Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; (the) courage to change the things I can, and (the) wisdom to know the difference.
Optional: Thy will, not mine, be done.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step 3, pg. 41
OA Promise (Also known at "I Put My Hand in Yours", and "Rozanne's Prayer")
I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness, no longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady willpower. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours, and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams.
Optional: Keep coming back; it works if you work it and you're worth it!
Third Step Prayer
God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!
Alcoholics Anonymous P. 59
Seventh Step Prayer
My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.
Alcoholics Anonymous P. 76
Eleventh Step Prayer (Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi)
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace
—that where there is hatred, I may bring love
—that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
—that where there is discord, I may bring harmony
—that where there is error, I may bring truth
—that where there is doubt, I may bring faith
—that where there is despair, I may bring hope
—that where there are shadows, I may bring light
—that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted
—to understand, than to be understood
—to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life. Amen.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step 11, pg. 99
Thomas Merton Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Abstinence Prayer
And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life—unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my compulsive overeating, I could not stay abstinent; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitude.
Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage, all the men and women merely players.” He forgot to mention that I was the chief critic. I was always able to see the flaw in every person, every situation. And I was always glad to point it out, because I knew you wanted perfection, just as I did. O.A. and acceptance have taught me that there is a bit of good in the worst of us and a bit of bad in the best of us; that we are all children of God and we each have a right to be here. When I complain about me or about you, I am complaining about God’s handiwork, I am saying that I know better than God.
Alcoholics Anonymous P. 417
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; (the) courage to change the things I can, and (the) wisdom to know the difference.
Optional: Thy will, not mine, be done.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step 3, pg. 41
OA Promise (Also known at "I Put My Hand in Yours", and "Rozanne's Prayer")
I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness, no longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady willpower. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours, and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams.
Optional: Keep coming back; it works if you work it and you're worth it!
Third Step Prayer
God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!
Alcoholics Anonymous P. 59
Seventh Step Prayer
My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.
Alcoholics Anonymous P. 76
Eleventh Step Prayer (Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi)
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace
—that where there is hatred, I may bring love
—that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
—that where there is discord, I may bring harmony
—that where there is error, I may bring truth
—that where there is doubt, I may bring faith
—that where there is despair, I may bring hope
—that where there are shadows, I may bring light
—that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted
—to understand, than to be understood
—to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life. Amen.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step 11, pg. 99
Thomas Merton Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Abstinence Prayer
And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life—unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my compulsive overeating, I could not stay abstinent; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitude.
Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage, all the men and women merely players.” He forgot to mention that I was the chief critic. I was always able to see the flaw in every person, every situation. And I was always glad to point it out, because I knew you wanted perfection, just as I did. O.A. and acceptance have taught me that there is a bit of good in the worst of us and a bit of bad in the best of us; that we are all children of God and we each have a right to be here. When I complain about me or about you, I am complaining about God’s handiwork, I am saying that I know better than God.
Alcoholics Anonymous P. 417
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