~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 91-92). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.I don't hesitate. I do, however forget to include God in to get things done I know I cannot do alone! Even I remember to reach out a hand to grab on to God's, I can forget it's stretched out to me eager for my firm grasp onto God's!
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. ~ Hebrews 2:17 (KJV) We pocket our pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of character, every dark cranny of the past. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 75Mercy me! Mercy! Me? Merciful to me! How can you know my baseness, my depravity, and accept me? How can one so good, so pure, not shun me but hug me, accept me, love me? Mercy! God of grace, God of mercy, thank you for your faithfulness.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ~Hebrews 4:1-2 (NIV) To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face. ~Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 44A three-leg stool, they say — physical, emotional, spiritual — recovery requires all three. But really, spiritual comes first for the others to last, to manifest. Recovery means the spiritual becomes primary, a recovered person an avatar, God in me, not like a blueberry in a muffin but like the ocean in a wave. God, I offer myself to Thee. Build with me, use me, freed from bondage, a picture of your power, your love, and your way of life.
There is struggle in the growth process; pride, ego and misused will stand in the way and must be overcome gradually, with understanding and compassion. Pain is always the teacher, but with each period of growth it becomes less acute. Growth is the opposite of control. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Location 1956). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.Pain is always the teacher, but with each period of growth it becomes less acute. Growing up is not easy, no matter when it happens! We think of growing up as being completed in large part in the first eighteen years. As we move on from then we feel the need to be in control… but not just a need, an expectation! Pain especially in adult years remains the teacher, but it hurts! I believed if I didn’t grow up by my fortieth birthday, I wouldn’t! So I took control, made bold steps but continued to live in fear of being a fake grownup! I clung to control, tried to acquire more but fifteen years later secretly sought counseling to explain what was wrong with me. It was she who taught me pain is always the teacher, but with each period of growth it becomes less acute. And in Recovery I learned finally surrender, admitting powerlessness is the opposite of control! And surrender is how I choose to live!
As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! ~ Galatians 1:9 (NASB) I seemed to be able to snap back the next morning better than most of my fellow drinkers, who were cursed (or perhaps blessed) with a great deal of morning-after nausea. (Alcoholics Anonymous, “The Doctor’s Nightmare”)God as I understand God loves. Period. So, to be accursed? Invoking supernatural power to inflict harm, punishment? God is god, in control, has no need to call on himself or his underlings to punish, harm. Be afflicted with? That one makes sense. I surely can and do curse myself, cause me misery, agony, separation from God, from all. I need the right message, the one from both Big Books as my guide. And when I stray and feel accursed, it’s a blessing, beckoning. God, let me not curse myself but always seek your love, your blessings.
In OA we have no program of diets and exercise, no scales, no magic pills. What we do have to offer is far greater than any of these things—a Fellowship in which we find and share the healing power of love. Our common bonds are two: the disease of compulsive eating from which we all have suffered, and the solution that we all are finding as we live by the Principles embodied in these Steps. ~ Overeaters Anonymous. The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition (p. 2). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.Overeaters Anonymous, the membership, alone have tried myriad remedies for the malady, the obsession! And we've found the answer: a Fellowship in which we find and share the healing power of love! We share the disease, we've shared the suffering, and together we now share the solution we all are finding as we live by the Principles embodied in these Steps.
And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it. (1 Timothy 2:9-10 – The Message)Skin deep, huh? Heck, no! If it’s just the skin it’s attractive, stunning, handsome, alluring — but not beautiful. Beauty grows, swells, sprouts comes inside-out. Beauty is a radiant hope, an excitement about live, a peace, contentment, commitment way down deep but so grand, so pervasive it can’t be hidden, will not be ignored. Perhaps that word — beauty – won’t come to mind, but the face beaming it will draw the whole world in, embraced and loved.
when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. but all their songs grow faint; Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 (NIV)Hurdler, colonel, engineer, captain of the band. Baritone, tinner, mayor, leader — you could do everything but hula-hoop and fix my Timex. Now muddled of mind, breathless, a stranger in your own head, you plan the ordinary, relearn the routine. The chasm gapes. Daddy, can I be the child again? Thank you God for an eternal home where mourners know the pain is gone.
