Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Romans 12:12
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Romans 15:13
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Read more Bible http://www.bookbindery.
My Prayer for the Day
"Heavenly Father Thank You for your infinite patience and love of me. Please forgive me where I thought I was you, equal to you, and all knowing like You. Thank You for forgiving my arrogance and my belief that I knew what was best not only for me, but for others. Forgive me where I have imposed my self created tribulation onto others and drained them with my chaos. Please forgive me where I have added unnecessary pain and worry for myself because that was the pattern I was use to. Please forgive me for allowing myself to be deceived just by a random fleeting thought, that I have the ability to turn into a tornado! Thank You for teaching me through AA that thoughts are where an action begins. That I have a choice as to whether or not I act on that thought. Thank You Father for holding on!! In Jesus name-Amen"
Today’s action
- Today I will not allow random thought or emotional response dictate my course of action...especially in big decisions.
-I will pause and pray
-I will write it out
-I will walk away.
-If an hour goes by and I still want to act on it, then I will reach out to my sponsor or someone from AA for a second opinion
- Today I will practice self control by NOT being so quick to push send!
- Today I will leave my cell phone at home
- Today I will remember the hopelessness that I felt the day God got me sober; and wherever I am, I will pause and Thank Him for removing me from that and remind myself that I never have to live that way EVER again!
11th STEP
"As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day 'Thy will be done.' " (p. 87-8 BB)
God, I'm agitated and doubtful right now. Help me to stop and remember that I've made a decision to let You be my God. Give me the right thoughts and actions. God save me from fear, anger, worry, self-pity or foolish decisions that Your will not mine be done. AMEN
(Prayer of St Francis of Assisi) —"Lord, make me a channel of thy peace - that where there is hatred, I may bring love - that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness - that where there is discord, I may bring harmony - that where there is error, I may bring truth - that where there is doubt, I may bring faith - that where there is despair, I may bring hope - that where there are shadows, I may bring light - that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted - to understand, than to be understood - to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen." (p. 99 12&12)
More AA prayers http://silkworth.net/pages/aa/
Podcast of the Day
(Re-post)
Clarence Snyder How It Works Talk 1982
Clarence S. Father of “Big Book Sponsorship”
One of the first 40 AA’s
Clarence H. Snyder got sober in February, 1938, with the help of his sponsor, A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob. He was one of the forty Akron Pioneers who established A.A. as a reliable and effective spiritual program for recovery from, and cure of, alcoholism.
But for the influence and actions of Clarence, Alcoholics Anonymous might never have grown beyond Akron, nor achieved nationwide and eventually world-wide recognition as the society to join if you were really serious about quitting drinking, willing to place your reliance on the Creator, and do “anything” to overcome the seemingly hopeless curse of alcoholism. For, in Akron, A.A. became focused on individual religious deliverance and early hospitalization, but not upon widespread enlargement of its numbers. In New York, the Society spurned the religious emphasis of Akron, focused on book sales, and abstinence, but had little to show in achieving recovery. On the other hand, the emergence of Clarence Snyder as a young, vigorous, promoter gave the fledgling fellowship a growth spurt that changed the society’s emphasis.
Listen to more AA Podcast http://podbay.fm/show/
12 x 12 on Tradition Ten
“Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on
outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought
never be drawn into public controversy.”
