I am often asked, "HOW WILL I KNOW WHAT GOD'S WILL FOR ME IS?" The Big Book
of Alcoholics Anonymous says "...that it is not probable that we are going
to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all
sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that as time
passes our thinking will be more and more on the plane of inspiration
We come to rely on it." Inspiration is defined as "the thoughts
of God
implanted in the mind and soul of man." Once the thoughts of God hit my
soul I don't need to run it by my intellect to know it is the Truth.
Although
I am not yet capable of turning my will and my life over to the care of God
in Step Three, I AM capable of making a decision - a final choice - to do
so. Deciding from this day forward that I am willing to not allow my
thought processes to be propelled by my human instincts but rather by the
will of God through inspiration.
If you have already made that
decision, may God bless you. If you have not, perhaps now would be
the time for you to make it - to turn your thoughts and behavior over to
the care of God and begin to live a life of peace.
If I did know His Will for me, it would be a matter of thought process which is useless in the world of the spirit. Making the decision, the final choice in Step Three means that I have come to rely on Trust rather than on thought. My experience is that I have a far easier and more peaceful daily life living in Trust rather than living in thought which has proven to evoke depressive, negative or anxiety-bound mental fatigue. Of all the benefits of The Twelve Step Program of Recovery, none is greater than the pause - simply not reacting until my feelings are fully felt. It is in the process of feeling my life that I feel The Power Within me, the Ultimate Source of peace and love. In short, feeling His Will for me is knowing it.
ReplyDeleteMichael It is a beautiful day when a alcoholic makes a decision to turn their will and their life over to the care of God and as.you said in your comment and I am paraphrasing - trust is essential. In the back half of the Eleventh Step where we are praying only for the knowledge of God's will and the power to carry it out may an alcoholic have an awareness of the will of God but only after the Steps between 3 and 11 have been integrated...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteThis comment is from a Grateful recovering Alcoholic
ReplyDeleteArmand,
Even from the earliest moments of my having attained the "age of reason," knowledge of the will of God had never been a problem. Following it however was an entirely different story. I simply didn't have the "juice" to delay my overwhelming desire for instant gratification, often at the expense of others, and the result was always the same deep sense of guilt followed by an overwhelming compulsion to avoid, at all costs, the shameful consequences and social rejection of my actions. Usually by lying, but the effort to maintain the illusion of my outward innocence always required a never ending stream of elaborately concocted lies that, as many have experienced, results in a veritable mountain of guilt and shame I was completely incapable of extracting myself from. I easily bought into the ultimate deception that the antidote for this poisoned way of thinking was to swallow more of the same poison that had overwhelmed me in the first place, the inevitable result, insanity...
This was the fuel that ultimately propelled my total rejection of the person of God and His gloriously simple plan for continuous communion and the overwhelming joy and peace that follows. Alcohol became my principal source of courage, refuge and yes my principle "god" ( for I had many others). Yet, in His perfect provision, the very substance that compelled me to waste what little was left of my life became the ultimate propellent to that desperate cry for help to Him whom I had rejected and Who's principles l despised. In one spontaneous plea for deliverance, birthed from the belly of my soul, hopelessness became hope. I was miraculously introduced to the rooms of AA, the 12 Steps of the founders and the direct testimony of those who had come to believe that the love and forgiveness of God transcends every sinful act mankind has ever committed, and that this same Author and Finisher provides Himself... as the simple yet complete plan, propitiation and power the very instant anyone musters the mere willingness to believe.
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully recovering Alcoholic your comment reminds me of the words of Bill W. Simple but not easy a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self centeredness. We had to turn to the light in all things...Thank you...Armand
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