Twenty-Five Words: How the Serenity Prayer Can Save Your Life

I have had many copies of this book over the years and I always wind up giving them away. 25 words, an excellent personal take on the short version of the serenity prayer.

Inspiring words by the author: "It may have taken me a long time and a lot of misery to get to the point of surrender, but once there the result was instantaneous. Once there, I understood that this is what I'd been moving toward my entire life. It took me every moment, every experience, every person I'd ever encountered, to bring me to that one moment on my knees. I knew there was a plan, and I was part of it. My life was forever changed." Rogers draws examples from her personal experience and, with brutal honesty, shares her past with her readers. She came from a family of alcoholics; she was a teenage mother. She was married and divorced a number of times. Both her children died. She became penniless and homeless, and she believed she deserved every punishment meted out to her by God. She was afraid all the time and had no peace in her life. For Barb Rogers, a broken addict at thirty-five, the Serenity Prayer became more than a rote recitation at a Twelve-Step meeting. She turned it into action, a way of life. At the very lowest point in her life, she first saw the prayer as a cruel joke about a God who couldn't possibly care about her. "Not me. I wasn't speaking to God. I wasn't asking him for anything. As far as I could see, he'd already given me more than I could stand." After all, she reasoned, she'd prayed before, telling God precisely what to do, and he hadn't done it, so how could this prayer be any different for her? Through this book, she tells her readers exactly how much difference it made to her and how it can do the same for others. The first step, she says, is making a connection to the God of the prayer. That God may not be exactly the same one you know, but that's okay. God is bigger than anyone's imagination. Rogers says each person must come to know on intimate terms a "God of our understanding." She doesn't teach the program or dogma of any church or religion. This is personal. Most people will seek a God who embodies the traits they want in their own life--love, compassion, forgiveness, and so on. They want someone who will love without condition. Rogers contends one next has to ask God to be in control of one's life. Not only is this a difficult task for an addict, it is contrary to the "take charge and get ahead" view of today's society. A person must be willing to give up all the drama and posturing that caused trouble in the first place. It's difficult to admit that one has been wrong; it's equally difficult to give up control. God gives the choice, but the choice must be made. God doesn't push anyone through that open door he offers. The author's next focus is on putting the past where it belongs--in the past. It can't be denied, it can't be forgotten, but it can be used for good. According to Rogers, "...people don't wake up one day and decide who to be. They are the result of their life experiences." We can accept our part in how the past played out, or we can find someone or something else to blame--our fa