God removed her fear and replaced it with faith with works. My whole life, I’d been so bound by fear, I’d lost hope for freedom. Through working the Steps, a brilliant light at the end of a long, cold, and dark tunnel suddenly shone forth with a comforting warmth.
SA kepted him sober while therapy helped him heal from trauma and shame. My wife discovered my addiction for the first time before we were married. I promised if she gave me another chance, I would spend the rest of my life making it up to her. That turned out to be a lie. She discovered my addiction for the second time after I got myself into a legal situation.
Working the Steps on fear allowed her to take action under God’s guidance. I’ve been married for almost 50 years. My husband has been unbelievably cruel, but I’ve been afraid to leave. My biggest fear has been that I wouldn’t be able to support myself, that I’d be homeless.
He experienced a transformation from SA that helps him see is true identity. The Problem is not the problem! When I came to SA in 1999 due to personal, family and relational crises, my feelings were all over the place.
The Steps removed shame and perfectionism, a deadly combination that blocked her from being vulnerable.
Identifying the problem and stepping out of self allows him to live in trust and in the will of God.
Are you ready for another caption challenge? We invite you to craft the perfect recovery caption for the cartoon below, centered on October’s theme, “Surrendering Shame.” If your caption makes us laugh, it will be featured in the October ESSAY edition. Don't miss out—the submission deadline is September 15. Send your entry to essay@sa.org. Unleash your creativity, and may the cleverest caption win!
Our next edition’s theme is “Surrendering Fear, Guilt, and Shame.” Coming into the Program, many of us experience fear of facing the guilt and shame that the addiction of sexaholism brings to those powerless over lust. The Fellowship helps us overcome this fear by walking with us through the process of finding a sponsor and working the Steps. In doing so, we discover that we are not the things the addiction said we were.
I joined the program in December 2014 and found my first sponsor from Ireland/USA through SAICO. Back then, he was based in Jordan and sober for 22 years. During my first call with him, he introduced the program and asked me to read the whole AA Big Book before working the Steps. I agreed and we ended the call.
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.
