At Least A Maniac Won’t Be Making Your Decisions

Through many years in our program of recovery, I have heard all kinds of neat little stories that illustrate important ideas. For example, there is the story of a man who was talking to his sponsor and he was struggling with his third step. He said “if I turn my will and my life over to God, what if He does something that I don’t want? What if He sends me to China to do missionary work? I don’t want to go to China.” His sponsor responded with “at least a maniac won’t be making your decisions.”

And isn’t that true?

When we have the courage to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God, amazing things happen. Let me share with you what happened to me when I went all-in.

Let me start by saying that I was the world’s worst decision-maker when I was sick. When I suffered actively in my addictions, I mindlessly grabbed onto the first potential solution with no thought to any long-term sideffects. Whatever I did, I did thoughtlessly and selfishly. I was commanded by unbridled impulsivity. And the worst part was that I didn’t even realize I was doing it, and even when I caught a slight glimpse of what I was doing, I still couldn’t do anything about it. Fraught with intellectualization, my mind refused to accept fundamental realities outside my preferences. Indeed, a maniac was making my life decisions for me.

Then God entered my life.

I truly believe that God got tired of seeing me walk into the same walls over and over again. I think He saw good in me that had no expression. I think He got tired of watching me hurt. He immediately and graciously took over control of my thoughts and my actions, my will and my life, my total care. He did this when I made a sincere and genuine surrender, greater than I had ever done before or could ever do again. We take this pivotal moment of our lives and we do it right. We give it to God and we leave it with God. It doesn’t work otherwise.

Sparing you all the incredible details, God has taken care of me; emotionally, spiritually, financially and physically. He handles my money and directs my actions. He has relieved me of the burden of worry about how everything is going to turn out. If I am actively living God’s good and unique plan for me, it doesn’t matter what happens. It is all good, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. I didn’t always get what I wanted, but I always got what I needed.

I will close by saying don’t be so sure that you know what you want and what is best for you. In many ways, we are the least qualified person to make such calculations. If we can trust God with a fraction of the amount of trust that we had in our amazing intellect while we used, nothing short of Grace will appear.

Disempower the maniac in your life today.

Thank you

Jim

James A. Francetich is a freelance writer and author. The opinions expressed are solely of the author and do not represent any community based recovery programs, private or public entities or any governmental agencies.