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them” — before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; Ecclesiastes 12:1-2 (NIV)Youth need not be wasted on the young. Nature may lead a child to myopia but grandparents, teachers, occasionally a parent wise beyond years, may plant seeds of prescience, of discernment, of faith. Blessed indeed is the beneficiary of such a bequest. God, let me remember you now, even when my youth has passed. Let me remember you in sunlight and gloom, in fair weather and foul. Let me find pleasure in each day, with you.
r today: God alone knows how badly I need help in all aspects of my life. I unhesitatingly ask for that help. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 91-92). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.I don't hesitate. I do, however forget to include God in to get things done I know I cannot do alone! Even I remember to reach out a hand to grab on to God's, I can forget it's stretched out to me eager for my firm grasp onto God's!\
Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ~ Galatians 3:4 (NASB)
We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, page 24WhenEVER will I learn? Must I allow the same lesson to be pounded into my head again and again and AGAIN??? know I do it to myself, that I have a taste of recovery then toss it away again and again and again. But at some point I learn recovery feels better than my addiction that I don't want the illusive prize and choose to hold the real one and my experience can bless others doing what they would not do again and again and again. God, let it be sooner rather than later. Let me listen to those who have learned the lesson.
This is how to influence the nervous, contentious people I know: go to any length to get and keep my own peace of mind. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 3414-3415). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.contentious: causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial; involving heated argument; a person given to arguing or provoking argument; a contentious politician haranguing a crowd; law relating to or involving differences between contending parties. How can you change what you expect to be a difficult encounter? Go to any length to get and keep my own peace of mind.
“...there are two kinds of business: my business and none of my business.” ~ Casey , Karen. Let Go Now (p. vii). Mango Media. Kindle Edition.If it's about me, how can it be none of my business? They may say, "“What other people think of you really isn't any of your business: it's best to not let other people's opinions prevent you from being the authentic version of yourself.” Is this true of you? As far back as I can remember, even as a small child, I have desperately tried to understand what God’s expectations or requirements are regarding my behavior. But what about God's opinion of me? Dare I ask? I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own, And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known. He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet The birds hush their singing, And the melody that He gave to me, Within my heart is ringing. 3. I'd stay in the garden with Him Though the night around me be falling, But He bids me go--through the voice of woe, His voice to me is calling.?* *Author: C. Austin Miles
Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. ~ Galatians 1:11 (NLT) We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness ≈(Alcoholics Anonymous, page 49)Human reasoning. If I can't convince myself right now my own logic trumps all others, I look to wisdom of the elders, the sages, the erudite of ages. Tea leaves, ouija boards, crystal balls, divine revelation feel gullible, juvenile, naive. Before tossing bath water, though, I should check for babies.
But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. (NASB) Galatians 1:15-17 Returning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour, carefully reviewing what we have done. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better. (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 75)God with me, one-on-one coming back home where I've never been before. God with me, one-on-one. Who would have thought he'd single me out, talk to me, be with me one-on-one. What peace, what love, what serenity, joy, glory. What am I, who am I that God could love me one-on-one? God, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, the depths of my soul, the fulness of me being.
Now willing to listen and take suggestions, I have found that the process of discovering who I really am begins with knowing who I really don’t want to be. And although the disease of alcoholism inside of me is like gravity, just waiting to pull me down, A.A. and the Twelve Steps are like the power that causes an airplane to become airborne: It only works when the pilot is doing the right things to make it work. ~ Inc, A.A. World Services. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition (p. 241). A.A. World Services, Inc.. Kindle Edition.I've drunk alcohol fewer than a hundred times ever but I identify completely with the alcoholic telling this story. I certainly aver I have found that the process of discovering who I really am begins with knowing who I really don’t want to be. And although the disease of compulsively eating inside of me is like gravity, just waiting to pull me down, Overeaters Anonymous and the same Twelve Steps are like the power that causes an airplane to become airborne: It only works when the pilot is doing the right things to make it work. Who do YOU want to be?
What problems would you like to see solved? What decisions would you like to make? What would you like to happen in your career? What would you like to see happen inside and around you? Write it down. Take a piece of paper, a few hours of your time, and write it all down—as an affirmation of you, your life, and your ability to choose. Then let it go. ~ Beattie, Melody. The Language of Letting Go: Hazelden Meditation Series (p. 2). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.No, I did not renege on New Years Resolutions. I’m recommending an exercise in journaling, in exploring possibilities. What problems do I want solved? I want to do worthwhile activities and not feel obligated to first procrastinate with computer games. I want to make serious progress toward writing two books this year. I want to actively affirm who I am, what I am, and my ability to choose. Then I want to release it but welcome movement in that direction.
