Category: Daily Missives

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for all of the Blessings in my life today.

It would take a long time for me to write a “Gratitude List” because of the many Blessings in my life.

I’m grateful for the struggles because they make me humble and appreciate what I have.

I’m grateful for the people in my life because I am able to love them and they can love me.

I’m grateful for Hope because without it, I would never have lived long enough to experience this wonderful, sober life.

I am grateful for God in my life. It was through hardship that I was able to see the Love and Grace of God.

I have so much more than I need. I am truly Blessed.

God, if I can’t have what I want, please help me to want what I have.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

The desire to drink has been lifted from me. That overwhelming obsession has not returned. It’s not a struggle anymore.

For me, picking up a drink to solve a problem is like using gasoline to put out a fire. But that’s rational thinking. My alcoholism isn’t an intellectual problem.

My alcoholism is a spiritual problem which requires a spiritual solution.

Turning to God and asking for His Help is the only way I know. 

When I remember that, I’m spared. When I forget that, I’m doomed.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

Isolating myself from others keeps me away from God.

Connecting with others gets me closer to God.

I think that’s a pretty good barometer of where I am spiritually.

I can pray all day and never hear God’s message if I don’t avail myself to it. I need to remember that God speaks to me through others.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

When I finally stopped drinking, I was scared to death.

I was afraid that I could not live without alcohol in my life.

I was afraid that I would drink again and bring back the misery that came with it.

I was afraid because I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.

I was afraid that I would always be unhappy.

God put people into my life to show me the way. I cannot explain why I believed them. I guess I had few options.

God has done for me what I could not do for myself.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

I don’t know all of the answers. I don’t even know all of the questions. None of us do.

But I have discovered that when I ask God for help with any problem, I get the answers. The answers may or may not be what I want.

God always answers my prayers. Usually He delivers the answers through others. If I keep an open mind it becomes clear to me.

Sometimes the answer is “Yes”. 

Sometimes the answer is “No”.

Sometimes the answer is “You’re not ready”.

I need to listen for the answers.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

Many people think that staying clean and sober is a matter of willpower. Those who have been successful at it will say the opposite is true.

I need to surrender to my disease. I am powerless over alcohol and drugs.

Every time I enter the ring with alcohol or drugs I wind up defeated. I don’t need to get my ass kicked any more. I get it.

My willpower is now used to hit my knees and pray for help, go to a meeting, talk to another alcoholic, and hit my knees to thank God for carrying me for another day.

This is the “secret” to staying sober.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

Until I came to believe in a “Power Greater than Ourselves”, my chances of getting sober were slim.

God did not shout down from the heavens to me. He did not show His face to me. I needed to find Hope and Faith in order to believe.

God shows His Presence to me through others. He shows Himself to me by restoring my soul. I can feel it.

If I insisted upon a tangible image of God as a condition of my belief, I would have died miserably.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

“When one door closes, another door opens”. 

I have heard that so many times. I hate hearing it, but it’s true.

I have hit dead-ends in my journey.  I want what I used to have, but I can’t have it anymore. It’s not within my power to change, so I have to accept it.

Sometimes I need to change course. Sometimes it’s humiliating. Sometimes it’s a sign from God.

Every time, another opportunity comes around. Every time, a new purpose for me emerges.

Finding the next open door is the challenge. It requires faith. God has not carried me this far to just abandon me.

God always has a Purpose for me. I just have to find it and get used to it.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

Every time I learn about someone committing suicide, it touches me personally. I don’t look at it from afar, but rather it brings me back because I was there.

For over ten years I had daily thoughts of killing myself. I felt inadequate, self-loathing, and not deserving of anything good.

Using alcohol and drugs suppressed those feelings, so much that I was physically incapable of following through.

Eventually, I came to the end. My soul was barren. I decided where, when, and how. I told no one.

Four days prior to my planned end, I got an unexpected phone call from an unexpected angel. What followed changed the course of my life.

I have learned that my life is worth something to God, that God will decide when He is ready for it to end.

We are each capable of accepting and receiving God’s Love.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

What’s not my fault is still my problem.

Life deals us circumstances that we don’t want. Our attitude determines the weight of that burden.

It doesn’t matter what causes the trouble. It could be anything or anyone.

What I choose to do next is up to me and no one else. I can turn any challenge into an opportunity to grow or an excuse to shrink.

Faith in God’s Care gives me the courage to face what life throws at me.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.