"A MOST SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP"
SPONSEE, SPONSLING, PIGEON - just a few terms of endearment used to identify a most special relationship - the relationship of sponsor and sponsee.
I don't remember how many years I was sober in Alcoholics Anonymous before I sponsored my first girl. I remember wondering what was wrong with me that no one asked me, but like most everything in my life, I finally realized I needed to turn it over to God. I did.
The day came when I got my first sponsee. I had seen a counselor before I got sober and for several years after I got out of treatment. She was instrumental in my recovery. One day she told me she was working with a woman who was newly sober and asked if I would sponsor her. I said yes and so began my first sponsorship relationship. What a joy it was. We went through the steps together using the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and she stayed sober till the day she died.
In the years since then I have sponsored many women. I sponsor in AA and Al-Anon. These are spiritual relationships. When someone asks me to sponsor them, I always feel the hand of God in the center of the question. Sometimes there is fear on the part of the person asking, but I am always filled with hope, joy and excitement because I know the spirit of God is present.
I sponsor 13 women - 4 in AA, 6 in Al-Anon, and 3 in both programs. Several things make it possible for me to do this. First, I am retired and have the time necessary. Second, a few of these girls are new, most are not. There are a few who rarely call me. This disturbs me, but I can't make someone be more involved in their own recovery than they are willing to be. I offer up my experience, strength, hope, and guidance, but I can't make them take it. I place that in God's hands too.
I seek God's guidance daily. I ask God to give me the wisdom and strength to be able to help them as best I can.
And then there are the wonderful relationships I have had with my sponsors over the years. It was my very first sponsor who was able to help me do something no one had been able to do, show me how to go one day without a drink when I first arrived in AA. My sponsors have all been God's instruments of my recovery. Thank you God.
God bless all sponsors and sponsees.
Prayer Girl
9 comments:
Really well-said, PG...
a beneficial relationship, winners on both sides...
As you give, so will you recieve.
Thank you for this insightful post Anna.
God bless every one!!!!
I too was many years in sobriety before someone asked me to sponsor them and I too wondered what was wrong with me. Nothing of course. I sposor today and keep the number low as I am often away and I don't want to start feelings of guilt. Maybe when I retire, which is soon I will step it up. I've always thought so.
So very true. I have had several but only the last two have stuck and are now on Step Four. I am grateful.
Great post PG. My sponsor is that special friend I can go to for guidance and strength, the voice of God when I really need it. Sponsoring others is so much more beneificial to me than to them on most occasions, it gets me out of myself, it makes me feel needed when I am lonely, it makes me read the books when we are working the steps, it is insurance against a relapse and it is giving back what was freely given to me. It is also humbling in knowing just how powerless I am over others and to put my trust in God.
Peace and Love
Scott
Hmmm....this is a good one PG. Both parties come out ahead. Blessings.
How wonderful. Very well spoken. A win win for everyone.
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