surely for each one of us. That was more than twice the 1200 people who even registered for last year’s event.

The Spanish SA Winter Convention had a strong focus on staying sober with panelists from all over the Spanish-speaking world, among whom old-timer Harvey A. who shared his invigorating joy with us.