Faith Without Works Is Dead

Judy F., info@aascv.org

“Let’s look for a moment at a single AA member. Faith alone does not save him. He has to act, do something. He must carry his message to others, practice AA principles in all his affairs. We must realize, as never before, how perilous faith without works might really become.” Bill W, Co-Founder June 1951 Language of the Heart.

As a newcomer to Alcoholics Anonymous I often heard that I had a three-fold disease: body, mind and spirit. The Big Book refers to the third part as a “spiritual malady.” As a newcomer, I identified with the physical part (one was never enough) as well as the mental aspect (I knew I was crazy), but the “spiritual malady,” I had no clue.

I was raised going to church every Sunday. My parents dropped me off for Sunday School and then as a family we went to the church service. So, I was not unfamiliar with “God” but could not relate to having a relationship with Him. Don’t you know I was an independent soul and could take care of and rely on myself.

I’m sure we can all identify with the idea that, as newcomers, we are “spiritually bankrupt.”

But what I really want to get down to is when you have time (I’m referring to 25 years or more) and you feel “spiritually bankrupt.” Now don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about…… you’re going to meetings; you’re sponsoring people; you have service commitments; you have a sponsor and Yada, Yada, Yada, but you don’t have that connection and you are feeling a little lost??? Maybe you have a situation going on that you are completely powerless over; maybe you are suffering from grief from the loss of a loved one; or maybe, just maybe there is nothing going on and there has been a shift in your “conscious contact.”

Oh my God, not another “turning point”. Page 59 in the Big Book refers to this turning point – “half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.”

Sometimes I don’t know what the “surrender” is and sometimes I believe I’m supposed to feel like I have been abandoned in the desert. It’s when I struggle with that abandonment and think, think, think what it could be that I become restless, irritable and discontent. I believe when the book refers to “trudging” or “walking with purpose” that it is telling me I’m not always going to be walking among the tulips. The tools as outlined in the Big Book are not just for the newcomer, they work when you feel abandoned in the desert and you have some time.

I’m waiting for Him to reveal Himself to me again. My job is to continue to do the work and believe my spirit will be renewed. The miracle is, when I look behind me and see only one set of footprints, I believe they are not mine. “Our Higher Power is good to those who wait for Him, and to the soul that seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly.”