Wisdom For Today - June

[bluidkiti]

June 14

Wisdom for Today
When active in my addiction, I found lots of reasons to keep on drinking and using. Many of these reasons were just excuses, but I was also using to help fulfill many of the needs I had. I needed to feel like I fit in. I needed to feel strong and confident. I needed to find relief. I needed to have a sense of security. Simply returning to the bottle or my drugs over and over again filled many different needs. I entered the program and soon realized that it was not just the alcohol and drugs I was giving up, but I was also giving up a way to meet those needs. I began to wonder if I was now simply to go through life depressed, lonely, bored and stupid. Even worse was I to end up like many of those self-righteous people I had met.
I knew I needed to stay clean and sober, but the real question was how. I also had no idea how to meet the many other needs I had. Fortunately, the program offered the answers I was looking for. Not only did the program teach me how to stay clean and sober, but it also helped me to meet my needs in a new and healthier way. I gained a sense of belonging and felt like I fit in. I also began to feel less fearful and gained strength. The steps and the fellowship not only provided a sense of relief, but also a sense of real security. I no longer worry so much about how to meet my needs, I have found a healthier way to meet my needs. Have I found a good substitute for alcohol and drugs?
Meditations for the Heart
I always walked around feeling like a total failure until I found the program. Today I know I do not need to rely on my strength, ability, or wisdom. I can rely on the strength, ability and wisdom of the program and my Higher Power. In God there can be no failure. My sponsor would ask me over and over again, “Do you want to make the best life you can for yourself?” I think this is a question that each of us would say yes to. He would go on to say, “Then live close to God.” This simple suggestion has become a guide for my life. Living close to my Higher Power and following His will does provide me with all the strength, ability, and wisdom I need. I do not need to have fear of failure any more than I need to fear success. If living close to God is sure, I can know that as long as I walk the path with Him I will succeed. This may or may not happen in the way that I expect it to, But I am confident it can and will happen. Do I continue to feel like a failure?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
I walk the path that I am given and hold close to You. Let me not become overconfident and rely on myself. Give me knowledge that my real security comes from You. Let me bring every need that I have to you confident that You will show me the way to fulfill these needs.
Amen