Hurting Lives Restored

This morning I woke up with a burning desire to share about the Life Recovery Bible. I was early in my walk with the Lord and a couple years fresh into sobriety when I picked up a copy of this New Living Translation bible with a recovery focus.

Life recovery? What does that mean? I asked myself a few of those kind of questions before cracking open the book. What I found was astounding.

God didn't leave them to figure out a plan for recovery all alone; nor did he leave a long list of principles or rules to follow that would repair their damaged relationships. Instead, God always worked with people on a very personal level in the recovery process. - Recovery Themes, Genesis

I was awakened to some remarkable things. Mainly, that I was on the right path. My decision to turn my life and my will over to Christ was confirmed, blessed, and exciting! I had just discovered the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous powered-up times 1,000 I reasoned.

That discovery was about eight years ago. These days, I read from a couple different bibles, but a few weeks ago I began reading from my well-worn Life Recovery Bible again...and again, I am eternally blessed.

Here's parts of the preface:

The bible is the greatest book on recovery ever written. In its pages we see God set out a plan for the recovery of his broken people and creation. We meet numerous individuals whose hurting lives are restored through the wisdom and power of God. We meet the God who is waiting with arms outstretched for all of us to turn back to him, seek after his will, and recover the wonderful life he has for each of us.

Many of us are just waking up to the fact that recovery is an essential part of life for everyone. It is the simple but challenging process of daily seeking God's will for our life instead of demanding to go our own way. Recovery is letting God do for us what we cannot do for ourself while also taking the steps necessary to draw closer to our Creator and Redeemer. It is allowing God to heal our wounded soul so we can help others in the process of healing. All of us need to take part in this process; it is an inherent part of being human...

...Without God there is no recovery, only disappointing substitutions and repeated failure.

I pray that all of us get to better understand who God is and how he wants to heal our brokenness and set us on the path toward wholeness.

Amen?

_______________


Read notes on bible verses as they pertain to recovery from our hurts, hangups, and addictions in the Life Recovery Bible, New Living Translation. Also, read 12-Step and Serenity Prayer devotionals with scripture references. Get a copy now!

_______________


Alexander is a writer in the online spiritual battlefield. You can also find him at The Scrooge Report.

_______________

Delayed Gratification

Some of us may be addicted to pleasure. We want the easy way out...the less painful...the less work...the most fun. Let's face it, some of us are pleasure junkies. We may have even kicked our serious addictions, such as alcohol or drugs, but we still seek pleasure at an unhealthy rate. It could be food, sex, TV, gambling...even laying on the couch too much...but we are still seeking escape.

So, what do we do to lead a life of fulfillment, even when we seem to never be satisfied? How do we accept a life that can't always be about pleasure?

The apostle Paul said, "So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time" - Galatians 6:9. Weeds (of pleasure) spring up quickly. Good crops (from hard work) grow more slowly and must be tended steadily, even before we can see anything sprout. It's only in time that we will enjoy the fruit.

Jesus suggested that we expand our perspective even further, with a view toward eternity. "Jesus said to the disciples, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?'" - Matthew 16:24-26.

It is God's will for us to have a rewarding and fulfilled life. It may be easier to live a productive life if we remember that denying ourself immediate pleasures will bring a harvest of rich rewards in this life and in the life to come!

_______________

Parts of this devotion were taken from the Life Recovery Bible, New Living Translation. When I was first reading this version of the Bible with notes it was a total awakening. I view this Bible as the power of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous mulitplied by 1,000! Get a copy now!

_______________

Alexander is a writer in the online spiritual battlefield. You can also find him at The Scrooge Report.

Looking for a Fix

But even there, if you seek God, your God, you'll be able to find him if you're serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. - Deuteronomy 4:29 MSG

I was now 38 years old and having to look for some way to fix a life that wasn't really working. A short-term marriage, a bankruptcy, and a life of anxiety were enough negative marks to qualify for outside help I reasoned.

Upon trying to lean into my court-ordered 20 Alcoholic Anonymous meetings I had no idea what to expect. I thought maybe the meetings were going to be too spiritual, too bright, too cheery, and maybe something I just could not hold on to. After all, these people were probably really different from me. How could I relate to people living in such a different world?

At my first AA meeting I found myself open minded. So open minded that my outlook took me by surprise. I was ready to make my life better and I had no idea what was prodding me on. As I looked around the room and heard people share about their everday struggles, share about their anxieties, and share how their lives had previously been with alcohol, something great happened. I could relate!

At some point during the meeting I exclaimed in my own thoughts, "These were my people!" I reflected on the meeting after it was done and told myself I could probably hang out at these meetings for a while. After all, these people didn't appear to be too spiritual, or too bright, or too cheery.

I had come to a place where we all shared common ground. We were all seekers of something better.

Alexander is a writer in the online spiritual battlefield. You can also find him at The Scrooge Report.

A Bright Light

Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel tapped him on the side to awaken him and said, "Quick! Get up!" And the chains fell off his wrists. - Acts 12:7 NLT

In the late summer of 1994, I knew something was wrong. For a few days, my brain was trying to digest a court order given to me as the result of a driving under the influence arrest. I was to pay a fine and attend 20 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for the offense.

Sometime between when that court order was in my hand and my first AA meeting in early September I had an awakening... a life changing one.

I counted my failures, the ones that really stung. I had just filed for a divorce in a marriage that lasted just half a year. Not long before that, I had filed a personal bankruptcy. However, it was another inventory item of my life that really convinced me that I had come to the end of myself: I was uncomfortable inside my own skin. Anxiety was drowning me.

That was three strikes against me I reckoned and it was time to face life somehow differently. I didn't know how to or what to change, but I knew something had to be done.

I had reasoned that the AA meetings couldn't hurt, maybe they were the beginning of a solution. Maybe attending the meetings were the starting point of finding what I could become. And maybe... just maybe, becoming someone that didn't hurt so bad inside.

The chains were beginning to fall off my wrists.

Continued: The Right Direction

Alexander is a writer in the online spiritual battlefield. You can also find him at The Scrooge Report.