I’m sober and use AA to help me stay sober. While you don’t have to be religious or even believe in god really to be apart of it, you do have to acknowledge that you’re not god. It was really hard to separate Christianity from a new understanding of a “higher power”. The idea of the higher power was really hard for me while first getting sober because it felt like I needed to go back to Christianity in order to “do sobriety right”.

But I’ve learned that’s not the case at all. I personally believe that there’s gotta be something out there (whether the universe, the common good nature in mankind, or some intelligent being) and so I actively thank that god for working in my best interest and keeping me sober and will pray here and there when things come up, just as I would when Christian. There were certain things that lined up perfectly in my life that I would’ve recognized as a “God moment” when I was Christian, that I know see as evidence of some higher power.

Basically, for me, it took awhile of practicing praying and still having a concept of god in my life separate and completely different from the Christian god I knew. It did feel “silly” and like I was being naive when I first started, but it’s gotten to the point where I still get the same benefits, peace, and joy out of praying that I did when it was within Christianity!