Xtras

Xtras is the category where A Attitude of Gratitude will put compelling information that don’t necessarily fit under a specific Step. Here you’ll find stories, jokes, book & web site reviews etc. Be sure to check this category regularly. You keep reading and we’ll keep posting.

Freedom To Have a New Life

A Attitude of Gratitude is an alternative life recovery program for those who consider traditional 12 Step groups not to be a good fit at this time. What we offer is an established method that empowers a person to have the freedom needed to have a new life that’s filled with meaning and purpose.

A Attitude of Gratitude is a recovery community with an emphasis on inspiring, encouraging and equipping all involved to be more like the people that we were created to be. We do not proclaim to have the answers to all of life’s questions. This program simply provides a proven process that allows a person to find a spiritual solution to their suffering. How that’s accomplished is by an introductory and complimentary approach to the contemporary 12 Step program.

A Attitude of Gratitude is a free program. There is no requirement to believe or not believe in anything to be involved. The only necessity to participate is a desire for your life to better than it is today.

A core belief here is that God can never be figured out intellectually because faith is not what we think, but what we do. That without living what we say we believe, what we say we believe is irrelevant. So therefore, some of the propositions that this fellowship is founded upon are:

Honesty is needed if there is to be any chance of humility. Humility is the foundation of all real change.
If we take a position of being a student, lessons are available to us everywhere.
Our faith must make good common sense before it makes anything else.
Personal investigation and contemplation must occur if a person is to experience a renewed life.
Embrace differences and seek similarities with others.
Take nothing personally. What other people do, and do not do, is not about us.
Make no assumptions. Unrealistic expectations are resentments waiting to happen.
We do not blame people, places or things for our difficulties. We always strive to do our best.
Once we do what is needed to remove what is blocking us from our potential we can see ourselves as we are; in unity with each other and God’s presence.
Truth is eternal, however our knowledge of it is changeable.
The purpose of life is to have a spiritual awakening. Contemplation is a positive choosing of the deep, shining, and enduring divine mysteries that are hidden beneath the too-easy formulas. There is a spiritual solution to all suffering.
If a person follows their bliss, the life that they ought to be living is the one that they are living. Therefore by living authentically, each of us will inspire others to be free to discover their own voice too.

We realize we know only a little and that God will constantly disclose more to us who seek an intimate relationship.

How is that done? By abandoning yourself to God as you understand God; admitting your faults to Him and to a trusted friend; making amends for the wreckage of your past and then giving freely what has been freely given to you. Do this my friend and you will know freedom.

Our Journey Home

If you have read any of our blog posts, you should realize that A Attitude of Gratitude endorses the 12 Steps of Recovery. If you are not family with what that is, a twelve-step program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems. Originally proposed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a method of recovery from alcoholism, the Twelve Steps were first published in the 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism. The method was adapted and became the foundation of other twelve-step programs.

When Bill Smith and Dr. Bob Watson founded Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1930’s, it was based on principles developed from The Oxford Group combined with Bill and Dr. Bob’s understanding of Scripture. Their Twelve Steps all had a Biblical foundation which, when applied, started men on the road to recovery from their addictions. Since then AA has spread internationally and helped countless people with their addictions.

David Zailer has taken the Twelve Steps and developed a Christ-centered application of these principles in the book, “Our Journey Home – Insights & Inspirations for Christian Twelve Step Recovery”.

In this book, each Step is presented and then a collection of short articles are written to understand and apply that Step to the addict’s life. What I really appreciated was that the earlier articles under each Step would help the addict to see him or herself in the Step, the next articles would present the fact that there was hope and the ability to change, and the final articles under the Step would present Christ as the One who the addict could turn to for the needed changes in his or her life. I think the title of the book, “Our Journey Home”, is appropriate because the material presented in it truly is a way home to God and a way to have a satisfying relationship with Him resulting in a fulfilling and sober life.

I am also impressed by the fact that I believe David’s book could apply not only to addictions, but to any area in life where I am not living the way that I desire to be. As I apply each Step to my life and read the articles, I find that I understand myself better, and I’m encouraged by knowing that there is hope and that by following these simple Steps, I do have the ability to change.

A Attitude of Gratitude has found this book to be a valuable resource and we believe you will too. We highly recommend it. So much so that (While supplies last) we are giving away a copy to everyone who becomes a contributing member of A Attitude of Gratitude. For more information please visit our Giving Page.

About David Zailer

An original Operation Integrity participant, David administrates the day to day operations of OI. He writes devotions for Operation Integrity Daily and contributes to a wide range of addiction recovery efforts. He has written two Christ centered books on 12-Step addiction recovery, but he is best known for his work as a speaker and counselor. David lives in Laguna Niguel, California where he is active in his community and his church.

When Lost Men Come Home

A Attitude of Gratitude appreciates the opportunity to work with David Zailer, the Executive Director of Operation Integrity and author of two books on addiction recovery and other spiritual and inspirational topics. We recognize David’s wisdom, especially when it comes to the all too often overlooked addiction to sex. You can see for yourself if you subscribe to be a benefactor of A Attitude of Gratitude as we will give you a copy for you to read.

This book is extremely helpful when keeping promises no longer cut it, when “being in the Word “leaves you cold. It’s a book to read when your prayers for healing are met with dead silence and when you begin to wonder, “Is there hope for me?”

Sex and romance addictions have now been labeled by many counselors and clinicians as, “The Christian’s new drug of choice.” Perhaps it because this one that involves secrecy from the seemingly innocent beginnings.

Maybe it is because the institution of the Church has lulled herself into a false sense of well-being while half of all congregations surveyed admit to suffering with addictions and compulsions beyond their control but we probably should not to be too surprised. The polls, surveys and the media reports daily reveal the explosive growth of porn addiction, serial seduction and the lure of the chat rooms among men and of course that includes men who profess a Christian world-view.

The hopeful news is that there is a movement of Christian men who are now finding relief from the compulsions and deep healing for the soul. For them, the journey out of deep addiction is found in a Christ-centered application of the powerful 12 steps, developed and popularized by the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. To this program, Dave Zailer has created a new, unique handbook for the journey, marrying the biblical context to the proven spiritual 12 Step Programs.

While it may be conversational in tone to some, the reader is invited to look over his shoulder as he writes what he has personally practiced, experienced and learned. Traveling through the pages as a journaling experience, or in a group setting (which David recommends) enlightenment and transformation begins for all who earnestly apply themselves to the proven 12 Step Process.

Anyone who reads When Lost Men Come Home will recognize that the abundant grace David promises has been experienced him, yet not without considerable pain and darkness. Zailer’s life experiences, the childhood abuse, the secrets of a Baptist leader’s home, drug addiction, and porn production, all preceded the radical process of redemption in his life.

These are testimonies to the power released when the Christ-centered 12 Step journey is diligently embraced, day-by-day, in the anonymous company of other recovering men. Dave’s story and the stories of men who have discovered When Lost Men Come Home reveals a genuine hope that is available for all men who actively surrender to a God “who can do for them what they cannot do for themselves.”

If you’d like a free copy of David Zailer’s book, When Lost Men Come Home please visit our Giving Page and check out your options.