Learning in Recovery

Pray for guidance: Before you do anything in recovery take time to pray and to wait on God to show you the way in which He is guiding you. John 16:13 But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.

Be open minded: What God wants is not always what we want and we need to be open minded and trust that God has things under control. 1Corinthians 4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful

Don't set your recovery up on one text: When we are in recovery we often look for a quick fix. In order to know God we need to understand His word - to understand His word we need to study a number of Scriptures on what He says on how wants us to live before making them our road to recovery. 2Peter 3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.

Check the sources of knowledge on which you base your recovery: Other than the Bible their a lot of books on recovery, good and bad. It is important we check there validity prior to basing recovery on them - check how they measure up to how the Bible says we should live - If you are unsure take it to God in prayer or seek out someone to verify them against. Going it alone in recovery is a remedy for failure - Proverbs 19:27 If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own, you'll soon be out of your depth.

UNDERSTAND GOD'S WORD IS A MATTER NOT JUST OF THE HEAD BUT ALSO OF THE HEART

John 7:17 Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it's from God or whether I'm making it up.

Forgiving Others

Proverbs:24:29 And don’t say” Now I can pay them back for all their meanness to me! I’ll get even”!

Forgiveness is a mark of a changed life: If we have really changed and experienced true recovery (a gift from God) we will want to share it with others. By forgiving those who have harmed us we are not excusing their misdeeds. But we are recognizing that they are human, in spite of their failings they are created in God’s image and we need to love them as God loves us.

Forgiveness is not the pattern of the world: In these times of constant lawsuits and demand for legal rights. When someone hurts us the Bible tells us we must forgive them. Forgiving them may:

• Break the cycle of retaliation and lead to mutual reconciliation
• Cause the other person to feel ashamed and change their ways
• Hurt us just as much, maybe more than it does them

Forgiveness is an act of willingness: It involves both our attitudes and actions. How we feel and act towards someone who has hurt us. By telling the person how you feel and that you wish to heal the relationship can lead to the right attitudes and actions being followed by both parties.

Matthew 6:14-15 “if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you, But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

If we want to be forgiven by God and by others we must begin by forgiving others. It’s what the Bible commands us to do

Procrastination

Proverbs 10:4 He becomes poor who works with a slack and idle hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Procrastination reveals deeper problems: Sometimes we delay things that seem large, difficult or boring. But to continue not to do them shows lack of self-discipline, poor stewardship of our time and sometimes disobedience to God. Things we don't want to do require concentration, encouragement and accountability.

Procrastination is the cause of many of our failures: Each day has twenty four hours in which we have opportunities to grow, serve and be productive. But it easy for us to allow productive time to slip away and let real recovery growth opportunities pass us by. In recovery let us see time as a gift from God and sieze opportunities for growth as He presents them for us.

Procrastination can lead to relapse: If we are in recovery and make endless excuses not to do the things we need to do - things God wants us to do we become lazy. Lazy in our work, lazy in our relationships, lazy in our spiritual walk and lazy in our recovery. To overcome laziness we need to make a conscious decision to act. We need to set realistic goals for ourselves and follow the steps we need to to reach them. Praying for strength and persistence and avoiding making excuses.

Goal Setting

Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.—George H. Lorimer

In recovery I believe I have always set goals for myself and my life. Denis Waitely in the Psychology of Winning says " A goal should be just out of reach but not out of sight!" That is a lesson I heard early in
recovery and have tried to shape my life on. I have always tried to set SMART goals:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timely

My usual process is to map out my goals and include a schedule for achievement.

Over the last couple of months I have been busier than usual and have depended very much on goal setting and planning.

Today I thank God for Step 10 and continued personal inventory because in reviewing my movements over the last couple of months what I have realized is once I set a time line I forget about it until it is nearly up and then I do a mad dash at the end to make sure I get to my goals in time.

It is important for me and for all of us to remember with long term goals the purpose of setting time lines is to achieve stepping stone goals

GOD HAS A PLAN!

Psalm 138:8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever —do not abandon the works of your hands.

