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Growing in God and Sobriety!

Exodus 33:14
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

John 15:4-7
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

My Prayer for the Day
"Heavenly Father-help me to teach others to accept "not knowing" what's ahead part. Father, this is what kept me so sick for so long-lack of faith. How do explain to someone the peace and ease that comes from just letting go and letting You take over? How do you teach that without sounding whimsical, mystical or flighty? How do you teach Faith as just a matter of fact? Thank You for all that you have blessed me with Father...the real serenity, the knowing what to do next if something happens, the waking up not in a state of fear and chaos, the tools not to create more fear and chaos, the ability to walk through things that I never in a million years could have walked through without drinking, the wisdom, strength and courage You blessed me with through the Holy Spirit....Thank You Father for all this and so much more! Show me how to honor and to glorify You today in every word I speak, and every action I take-In Jesus name, Amen"


Today’s action
  • Today I will trust that God knows what's best for me and stay out of His way
  • Today I will ask Him to teach me self control
  • Today I will ask for Him to grant patience and tolerance and an open heart
  • Today I will NOT react negatively, or throw a fit (even in my head) because things are not going according to my plan (annoyed because I was supposed to have the house to myself!!..lol)

SERENITY PRAYER

(long version)

God, grant me the Serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change Courage to change the
things I can, and the
Wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this
sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make
all things right if I
surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy
in this life, and supremely
happy with Him forever in
the next.
Amen


Podcast of he Day
Alcoholics And God Fall Step Series 2017
Marion w. takes us on a Journey Through The 12 Steps
One Step per Week for 12 Weeks
Tonight was Marion’s 1st Session of 12 Sessions
Listen to more AA Podcast http://podbay.fm/show/438992195


12 x 12 on Step One
“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that
our lives had become unmanageable.”

"WHO cares to admit complete defeat? Practically no one, of course. Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness. It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of providence can remove it from us. No other kind of bankruptcy is like this one. Alcohol, now become the rapacious creditor, bleeds us of all self sufficiency and all will to resist its demands. Once this stark fact is accepted, our bankruptcy as going human concerns is complete. But upon entering A.A. we soon take quite another
view of this absolute humiliation. We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built."

Hil's Blah
Not me! I wouldn't admit it until I would. I had to be taking to the depths of humiliation to gain humility. When I was drunk one night I was recording my voice on my phone-I was talking about my recent break up, where my life was, how I got there, that I needed to change something, blah blah blah....I was listening to it about a year after I got sober...I kept listening, waiting to hear me say something about alcohol...NOPE!!! Not once did I say that alcohol was the problem or that I was the problem. I was actually blaming the ex before the new ex, the place I worked, the new people I was living with, my dead mother, if only this, if only that...I refused to accept any accountability for what I had become! I was so furious with that chick I was hearing...I said out loud.."Just say it Hilarie! I am a alcoholic!! I need help!!' My false sense of pride kept me going for only a few more months after that recording. There was such a sense of relief to declare what I was and why the day God got me sober. I called everyone that was still speaking to me and was honest for the first time about it. 
Step One is truly the foundation. If I don't admit what I am "alcoholic" then my sobriety is being built on a lie that will not sustain me.


Big Book There is a Solution....Contiued
"There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self- searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.

The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.

If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort."

Hil's blah-
They are so clear cut about what we must do. No gray area. Are you or aren't you? Middle of the road aka-recovery for the rest of your life. They don't minimize the necessity for God and a deep and effective spiritual experience. Our attitudes changing, our perceptions and conceptions changing, deep rooted belief system changing, behaviors, defect and patterns, changing................We transform in here. Period. If you are looking to stay they same, not to grow...then you are in the wrong place and working with the wrong sponsor. I will not work or surround myself with people who refuse to grow. Their refusal to grow pulls me down with them. If I start to think "maybe my presence or my words or my sobriety will change them" then I just assigned myself the role as their savior! You must to do the works. I must do the works. Encouraging words and good conversations are nice between all of us-but true transformation must come with willingness to be God relient-not sponsor, people, meeting, job, home, relationship reliance. All that could be wiped out in an instant..then what? You need, we all need dependency on something bigger. 


AA History-THE ORIGIN OF OUR SERENITY PRAYER
For many years, long after the Serenity Prayer became attached to the very fabric of the Fellowship's life and thought, its exact origin, its actual author, have played a tantalizing game of hide and seek with researchers, both in and out of A.A. The facts of how it came to be used by A.A. a half century ago are much easier to pinpoint.

Early in 1942, writes Bill W., in A.A. Comes of Age, a New York member, Jack, brought to everyone's attention a caption in a routine New York Herald Tribune obituary that read:

The Serenity Prayer
"God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change,
courage to change the things we can,
and wisdom to know the difference."

Everyone in A.A.'s burgeoning office on Manhattan's Vesey Street was struck by the power and wisdom contained in the prayer's thoughts. "Never had we seen so much A.A. in so few words," Bill writes. Someone suggested that the prayer be printed on a small, wallet-sized card, to be included in every piece of outgoing mail. Ruth Hock, the Fellowship's first (and nonalcoholic) secretary, contacted Henry S., a Washington D.C. member, and a professional printer, asking him what it would cost to order a bulk printing.

Henry's enthusiastic response was to print 500 copies of the prayer, with the remark: "Incidentally, I am only a heel when I'm drunk .. . so naturally, there could be no charge for anything of this nature."

"With amazing speed," writes Bill, "the Serenity Prayer came into general use and took its place alongside our two other favorites, the Lord's Prayer and the Prayer of St. Francis.

Thus did the "accidental" noticing of an unattributed prayer, printed alongside a simple obituary of an unknown individual, open the way toward the prayer's daily use by thousands upon thousands of A.A.s worldwide. (read more about the origin at https://silkworth.net/pages/aa/serenity-prayer-origin.php


Acts 26:25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.