a witch and I was the first time I went into recovery (and why did I think it was time to quit?). The God thing doesn't really bother me. I usually preface when I speak of my higher power that I visualize it as a her and her name, to me, is Evelyn. No one has ever given me a lick of trouble about it. I haven't even seen any double takes. Nor do I have a problem that many of my fellow recoverers in that room believe in the more common paradigm God.
I don't know if it's luck or if people in recovery are less judgmental, but they always talk about their higher powers without any one true wayisms. Having grown up in the southern baptist church, I would pick up on it if they were proselytizing.
But, I do think we need an update, one that helps people understand more fully "as we understand ____", since even there, the word God is used, and if one person turns away from their possible recovery because they are turned off by the word God being used, it's just wrong. It hurts my heart to even think about that.
I do know that, for me, a higher power as I understand that higher power is necessary to my recovery. It seems to be that way for many people but it's not for me to say. Looking at the 12 steps (for me, it's been CoDA and now Al Anon), the term God could be removed and I don't think the steps would be any less effective. Most of them are about personal "house cleaning", not about blithely handing our issues to some amorphous whatever that will handle it. By the time the spiritual awakening comes, the person has done so much self work, as all of us who do work the steps know. For me, though, to set aside my higher power (as I chose to do) and do my own driving really hurt me in the long run. This time around, I won't put her on the back shelf when things seem "all better". This is my biggest lesson this time around. My higher power as I understand her, is a vital part of my continued recovery.
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