Post by THE ELEVENTH PROMISE on Mar 1, 2004 5:48:02 GMT -5
The eleventh promise assures us spiritual growth will be a part of our sobriety. This promise states, We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. When drinking, we had little faith in prayer. Our impatience never allowed us to understand good things must come in God’s time, not ours. Grandiosity kept us from turning anything over to God. Even when we felt a need for help, we were usually resigned to our drinking problem. Our ego told us if we got out of the driver’s seat, we’d lose control.
Yet, once we permit God to do what we cannot, we find happiness we never before knew existed. We learn what it is to share with love. We discover that once we recognize God’s will for us, we still have the responsibility of changing ourselves and carrying out His will.
The eleventh promise informs us we must completely turn over problems that are beyond our control. As this promise materializes for us, we will have better understanding of God and His power. Finding God may seem to great a task, but a sincere search for Him will sustain our spiritual progress. God will always be too great an entity for humans to understand entirely, but all our efforts at awareness will build a strong faith that unlocks to doors to acceptance. When we have faith, we have made the first move toward letting go and letting God do for us what we cannot do.
In this relationship with a Higher Power, faith leads to trust. The less we press at being spiritual, the more spiritual we become. Once we find a satisfying relationship with a Higher Power, we will know we can never again ‘play God’ with the lives of others.
Obviously, contact with God must be through prayer and meditation, our communication system with our Higher Power. So long as we have faith that the eleventh promise will be part of our sobriety, we will develop confidence and we will make the spiritual progress necessary for continued sobriety. Trust in this promise will make us aware that we will never walk alone, not matter where we travel in sobriety.
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I hit a spiritual bottom at one year sober. I didn't know who God was. I thought I knew, but I realized He was an old tape. He was who my parents, clergyman, elders, and friends told me He was, I had to find out for myself. I had to make God personal.
Yet, once we permit God to do what we cannot, we find happiness we never before knew existed. We learn what it is to share with love. We discover that once we recognize God’s will for us, we still have the responsibility of changing ourselves and carrying out His will.
The eleventh promise informs us we must completely turn over problems that are beyond our control. As this promise materializes for us, we will have better understanding of God and His power. Finding God may seem to great a task, but a sincere search for Him will sustain our spiritual progress. God will always be too great an entity for humans to understand entirely, but all our efforts at awareness will build a strong faith that unlocks to doors to acceptance. When we have faith, we have made the first move toward letting go and letting God do for us what we cannot do.
In this relationship with a Higher Power, faith leads to trust. The less we press at being spiritual, the more spiritual we become. Once we find a satisfying relationship with a Higher Power, we will know we can never again ‘play God’ with the lives of others.
Obviously, contact with God must be through prayer and meditation, our communication system with our Higher Power. So long as we have faith that the eleventh promise will be part of our sobriety, we will develop confidence and we will make the spiritual progress necessary for continued sobriety. Trust in this promise will make us aware that we will never walk alone, not matter where we travel in sobriety.
========================================
I hit a spiritual bottom at one year sober. I didn't know who God was. I thought I knew, but I realized He was an old tape. He was who my parents, clergyman, elders, and friends told me He was, I had to find out for myself. I had to make God personal.
. I will be back looking for Lin and others.