In 1991 during the Salvation Army's first 'National Alcohol Awareness Week' my story was featured in ' The War Cry" and in a number of other Local and National newspapers. As part of A.A.W. I was interviewed on the Channel 10 News by Paul Makin about how my life had changed and what caused the change. From that interview I was given the opportunity to feature my story in a Christian Television ad, which ran on South Australian Televisions for a number of months. From that television ad I was given many opportunities to share my faith with many community groups and in many Church congregations into which I would not normally have opportunity to enter.

The reason I believe all these events and many more that have occurred since have happened in my life is because as it says in Psalm 138:8 God was and is fulfilling His purpose fro me - through love - He opens unexpected doors for each of us to make a difference so He can be Glorified and others will hear of His magnificent work in us and choose to follow Him.

My favourite verses in the Bible are: Hebrews 3:7-8 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert.

Many times in my life whilst I was drinking (looking back) God opened doors for me to escape from my addiction but I was not prepared to listen (I hardened my heart) When I finally did listen and obey Him, He again opened doors that have made it possible for me to share the Good News with so many people and it is my prayer for myself, for them and for anyone else reading this that we will not harden our hearts when He speaks to us but place our trust in Him through faith and allow Him to fulfill His purpose for us each so that He can be glorified through the transformation of lives to His way of living.

Thank God for the Salvo's and Alcoholics Anonymous

Below is a testimony I wrote in 1989 for an inhouse newsletter called TRUTH - Recovery First, produced by the men on the Salvation Army's Bridge Program. Reading it today I still thank God for the Salvation Army's Bridge Program and for Alcoholics Anonymous. Both played a significant part in my recovery and because of them I have now been sober for 20years, living one day at a time and Turning my will and life over to Him Daily

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I thank God today for the Salvation Army's Bridge Program and Alcoholics Anonymous and the Simplistic way of life they have shown me.

The simple little sayings I heard in so many meetings but never took in are today life savers in my sobriety. There seems to be one for every occasion that arises in my life. If you are returning to A.A. after a 'bust' remember "You don't fail until you stop trying". If you are like I was, an arrogant, self-centered alcoholic, quick to jump down the throat of anyone who threatens my new found security. When someone upsets you, don't jump down their throat before you ask yourself the question "How important is it?" Is it really worth losing your sobriety over?

'It is important for me today to remember that word I see in so many meetings, "THINK"!! Because we all do know the difference between right and wrong. If I am doing wrong, I know it, and if I don't do something about it I'm on my way back to where I came from. I didn't like it very much last time.

Another saying I hear around is "It gets better"! and you know it does.

Today I have an indescribable peace, a God given peace. I say God given because I have never known any peace before in my life. My head was always filled with a thousand different thoughts that really meant ftothing. When I decided to turn my life and my will over to God I realized with help, that what happened in my past isn't really that important. I can't change my past,-but I can alter its effect on my future. The object of every situation was to learn, and I praise God today for the lessons I have learned.

If I live my life "one day at a time" and ask myself each night "How much of today wasn't God's will?" and try to do better the next day I can't go wrong.

"Let go, let God". "Live and let live". "Easy does it".

They all sound so simple, don't they?

I couldn't "live and let live". I grew up in a world full of racial, religious and political violence. I was a member of the National Front, and hated any one who wasn't like me.

Spiritual Blindness

I read this from a message I presented to a church back in 1992

"every person on the earth, whether they have grown up knowing God or found Him later in life as I did at some stage is 'Spiritually Blind'. Why? Because we are human and doubt, uncertainty, procrastination etc exists in all of our lives and as human beings we do not know God's plan for our lives.

Philippians 4:13 says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'

Today if you are experiences a 'Spiritual Blindness' experience STOP! PRAY! and make a commitment to live this day uses the unlimited resources that are available to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

What would you Say?

For a number of years it has been my desire to start a personal blog. My wife asked me once "what would you say"? As I sat down to think about that God gave me a message. The message was "share your experience" So this blog is a place where I intend to share my personal experience of life.

In my life I have a personal ambition 'to be different and to make a difference'

I am a recovered alcoholic, recovering through the application of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous in my life and personal relationship with the one True Higher Power Jesus Christ. I have been a Christian since 1989 and through this blog will share my personal story and recovery experience .