“Are these extravagant promises … we think not!” That feeling of uselessness and self pity with disappear. “ These two lines and this page of the book were (and are) what had me believe and then ultimately hold on … as I put the - Action - of NOT picking up …. one day at a time. The book, the program, this forum (and your posting these as reminders) … has made all the difference. Thank you Mandi.
“Thy will (not mine) be done” really clicked for me this second go at recovery. It is so much more helpful to have this mindset as opposed to directly asking my higher power for things! It helps me to practice radical acceptance every day and accept my limitations.
I’m very new to this app but I’m two months sober for the second time, and I didn’t even know this app had forums like this when I used to have it lol. It’s so cool, I’m loving everything that’s being said here, it’s super helpful:star:
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - including alcohol.
This is the sweetest of promises of the AA program. I could not and did not believe it, until it happened to me by working the steps. I fuckin’ love this program.
These few pages are some of the most quotable Big Book! I’m so grateful to have those couple of starting paragraphs, before the 9th step promises, pointed out again. There’s a line which speaks to attraction rather than promotion, of the spiritual life itself, that I needed to see. Evangelists who only talk seldom bear good news.Through the steps, I am ever so gradually finding a way of peace and ease, and hopefully it will become apparent enough to share.
Ahhhhh, you guys, these shares are AWESOME!! Thank you!!!
This same line stood out to me most. For me to quit fighting, I have to have acceptance. I needed to read this section tonight to really have that hit home again:
“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life—unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.”
Thank you Mandi 
I still open my book to page 86 daily and follow the morning and evening instructions to the letter. Everything that I have read and all of the instructions in the book have proven to be a true and foolproof way to assure a sober day. And for me, a sober life is made of a succession of sober days. The same is true of a spiritual life: It’s not a theory, I have to live it. It just keeps getting better. I have made like-living friends in the fellowship, too, ppl who are surrendered to the Miracle that is a recovery assured by simple maintenance of a fit spiritual condition. It really is the easiest, softest, way. And I tried so many ways.
So well stated and true!
Yes!! I have found the same thing, this really is the easier and softer way compared to the life I lived while using.
Being able to have that design that taught me to start my day connecting to my HP and how to end my day looking at my own actions for the day was really a gift. I never used to do either, and both brought big & wonderful changes into my life. I am grateful for this today, because I wouldn’t be living the life I do without that.
Today we begin chapter 7~Working With Others.
I struggled with where to stop the reading because I easily could have posted SO many pages lol. But I decided we’ll keep it slow and digestible. It’s not a race, it’s recovery that is meant to last and be absorbed. 
The rise of the detox and rehab industry is never more evident than when I grasp how things were 90 years ago. There was no place else to go, in fact there was nowhere to go that gave any sort of hope of recovery. You could get dried out, you could get locked up, but no-one held out hope for us.
What’s remarkable is that the first sentence is still 100% relevant today - “Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics.” The nature of that intensive work has changed - from drying someone out and educating them as to their condition, to what we have today - service opportunities on hotlines and in jails and hospitals, at the national, area, district, intergroup, and group levels, sitting in meetings, sponsorship.
I still freakin’ love this program. Two members of my home group are struggling bad right now, but we still love them and hold a chair for them and encourage them to keep coming back.
That single sentence smack-dab in the middle of page 89: “We know you will not want to miss it.” It’s entirely unnecessary, but it makes my heart chime in every time I read it, bc it has been so true for me. Sticking around a BB Step Study, doing the work, and finally beginning to get it, and then seeing others get it as they work the program. Yep, I know I wouldn’t want to miss it. What a lucky turn of events for us!
The 9th step promised will only come true if we are fearless and thorough and willing to go to any lengths to right our wrongs as long as others are not hurt further in that process. All these promises have come true for me and my sponsees that stuck around long enough to trust the process and not leave before the miracle happens. Love this app and AA and people like yourself that post.