Last Updated on September 2, 2022 by Website Committee
“The fact that we did not believe in prayer was irrelevant to its efficacy. The fact that we did not believe in God was irrelevant to God’s love for us and desire to bless us with sobriety. All that was relevant was our willingness to take action, whether we believed that it would help us or not.”
Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous, p. 151
One of the first actions suggested to me in ABA was to pray: each morning to admit my inability to control my thoughts and actions in regard to food, exercise, and my body weight and shape; and to ask for help to stay in surrender to meal support. And each evening to give thanks for the help that brought me through the day.
It all sounded hokey to me. Why should I pray if I don’t believe in prayer? If I don’t believe in a “God” who loves me and desires to “bless” me with sobriety? Because I have a disease of willfulness and my willfulness was making my life unmanageable! However, life seemed to be pretty calm for the person suggesting this prayer thing. Maybe she was on to something. And just maybe I could open my mind that tiny bit to believe that prayer could help me, too.
So, despite my uneasiness and skepticism, I did it. And as I kept on praying, I slowly started to feel more at ease – in eating, in my body, and in the world. Today, I find myself asking for help and giving thanks throughout each day. Prayer continues to shift my focus away from me as a self-sufficient know-it-all toward surrender to something greater. It grounds me in humility as an integral part of the human race – spiritually connected to others.
Why or how does this work? I don’t know AND I’m okay with that. It just does.
Thought for the Day
Can I become willing to pray even if I don’t believe in a Higher Power?
Submitted by Anonymous.
Copyright © 2017 by Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous
