April 24

April 24 – AM          Page 14, Bill’s Story, Chapter 1

Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid.  It meant destruction of self-centeredness.  I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.
These were revolutionary and drastic proposals, but the moment I fully accepted them, the effect was electric.  There was a sense of victory, followed by such a peace and serenity as I had never known.  There was utter confidence.  I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through.  God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound.

April 24 – PM          Page 97-98, Working With Others, Chapter 7

For the type of alcoholic who is able and willing to get well, little charity, in the ordinary sense of the word, is needed or wanted.  The men who cry for money and shelter before conquering alcohol, are on the wrong track.  Yet we do go to great extremes to provide each other with these very things, when such action is warranted.  This may seem inconsistent, but we think it is not.
It is not the matter of giving that is in question, but when and how to give.  That often makes the difference between failure and success.  The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God.  He clamors for this or that, claiming he cannot master alcohol until his material needs are cared for.  Nonsense.  Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth:  Job or no job—wife or no wife—we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.
Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone.  The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house.