Welcome to the Alcoholics Anonymous Christian Workbook and Bible, a resource thoughtfully designed to guide you through meetings, it is a journey of reflection, faith, and spiritual growth. This workbook combines Biblical principles with the transformative steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering you a meaningful way to strengthen your faith while working toward recovery. Each meeting is carefully structured to encourage prayer, self-reflection, and journaling, allowing you to connect deeply with God and examine your personal walk with Him.

Over these meetings, you will find prompts and exercises that encourage you to write and reflect. While it may seem like a lot of writing, this process is essential for growth and healing. Writing allows you to process your thoughts, acknowledge your struggles, and celebrate your victories. Think of this workbook as a personal conversation between you and God—a space where honesty and vulnerability lead to restoration and hope.

We’re here to support your journey, and this workbook is a step toward reclaiming both your life and your faith. Let this be an opportunity to grow spiritually, deepen your understanding of God’s Word, and take meaningful strides on your path to recovery. Remember, you are not alone in this journey—God is walking alongside you every step of the way. Let’s get started and see what He has in store for you!

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.
   2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
   3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
   4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
   5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
   6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
2. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
   8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
   9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
   10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
   11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
   12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

REACHED STEP 2

PROFILE: 

Ally was always overweight as a child and teenager.  Her weight was a very sore subject in her family, but food was her main comfort for anxiety and depression.  She never felt as though she fit in with others, and her friends seemed to be untrustworthy and two-faced.  Food became her comfort, companion, excitement, and recreation.

Over the years, her weight continued to climb until she was hopeless about the possibility of having a slim body.  She would have fleeting periods of weight loss, but was never able to make a lasting difference.  Years of self-hatred and feeling marginalized by life made her disbelieve that God could or would help her with her food and eating problems.  She struggled for self-esteem and tried many self-help strategies for learning to like herself despite the extra pounds.

When she walked into Overeaters Anonymous, a Twelve Step group for compulsive eaters, she knew that she was powerless over food.  Step One was obvious to her.  But Step Two, coming to believe that a greater Power could restore her to sanity, was a huge roadblock.  The challenge of Step Two was to gain enough faith to believe that God could accomplish what she could never do.  As with all of us, Ally’s faith had to grow as she opened her mind to the possibility that God could actually help her with her specific problem.

By talking to a sponsor and other people in the program, she learned to simply believe that God’s power was there and that he was really interested in her food issues.  She began with hesitant faith to ask God to remove the insanity-the obsessive thoughts about food, the time spent bingeing, the negative thoughts about self, and the damaging effects on her body.  Over time, her trust and belief in God grew as she learned to let go of food one day at a time, follow a food plan, and trust God to help her act sanely around food.  The surrender of her dependency, as we all must learn, came by taking opposite action around food even when she didn’t feel like it.  By surrendering daily, Ally felt closer to God without the “food fog.”  She regained wholeness and sanity around food.

Step Two-

We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

As we have faced our powerlessness to stop the deadly progression of addiction in Step One, we have admitted our complete defeat.  Because there is no hope available within ourselves (our sinful, human condition), Step Two describes the process by which we look outside ourselves to develop hope that there is a Power that can stop the addictive process.

This step begins with recognizing that addiction is a season of insanity.  What usually begins innocently as seeking pleasure, relief, or comfort becomes, over time, a coping mechanism for avoiding reality and responsibility.  The pain of dealing with the upsets, hardships, and disappointments of life can wear down our faith and confidence in God.  Substances and addictive behaviors can be a way of managing our stress and our sense of being out of control.  As time goes on, unfortunately, this coping mechanism turns against us.  Instead of relief and comfort, we find more difficulties and troubles.  We multiply our problems instead of solving them.

When we face the fact that we have been, in a sense, insane to think that we could make life work by acting out in our addiction, we see that our belief in God and in his Son, Jesus, has been nullified.  Our faith has been overthrown by our addictive thoughts and behaviors, and we are headed toward spiritual disaster.  Surrendering the reins of our life is not easy.  We have to face our arrogant thinking and realize that although we believe in God, we have not allowed him into our lives in a real and practical way.  We have not fully understood how desperate we are for his restoration and healing.  When we can honestly accept that we are not God, and that he must have more room in our lives than we have previously allowed, we will come closer to releasing our arrogance.  We have been trying to bend life to our will and have not considered God’s will at all.

In the meditations on this step, we look at scriptures that describe what happens when we try to live in our own power.  First, we begin to think that God is unfair; we begin to question him and wonder if he is really with us, as Job did.  Our “insanity” in this case is in having the arrogance to think that we could actually see the whole picture as God does, and know what is fair or unfair.  Coming to believe for Job meant accepting that he was a finite human, and that God is omniscient.

We may become grandiose like Nebuchadnezzar and think that we have the right to declare how life should revolve around us, our needs, and our wishes.  This king looked at his successes and began to claim the credit for himself.  He lost the humility of remembering that God rules and gives power and success “to anyone he chooses” (Daniel 4:32).  His grandiosity of thought and attitude was revealed by the dream that he had Daniel interpret.  Daniel pleaded with him to turn from his sin of grandiose thinking, but his ego was hooked by the pride of accomplishment: “By my own might power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor” (Daniel 4:30).

God did not allow Nebuchadnezzar to continue in that way; he was humbled by God with a season of insanity and grazed aimlessly with the cattle in the fields until he acknowledged God’s power and sovereignty.  This king’s grandiose thinking is similar to the grandiosity of addiction-we try to make life work by medicating, avoiding, or filling ourselves with more and more sex, food, relationships, or substances.  What eventually happens is similar to what happened to Nebuchadnezzar: we end up wandering aimlessly, humiliated, and not accomplishing much.  His season of insanity was like our season of addiction.

After his pointless drifting, this king came to his senses by looking up to heaven and realizing that life did not revolve around him, but around God.  In the same way, to be relieved of addition, we realize that our way of dealing with life ahs not worked.  Our years of medicating our emotions with substances or compulsive behaviors have not brought the sense of comfort we were seeking.  As we face the insanity of choosing to cope with life in these ways, we look up to heaven to find the all-powerful God.

Addiction is also a type of insanity in the way that it affects our internal world.  Jesus came upon a man who was called Legion because he had so many demons living in him.  Addiction is like that-we become consumed with demons of envy, jealously, fear, and hate that drive us away from relationships and toward the tombs of isolation, bitterness, and hopelessness.  We need Jesus to restore us to our right minds, put us back on our feet, and heal our hearts, as he did for this man.

If our addiction goes on for years, we can become outcasts from society, like the woman in the Gospels with the issue of blood.  We are cut off from relationships and are unable to find acceptance from people.  Isolation and loneliness are terribly painful, and they are not what God intended for us.  It is essential for us to restore our relationships and connections with people if we er to emerge from our addictions and make a successful recovery.  Our insanity must be healed by our reaching out for God as this woman did.  She hesitantly and feely sought Jesus in the crowd, thinking, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”  Reaching out to others is a tangible sign that we are reaching out for God’s healing in our lives.

Once we can face and accept that we have been insane in these ways, we are closer to recognizing how desperately we need God’s touch to restore us.  Coming to believe in Step Two is a process of becoming aware of a greater reality that anything we can see with our eyes.  God is willing at any moment to help us overcome our addictive behaviors and unmanageable emotions.  By engaging n this process, we allow God to restore us to right thinking and to clear faith in his power.  Then we can be free from the isolation, the grandiosity, and the tortured thoughts and feelings that accompany addiction.

Serentiy Prayer

MAKE CHANGES

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference   Amen

When other people put us at risk or cause us pain, we may feel as if there’s nothing we can do.  We may be used to the role of victim.  But there are ways to maintain our dignity and sanity even in the most oppressive circumstances.

Read 1 Samuel 25:18-39

Abigail is a good example of someone who didn’t give in to helplessness but had the wisdom to know what she could and couldn’t change.  Her husband, Nabal (meaning “fool”), was “crude and mean in all his dealings” (1 Samuel 25:3).  Before David became king, Nabal insulted his troops to the point that David and his men were on their way to kill him and anyone who got in their way.  Through some fast thinking and even faster talking, Abigail protected her family.  She convinced David not to take vengeance into his own hands.  A few weeks later Nabal died of natural (or perhaps supernatural) causes, and Abilgail became David’s wife.

We cannot always change other people.  It takes wisdom and courage to accept this truth.  But even when we can’t change them, we can still change the situation to protect ourselves from the effects of their behavior.  Acceptance of another’s addiction or personality does not mean that we have to accept being the victim of that person’s wrongs.  We can give up our crusade to change the other person without giving up our right to be treated with dignity. 

Serenity Prayer Devotionals

MAINTAIN DIGNITY P377

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.  Amen

When other people put us at risk or cause us pain, we may feel as if there’s nothing we can do.  We may be used to the role of victim.  But there are ways to maintain our dignity and sanity even in the most oppressive circumstances.

Read 1 Samuel 25:18-39

Abigail is a good example of someone who didn’t give in to helplessness but had the wisdom to know what she could and couldn’t change.  Her husband, Nabal (meaning “fool”), was “crude and mean in all his dealings” (1 Samuel 25:3).  Before David became king, Nabal insulted his troops to the point that David and his men were on their way to kill him and anyone who got in their way.  Through some fast thinking and even faster talking, Abigail protected her family.  She convinced David not to take vengeance into his own hands.  A few weeks later Nabal died of natural (or perhaps supernatural) causes, and Abigail became David’s wife.

We cannot always change other people.  It takes wisdom and courage to accept this truth.  But even when we can’t change them, we can still change the situation to protect ourselves from the effects of their behavior.  Acceptance of another’s addiction or personality does not mean that we have to accept being the victim of that persons wrongs.  We can give up our crusade to change the other person without giving up our right to be treated with dignity. 

Serenity prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things. I cannot change the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Sometimes in recovery, we're on the top of the world: we feel as though our problems are licked for good. At such times, it is tempting to relax and stop living one day at a time. But then life surprises us with an unexpected problem.

