Ebby's Promise ~ AA 13-14 (Bill's Story)
Channel: AA - Recovered - Alcoholics Anonymous - AA100011
Date: 2020-09-18

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Ebby's Promise ~ AA 13-14 (Bill's Story)


AA p13-14


At the hospital I was separated from alcohol for the last time. Treatment seemed wise, for I showed signs of delirium 
tremens.

There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself 
unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I 
was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch. I 
have not had a drink since.

My schoolmate visited me, and I fully acquainted him with my problems and deficiencies. We made a list of people I had 
hurt or toward whom I felt resentment. I expressed my entire willingness to approach these individuals, admitting my 
wrong. Never was I to be critical of them. I was to right all such matters to the utmost of my ability.

I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I 
was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. 
Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to 
receive. But that would be in great measure.



My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would 
have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough 
willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements.

Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the 
Father of Light who presides over us all.

These were revolutionary and drastic proposals, but the moment I fully accepted them, the effect was electric. There was 
a sense of victory, followed by such a peace and serenity as I had never known. There was utter confidence. I felt lifted 
up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most men gradually, but 
His impact on me was sudden and profound.


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Ebby Thacher was a school friend of Bill Wilson, and battled his whole life with alcoholism, frequently landing in mental hospitals or jail. After one bender, three members of The Oxford Group, Rowland Hazard, F. Shepard Cornell, and Cebra Graves, convinced the court to parole Ebby Thacher into their custody. Rowland Hazard taught Ebby Thacher the Oxford 
Group principles. 

The Oxford Group principles and tenets ARE SURRENDER, SHARING, RESTITUTION AND GUIDANCE and The 4 Absolutes, HONESTY, PURITY, UNSELFISH, LOVE.



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