Healing
The Past
13/Jul/08
How do I live in the present when I have these
horrifying memories from my past? Sometimes, I
pray for one moment at a time, asking for God's
help through the Serenity Prayer. Sometimes, I
just cry out to God. Sometimes, I talk it out
with my sponsor or a trusted friend. Sometimes, I
go to a meeting and just listen.
Facing the past when it surfaces doesn't mean that i have to be stuck with it. I can let God's healing power work through the program of recovery to help me feel my old, buried emotions and put them where they belong. In the past. Coming to terms with my history and letting go of its hurts is not denying it, but putting it away allows me to enjoy the present and look forward to the future with hope.
Facing the past when it surfaces doesn't mean that i have to be stuck with it. I can let God's healing power work through the program of recovery to help me feel my old, buried emotions and put them where they belong. In the past. Coming to terms with my history and letting go of its hurts is not denying it, but putting it away allows me to enjoy the present and look forward to the future with hope.
—Anonymous
Onions & Birch Trees
01/Jun/08
The process of recovery can be likened to peeling
an onion. One removes a layer at a time, often
shedding a few tears in the process.
The process is also a bit like the growth of a birch tree. A tree needs its bark for protection, but as a birch grows, its bark peels away to be replaced with a fresh surface. If it loses its bark prematurely to, for example, a beaver, the injured tree is exposed to infections, fungus, or insects. The tree may die.
Like a birch, I am wounded and vulnerable if I am stripped of my defenses prematurely, but God does not leave me unprotected. As I grow and change in recovery, I lose poor behaviors that have been my "defenses," and God replaces them with something new. And so my healing will progress.
The process is also a bit like the growth of a birch tree. A tree needs its bark for protection, but as a birch grows, its bark peels away to be replaced with a fresh surface. If it loses its bark prematurely to, for example, a beaver, the injured tree is exposed to infections, fungus, or insects. The tree may die.
Like a birch, I am wounded and vulnerable if I am stripped of my defenses prematurely, but God does not leave me unprotected. As I grow and change in recovery, I lose poor behaviors that have been my "defenses," and God replaces them with something new. And so my healing will progress.
—Anonymous
Working the Program
23/May/08
When I started on the path to recovery, I thought
of meetings as only places to unburden myself of
my troubles. I've since learned that complaining
only magnifies my worries; my problems seem to
become larger and more disturbing.
I'm in recovery to get rid of self-pity and resentment and not to increase their power over me. I go to meetings to hear others share their experience, strength, and hope. I go to learn how they have dealt with their problems. I go to find wisdom that I can apply to my life.
God, keep me from magnifying my troubles by dwelling on them continually.
I'm in recovery to get rid of self-pity and resentment and not to increase their power over me. I go to meetings to hear others share their experience, strength, and hope. I go to learn how they have dealt with their problems. I go to find wisdom that I can apply to my life.
God, keep me from magnifying my troubles by dwelling on them continually.
—Anonymous
Just As I Am
01/May/08
Just as I am! poor, wretched, blind—
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find—
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find—
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
—Charlotte Elliot