Read second Samuel 15: one through 26

King David had reached a pinnacle of success. He had killed Giants, one battles, captured the hearts of his people, and overcome enemies on every side. While he was in the comfortable position, he was surprised by a rebellion led by his own son: a messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David, all Israel has joined Absolom And a conspiracy against you. Then we must flee at once, or it will be too late. David urged his men. Hurry. If we get out of the city before Absalom arrives, the city of Jerusalem we'll be spared… If the Lord sees fit, David said, he will bring me back to see the arc and the tabernacle again. But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him.

King David wisely accepted the reality at hand and responded to the situation as it was, not as he wished it would be. It seems that David was a little bit of the habit of relying on God day by day, but he quickly placed his life back in God's hands. God did protect him, and returned to him to the throne in Jerusalem. When life hits us with unexpected threats, we, too, need to place our lines in God's hands.

Serenity prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things that cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference amen

The recovery process doesn't end when our broken parts are repaired. Full recovery involves Build in a new life that is free, full, and rich. Fear of failure, humiliation, or disappointment can keep us from seeking life and all its fullness. It takes courage to dream of the life we truly desire.

Read first Chronicles 28: one through 21

King David dreamed of building a magnificent temple, the likes of which the world had never seen. In commissioning his son Solomon to do the work David said, part of this plan... Was given to me in writing from the hand of the Lord... Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don't be afraid of discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. First Chronicles 28:19 through 20. The apostle Paul sent, we are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Ephesians 2:21.

Just as David dreamed of building a magnificent temple, we can dared a dream of building a magnificent new life. God has the blueprint already drawn up. It's natural to fear that if we allow ourselves to hope, we will only be disappointed again or that we might start and fail, suffering, public, humiliation. But we need only to be strong and courageous, and do the work we need not to be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for God, who became the good work within you, will Continue his work until it is finally finished. Philippians one: six.

Serenity prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things. I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.

There comes a point in recovery when we need to face ourselves. We need to acknowledge the wrongs we have committed and the harm we have caused. It takes courage to make the preparation is necessary to allow God to change our lives and our relationships in ways that support the recovery process.

Read second Chronicles, 15:1 through 19

King Asa lived at a time when the people of Israel had given themselves over to the worship of idols. They had turned away from God and the way of life they knew to be right. The messenger of God told the king: the Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him. Whenever you see him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon.... When Asa Heard this... He took courage and removed all the detestable idols from the land... And he repaired the altar of the Lord. Second Chronicles 15:2, eight. Asa Even removed his grandmother from her position of power because she had been influential and Israel's idolatry.

Allowing God to work on all our character defects takes courage because the changes he makes in us will affect every pot of our lives. The time will come when we need to crush and burn the idols we have served, to go against the crowd, to make a commitment to God, and even to separate ourselves from those who don't contribute to our recovery. When we do these things, we will find that God will be there for us, encouraging us as we set Things straight.

Serenity prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things. I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference amen.

Boundaries are the limits we set for our protection. Recovery involves building healthy boundaries or repairing those that have become weak, defective, or torn down through abuse.

Read second Chronicles 32: one through 19

In the Bible times, each city was fortified by boundary walls that served as protection from outside enemies. If these walls were weak or broken, there was grave danger of invasion and destruction. At one point in Israel's history and enemy was threatening to attack Jerusalem.  King Hezekiah Strengthen his defenses by repairing all the broken sections of the wall. Erecting towers, and constructed in a second wall outside the first... Encouraged, be strong and encourage courageous.... We have the Lord, our God to help us and a fight our battles for us.  Hezekiahs Words greatly encourage the people. Second Chronicles 32:5 through eight.

For some of us, our boundaries have grown weak as we have let people walk all over us or as we have let down our guard against our own destructive behaviors.

Part of the recovery process involves repairing our boundaries. We can also construct a second wall of defense by developing a strong support network around us. We will still need to be brave, and remember that no matter what enemies we face in the form of destructive behaviors, there is someone on our side who is far greater. This should bring us great encouragement.

Serenity prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things. I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference amen.

When we lack wisdom, the terms of life can be devastating. When we find our lives in pieces, we may realize that we haven't acted unwisely and want to change, but where do we start?

Read Psalm 111: one through 10

Fear the Lord, the psalmist wrote, is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his Commandments will grow in wisdom. Psalms 111:10. God has given us clear instructions for our lives in his word. When we fear God in our will willing to accept his instructions as the basis for all of our decisions, we have a good starting point.

Jesus said, anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who build a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in and the flood waters rise, and the winds beat against the house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. Matthew 7:24 through 25. Listening to what the Bible says is the next step toward walking and wisdom. Fill our minds with God's instructions will help lead us to follow them. This will also help us turn away from the things for bin by God. The book of Job tells us, the fear of the Lord is true wisdom: to forsake evil is real understanding. Joke. 28:28. Turning in our lives over to God is a wise move. Like most aspects of recovery, walking in wisdom is a process that we grow into. These three elements are the groundwork: reference for God, listening to his instructions, and following them.