Ask God to Help You be Willing
Many people who come to R.A. from other programs do not understand that the pioneers designed the program to be simple. For example, the pioneers' entire discussion of the Sixth Step is contained in only one paragraph. In R.A.'s Multilith Big Book, on page 34, in the sixth paragraph, it says, "We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are you now perfectly willing to let God remove from you all the things which you have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all—every one? If you yet cling to something you will not let go, ask God to help you be willing."

	If you yet cling to something you will not let go, ask God to help you be willing.

     In R.A., we believe that having the entire discussion of Step Six in one paragraph shows how simple the program can be. However, the pioneers also recognized that working the program is not easy. In R.A.'s Multilith Big Book, on page 6, in the ninth paragraph, they share, "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."
    This brings us to another misunderstanding that is common in other programs. People think they have to remove their own defects of character. In R.A.'s Multilith Big Book, on page 32, the pioneers share, "In this book you read again and again that God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We hope you are convinced now that He can remove the self-will that has blocked you off from Him. You have made your decision. You have made an inventory of the grosser handicaps you have. You have made a good beginning, for you have swallowed and digested some big chunks of truth about yourself. Are you willing to go on?"

In [the Big Book] you read again and again that God did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

    In other words, if we are not willing, we need to "ask God to help us be willing." In R.A., we have had the same experience as the pioneers. They wrote "again and again" that, "God did for us what we could not do for ourselves." When we become willing to let God remove the self-will and other character defects that had been blocking our recovery, He can and will take them away when we ask.

The Miracles Revealed:
R.A.’s Journal of Recovery
The page to the right is from R.A.'s second book, "The Miracles Revealed: R.A.'s Journal Of Recovery." This book will give even the most experienced person a fresh look at the program. You can read it like a daily journal, or you can read it straight through. R.A.'s Journal will help everyone come to a deeper understanding of our program of recovery. If you enjoy this sample, please visit R.A.'s web site and download a copy of "The Miracles Revealed: R.A.'s Journal of Recovery."
A Story of Recovery
Our experience is that the stories in the original Multilith Big Book were written to validate the pioneers' "clear-cut directions" for working the Twelve Steps. To help your recovery, we encourage you to visit R.A.'s web site and get "The Original Way Out Revealed: R.A.'s Annotated Multilith Big Book" and read all of these original stories. The following passage is from the story "THE SEVEN MONTH SLIP." In R.A.'s Annotated Multilith Big Book, in the personal story section, on page PS47 it says:
"In the years 1933 and 1934 I was fired several times, but always got my job back on my promises to do better. On the last occasion I was reduced to the labor gang in the plant. I made a terrific effort to stay sober and prove myself capable of better things. I succeeded pretty well and one day I was called into the production chief's office and told I had met with the approval of the executive department and to be ready to start on a better job.
"This good news seemed to justify a mild celebration with a few beers. Exactly four days later I reported for work only to find that they too knew about the "mild" celebration and that they had decided to check me out altogether. After a time I went back and was assigned to one of the hardest jobs in the factory. I was in bad shape physically and after six months of this, I quit, going on a drunk with my last pay check.

I had been a sober, happy man for a year, living decently and trying to follow the will of God.

"Then I began to find that the friends with whom I had been drinking for some time seemed to disappear. This made me resentful and I found myself many times feeling that everybody was against me. Bootleg joints became my hangouts. I sold my books, car, and even clothing in order to buy a few drinks.
"I am certain that my family kept me from gravitating to flophouses and gutters. I am eternally thankful to them that they never threw me out or refused me help when I was drinking. Of course I didn't appreciate their kindness then, and I began to stay away from home on protracted drinking spells.
"Somehow my family heard of two men in town who had found a way to quit drinking. They suggested that I contact these men but I retorted "If I can't handle my liquor with my own will power then I had better jump over the viaduct."
"Another of my usual drinking spells came on. I drank for about ten days with no food except coffee before I was sick enough to start the battle back to sobriety with the accompanying shakes, night sweats, jittery nerves, and horrible dreams. This time I felt that I really needed some help. I told me [my] mother she could call the doctor who was the center of the little group of former drinkers. She did.

	I only know that as long as I seek God's help to the best of my ability, just so long will liquor never bother me.

