The Overeaters Anonymous Big Country Intergroup's Principles and Promises Retreat in Lueders, TX

Good morning. For the Tate, this is Sunday morning and it's March 7, 2010.

We're here at the Big Country Intergroup Retreat in Luters, Texas.

I need a teacher around me. Anyway, we're in Luters, Texas and we've been having a

great weekend. Have y'all been having a good time? Well, say A-E! Wanda said she wanted

me to say that. That's a Cajun yell for y'all that don't know what that is. So let's practice.

A-E! Okay? So when you're having a really good time, we holler that, okay? And we have

a good time a lot of times, so we holler that a lot. I did get a good night's sleep last

night, did y'all? I didn't talk to y'all all night, so I don't know if y'all heard me well.

That came from your own mind, okay? Today is Sunday and it's time to go back home.

And before I get started, I want to talk about re-entry. It's very difficult for some of

us to re-enter back into the life that we left before we came here to this spiritual

pact weekend. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful around the food.

We have to be very careful around the people that we live with. They have not been here.

They have not heard the things we have heard. They have not experienced the things that

we have experienced. When you go home, just ask, how was your weekend? Don't go home blaring

all out what you heard because they won't understand. Just say, how was your weekend?

And leave it at that. And then later after you settle down and all, you'll be able to

kind of go into more about what happened. Remember, I'm here as a channel, I'm a spiritual

channel and each one of us are channels. This program was channeled to Bill through many

sources and he brought it to Dr. Bob. And so AA channeled all that information to Overeaters

Anonymous and many other 12-step programs. But we're the recipients of the 12 steps of

healing. I know today that I'm awake to enjoy each morsel of life rather than the crumbs

on a plate. Service is the heart of my recovery and my heart is always into service. Remember

I'm powered by gas. What is it? God, abstinence and service. Okay. But as I opened my heart

to other OA members, I found acceptance. I found a sense of belonging. I found unity

with other compulsive overeaters. And I found something that satisfied me in ways food never

could and never will. And I'm grateful for that. And when I was a young girl, I shared

this before that my mom used to tell me in some situations that I was never going to

be a good mom. So that really, really affected me. And a lot of times I could not believe

the worth that people saw in me. Okay. But I had to start seeing it for myself or it

didn't matter how much...