Archive for January 19, 2015

Endigar 629 ~ When the Chips are Down

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , on January 19, 2015 by endigar

From the Daily Reflections of December 6;

When we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would. If we really depended upon God, we couldn’t very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care.   (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 116).

It has been my experience that, when all human resources appear to have failed, there is always One who will never desert me. Moreover, He is always there to share my joy, to steer me down the right path, and to confide in when no one else will do. While my well-being and happiness can be added to, or diminished, by human efforts, only God can provide the loving nourishment upon which I depend for my daily spiritual health.

 

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I have experienced what I felt was the abandonment of God.  It was only members of my family of origin that stood by me in those horrific times. Later a young woman came into my life who had also experienced religious abuse and was forging a path that would have been counted evil by the church I had grown up to know as God’s children.  These people behaved better than the God I had once trusted.

The churchians took a torch and pitchfork approach to my family’s suffering.  I am grateful, because they demonstrated to me what I never want to embrace again. And maybe my religious indoctrination was so deep that only betrayal and a brutal witch-hunt could separate me from the exclusive “us and them” mentality.

In AA I found a God that cared nothing about doctrines.  I know this because I see that caring God help people who ignore and even trample doctrines I thought were essential to connect with Him.  I found a God that came in many forms of loving and empowerment responding to the best path for each individual.  I have no clue as to the nature and make-up of Gomu (God of my understanding) and I am better off then when I had answers galore.  I just know that I have an intimate relationship with this Infinite Source.  I have discovered the joy of …”the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.”  (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 46).

Endigar 628 ~ A New State of Consciousness

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on January 19, 2015 by endigar

From the Daily Reflections of December 5;

He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being.   (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 107)

Many of us in A.A. puzzle over what is a spiritual awakening. I tended to look for a miracle, something dramatic and earth-shattering. But what usually happens is that a sense of well-being, a feeling of peace, transforms us into a new level of awareness. That’s what happened to me. My insanity and inner turmoil disappeared and I entered into a new dimension of hope, love and peace. I think the degree to which I continue to experience this new dimension is in direct proportion to the sincerity, depth and devotion with which I practice the Twelve Steps of A.A.

 

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Need:  The Gift of Spiritual Awakening provides a Psychic Change, a new state of Consciousness and Being.

Expectation:  Miracle, Dramatic, Earth-Shattering.

Actual:  Sense of Well-Being, Feeling of Peace, Transformation into New Level of Awareness.

Spiritual Death: Isolation, Insanity (unable to discern true from false), and Inner Turmoil.

Spiritual Life:  New Dimension of Hope, Love, Peace.

Direct Source of Spiritual Life:  Level of Practicing the Twelve Steps with Sincerity, Depth, and Devotion.

Conclusion: The Spiritual Awakening is the RESULT of the Practice of the Twelve Steps.  They are the actual gift, and the Spiritual Awakening is the result of practicing them.