"I allowed myself to be taken to a hospital where it took several days for my head to clear and my nerves to settle. Then, one day I had a couple of visitors, one a man from New York and the other a local attorney. During our conversation I learned that they had been as bad as myself in this drinking, and that they had found relief and had been able to make a come-back. Later they went into more detail and put it to me very straight that I'd have to give over my desires and attitudes to a power higher than myself which would give me new desires and attitudes.
"Here was religion put to me in a different way and presented by three pastmasters in liquor guzzling. On the strength of their stories I decided to give it a try. And it worked, as long as I allowed it to do so.
"After a year of learning new ways of living, new attitudes and desires, I became self-confident and then careless. I suppose you would say I got to feeling too sure of myself and Zowie! First it was a beer on Saturday nights and then it was a fine drunk. I knew exactly what I had done to bring myself to this old grief. I had tried to handle my life on the strength of my own ideas and plans instead of looking to God for the inspiration and the strength.
"But I didn't do anything about it. I thought "to hell with everybody. I'm going to do as I please." So I floundered around for seven months refusing help from any quarter. But one day I volunteered to take another drunk on a trip to sober him up. When we got back to town we were both drunk and went to a hotel to sober up. Then I began to reason the thing out. I had been a sober, happy man for a year, living decently and trying to follow the will of God. Now I was unshaven, unkept, ill-looking, bleary-eyed. I made my decision then and there and went back to my friends who offered me help and who never lectured me on my seven month failure.
"That was more than a year ago. I don't say now that I can do anything. I only know that as long as I seek God's help to the best of my ability, just so long will liquor never bother me."

A Newcomer Asks
"When I was in another program, I was told, 'God helps those who help themselves.' Therefore, I kept thinking I was responsible for helping myself. I kept trying to help myself. I kept trying to solve my own difficulties. I kept failing. Now, in R.A., I am told that I can't help myself. I don't understand. What can I do?"
In R.A., we have found that the expression, "God helps those who help themselves" is just something that someone made up because they thought it would be helpful. In Recoveries Anonymous, we do not think that it makes sense to think that a loving God would not, or could not, help someone who can't help him or herself.

...we have been trying to establish a new relationship with a loving God.

When we take the Sixth Step within R.A., we again have the opportunity to move from our old idea of thinking that we had to help ourselves to become willing to have God remove all of our defects of character. As we worked each step up to this point, we have been trying to establish a new relationship with a loving God. For example, when we worked the First Step, we admitted that we are powerless over our problems and behaviors, that God would have to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Then, in the Second Step, we recognized that our behavior had been insane and we came to believe that God could and would restore us to sanity.
In R.A., when we worked the Third Step, we made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care and direction of God as the pioneers understood Him. This is a loving God who cares enough about us to do for us all those things we could never do for ourselves.

	This is a loving God who cares enough about us to do for us all those things we could never do for ourselves.

In the Fourth Step, we searched for, and found, the character defects that had caused our problems and behaviors and that had blocked us off from Him. In the Fifth Step, we admitted the exact nature of these defects of character to God, to ourselves, and to another person. We found that our various character defects were all manifestations of our selfishness—self-centeredness.
Now, in the Sixth Step, we become entirely willing to have God remove all of the character defects that we thought we had to remove ourselves. These are the same character defects we discovered had been blocking our new relationship with our Creator.
In R.A., we have learned that if we are not willing to let go, we can ask God to help us become willing. We can ask our loving Creator to give us the willingness we need in the Sixth Step. R.A.'s experience is that our loving God will do for us all those things we could not do for ourselves.

R.A.’s “How To Begin…” Guides
To find out more about our Twelve Step Fellowship, and how you can get started working the Twelve Steps of our Solution Focused Program of Recovery, we suggest that you visit our web site and Download R.A.'s "How To Begin…" guides. This includes R.A.'s Newcomer Guide, "How To Begin Living In The Solution."

R.A.’s Solution Focused Books
Move up to the next step in your search for recovery by downloading and reading the PDF versions of R.A.'s Solution Focused Books. We do not charge for the PDF versions of our books. Instead, we give the passwords needed to open our books to thank those who support our efforts to help others. You can show your support by making a small, one time, tax-free contribution to R.A., or, if you truly cannot afford to make a contribution at this time, by filling out our Feedback Form.
    If you are reading this, you have probably spent a lot of time and energy trying things that did not work out the way you hoped they would. Doesn't it make sense to invest a little more time and energy in this time-proven method of finding the recovery you've been seeking? As the pioneers promise in the Multilith Big Book: ''It works—it really does. Try it.''

R.A. Is Self-supporting
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Recoveries Anonymous
For more information about our Twelve Step Program Of Recovery visit our web site at www.R-A.org