My anxiety usually comes out before my reality. My fears always come out before my anxiety.
Recognizing my fears when I am starting to get anxious allows me to put my fears in their right place – in God’s Hands.
God will help me deal with my reality when it comes – one moment at a time.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
I can’t tell what’s going on with someone’s soul just by appearances. Most of us are pretty good at hiding how we feel, especially when we are in pain.
I know that when I am disturbed, I tend to behave a little differently, a little more distracted.
So when someone I know appears a little distant or distracted, there is a chance that they are disturbed.
Noticing that is a Nod from God.
Rather than judge, I need to make myself available to show compassion and understanding.
We are not traveling this journey single-file. We are not alone.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
I never planned to stop using and drinking. It just happened through a series of odd coincidences. I was just ready and didn’t even know it.
I didn’t have the day circled on the calendar.
I didn’t stop because I was inspired by the idea of self-improvement.
I had been living with a depth of despair which made it impossible to tolerate my life.
I had become “as willing to listen as the dying can be”.
The rest was up to God.
That’s why I still show up. That’s why I still pray.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
When I use alcohol I become a drunk. When I use drugs I become an addict. Those are inescapable facts about me.
Early in my recovery, complete strangers told me that left to my own devices, I would self-destruct.
I thought “They don’t even know me!”.
How wrong I was. They knew me better than I knew myself because they had been there.
They also knew where to find the exit ramp, and what to do next – one day at a time.
Everything changed for me once I became willing to listen and follow directions.
When I use God I become the person I was meant to be.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
No one promised me that life would be easy. It’s the same for everyone.
Sometimes it feels like everyone else is the problem and that they don’t understand how difficult they make it for me.
They probably feel the same way about me.
I can see the cause of my problems just by looking in the mirror. If I want to solve my problems, I have to start with changing my attitude.
If I’m not part of the solution, I’m part of the problem.
If I don’t have the strength to change my attitudes, then perhaps I should start by seeking God’s Help.
That doesn’t take a whole lot of effort.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
“Picking up again is not an option”.
I have heard people say that and I cringe. The sentiment is that somehow I am immune from relapse because I have this recovery thing all figured out.
It smells like arrogance and sounds like a lack of humility.
Then my dog dies , or parent dies, or my spouse leaves me, or I lose my job, or I break a shoelace…
I had better hope that my gratitude, humility, or faith didn’t die along the way.
I have lost friends for whom picking up was not an option – until it was. They are no longer with us.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
I wasn’t sure I was willing to pay the price to have this life. I did not know how it would turn out, so I had my doubts.
I was told to keep showing up, one day at a time. I was told it gets better.
It doesn’t get better all at once. Some days are better than others. Some days seem unbearable.
I have not given up yet.
Living one day at a time, enjoying little victories and learning from the difficulties, I have been blessed with a good life.
Life is hard sometimes, but the rewards of this kind of life are beyond measure.
I think I chose the right path.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
To solve my addiction problem, there is really nothing for me to “figure out”. It has already been “figured out”.
Hundreds of thousands of people like me have followed a prescription for recovery.
They all have followed the same program. They each have found it as a solution to their malady.
There even is a book written about it. And it has a chapter titled “How It Works”, which explains it.
If I say that I need to “figure it out”, I really don’t want it badly enough.
If I want it badly enough, I’ll take the cotton out of my ears and put it in my mouth.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
“Don’t do anything today that will make it tougher to stay sober tomorrow.”
Staying sober doesn’t mean only abstinence from substances, although that’s the start of it. It means that I change what I do in all aspects of how I treat myself and others.
If I start doing “little things” that I know I shouldn’t do, then I might continue to do the wrong thing. Then the guilt, shame, and remorse that follows may become too much to bear.
That is what I would drink over. It has more to do with how I feel about myself than any physical craving.
When I lose my moral compass, I lose God’s Guidance.
And that’s why I pray.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.
I have often had the thought that time is slipping away. It just sits in the back of my mind as I get older.
Each of us has an expiration date. We just don’t know when that will arrive.
There was a time when I could never imagine making it this far.
I have more days behind me than I have ahead of me. Thus, each remaining day carries more weight.
I try to live each day with a purpose. God has His Purpose for keeping me around.
God, please show me my purpose today.
God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.