"The Washingtonian Society, a movement among alcoholics which started in Baltimore a century ago, almost discovered the answer to alcoholism. At first, the society was composed entirely of alcoholics trying to help one another. The early members foresaw that they should dedicate themselves to this sole aim. In many respects, the Washingtonians were akin to A.A. of today. Their membership passed the hundred thousand mark. Had they been left to themselves, and had they stuck to their one goal, they might have found the rest of the answer. But this didn't happen. Instead, the Washingtonians permitted politicians and reformers, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic, to use the society for their own purposes. Abolition of slavery, for example, was a stormy political issue then. Soon, Washingtonian speakers violently and publicly took sides on this question. Maybe the society could have survived the abolition controversy,but it didn't have a chance from the moment it determined to reform America's drinking habits. When the Washingtonians became temperance crusaders, within a very few years they had completely lost their effectiveness in helping alcoholics. The lesson to be learned from the Washingtonians was not overlooked by Alcoholics Anonymous. As we surveyed the wreck of that movement, early A.A. members resolved to keep our Society out of public controversy. "
Hil's blah
Yeah....an AA meeting discussing politics with our sensitivity "issues"!! LOL! We would all get drunk right then and there. We are passionate people-we personalize everything. There was a time when I would feel personally attacked just because somebody had a different opinion. Them having other ideas truly "offended" me. HOW DARE THEY not think like me!! This is about us thinking the world should revolve around us and our perceptions of events. This is gross behavior and makes for strained relationships. Who wants to hang out with someone when they are constantly thinking that they are right? Not allowing people to be themselves, not even allowing them to have an opposing view, is beyond intolerant. We learn tolerance in AA. I can't live a healthy productive life if I am walking around offended by everything and everyone. It take a lot of energy to be in constantly offended...that makes them have to be in constant defence mode....aka fight or flight...this is not a foundation for a solid relationship, let a alone human being. It's a maladjusted way to live
Acceptance and tolerance for others automatically creates peace. Oh, and btw, we have a choice who we hang out with and share our life with. Our boyfriends and husbands didn't drag us by the hair into the relationship. You always had a choice. If you can't accept or tolerate him then you need to leave. YOU chose him. We do not have the right to beat them up for who they are or ask them to change for us. You are basically saying-"I chose you, but you suck...change!"
We stay and play the victim. Not cool. They are human beings too. Again, you chose them. We didn't choose our parents or family, but we do get to choose our partners and friends...don't make them regret choosing you!
Read more 12 X 12 http://www.portlandeyeopener.
Big Book There is a Solution....Cont..
"Moderate drinkers have little trouble in giving up liquor entirely if they have good reason for it. They can take it or leave it alone.
Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. He may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair him physically and mentally. It may cause him to die a few years before his time. If a sufficiently strong reason—ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warning of a doctor—becomes operative, this man can also stop or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention.
But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink. Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social.
He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. He is the fellow who goes to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around. Yet early next morning he searches madly for the bottle he misplaced the night before. If he can afford it, he may have liquor concealed all over his house to be certain no one gets his entire supply away from him to throw down the waste pipe. As matters grow worse, he begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative and liquor to quiet his nerves so he can go to work. Then comes the day when he simply cannot make it and gets drunk all over again. Perhaps he goes to a doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off. Then he begins to appear at hospitals and sanitariums."
Hil's blah-
I am a Real Alcoholic that started out as a moderate drinker. At the end I was drinking at before, during and after work. I was taking sleeping pills on top of the alcohol to prevent myself from drinking more. At then end I wasn't even ever that drunk-just mataintaing. No event like someone dying or getting in a new relationship, falling in love, someone telling me to stop, would have stopped me from drinking. I wanted to! I told them I would. I totally thought that the last guy would save me with his normalness...lol! Nope, I would sneak it in the bathroom. I had to lose everything for the ground to be fertile enough to become teachable. Not everyone had to get to that, but my stubborn ass did. I was out of road but had no desire to quit. None. I would die this way and I was just hoping that I would die before I was kicked out of where I was. The last night I drank I was about to go to bed as I felt the sleeping pills kicking in...Then out of no where I feel a chocking sensation around my throat. I was being choked! I felt a presence saying "enough". I saw a picture in my mind of my cousins daughter and called him. God showed me that and convicted me right there on the spot. I know that had me call him, my cousin, because he is the only person that I would have listen to. So this is why I never take credit for my sobriety...It was all God-Not me.
Read more Big Book http://www.portlandeyeopener.
Blog of the Day
Love this guy...CHeck out his nonsense blog http://privilegedaddictwriter.blogspot.com/