newby1961

A.A. Thought for the Day

Drinking cuts you off from God. No matter how you were brought up, no matter what your religion is, no matter if you say you believe in God, nevertheless you build up a wall between you and God by your drinking. You know you're not living the way God wants you to. As a result, you have that terrible remorse. When you come into A.A., you begin to get right with other people and with God. A sober life is a happy life, because by giving up drinking, we've gotten rid of our loneliness and remorse. Do I have real fellowship with other people and with God?

Meditation for the Day

I believe that all sacrifice and all suffering are of value to me. When I am in pain, I am being tested. Can I trust God, no matter how low I feel? Can I say, "Thy will be done," no matter how much I am defeated? If I can, my faith is real and practical. it works in bad times as well as in good times. The Divine Will is working in a way that is beyond my finite mind to understand, but I can still trust in it.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may take my suffering in my stride. I pray that I may accept pain and defeat as part of God's plan for my spiritual growth.

paul99

Pain and defeat, while not something I seek out on my own will and ego, is something that in the long run helps me to expand and stretch. Not all growth needs pain and defeat, but all pain and defeat gives me growth. Much of my strength is founded in past hurt and disappointment, but also in my faith that no matter what, things will always work out.

Fernaceman

I am experiencing a bit of frustration and feel a bit defeated in my life. I'd hate to think of it as a test, but I guess it could be. I don't like to think God tests me, but more puts things in my life as lessons to be learned. A test indicates that there is a possibility to fail the test. I don't think it's that way at all.

paul99

Sorry to hear . The way I see it, God doesn't test us, life does. Faith in God is what keeps me from failing those tests.

Veritas1

I don't think God is testing me.

If he was. I failed. Many times.

I think the trial tests us.

The trial teaches us, and our faith saves us.

I have been having so much come up for me lately.

I feel it is that my spirit has awakened and I am being shown things that are "painful".

I am being shown where my drinking took me, the harm it caused...which is "painful" to recall, yet...I am being shown it for a reason.

I must pay attention to it. Be thankful for what is being shown to me.

So that I don't have to be that person again.

I can remember years ago...hearing Pain is God's way of saying slow down.

Pay attention. I am trying to show you something.

This hurts you for a reason.

Learn from it.

Embrace pain.

Maybe it hurts because it is something that God is trying to show us...to get our attention. To show us an area where we have been wrong, to use pain as a teacher.

Look at pain as an opportunity, to discover one more thing that has to go.

Gal220

I agree with Furnaceman about the testing thing. I do believe God is completely sovereign, so the good and the bad comes from God. But rarely has my pain been anything other than self-inflicted!

tomsteve

my friend, i am sorry to hear yer doin some trudgin. i had gone through some not too long ago. everything seemd to come to a head one day. i was heading over to a friends house to talk with him and found myself, once again, saying,"why is lall this goin on GOD!?!?!?!. what i heard in my heart was, "why not?" i couldnt help but laugh!!! so true. i forget that the God of my understanding doesnt give me any more than i can bear.im not sure if its a test from my HP or the work of the LP, but all i gotta do is lift my head back up and keep on trudgin!
my memory machine dont work too good and i forget that there are things that happen to me that i am actually greatful for, things that could very well send someone else wouldnt be able to handle and i would rather i have to trudge through them rather than someone who cant.
whne does the frustration of all that stuff happenign get to me? when things arent goin my way!LOLOL. what has the program taught me?

This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.

Perhaps there is a better way - we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.

keep on trudgin my friend! this,too,shall pass!

tomsteve

it can be a lil hard to face all that stuff, but it really is the easier,sorfer way. keep up the work!

stepping

Absolutely Beautiful Newbie!!!! Perfect in all ways!!!!

Fernaceman

Thank you, Tom. Appreciate the response.