CRA Christians in Recovery (anonymous)

Sometimes people will say, the only requirement to attend meetings is a desire to stop using/drinking, but that is not what tradition three actually states. Tradition three states that the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using/drinking. Since most meetings are open, you do not need to be a member to attend. Newcomers and/or relapsers often do not have a desire to stop, yet will find attending meeting beneficial none-the-less. In fact, attending meetings to continually expose one's self to those whose lives have immeasurably improved as a result of having stopped using mind and mood altering substances will probably go a long way to helping such people develop a desire to stop using. I know this from first hand experience, after my relapse. Following my relapse at eight years clean, one of the meetings I had been attending regularly even allowed me to continue doing service work, which was unusual, because many service positions come with clean time requirements. However, it was a small meeting, and they felt comfortable allowing me to continue being the meeting secretary. More than this, they understood how important it was for me to feel I had a place to go, and people who cared. Perhaps it helped that I was not using hard drugs, but that is still beside the point. I was free to attend meetings even while I did not have a desire to stop using, and eventually my desire to stop using returned.

These thoughts often come to me when I hear someone mis-state tradition three

Wow, that says a lot, Like keep comming back-it works!

"Amen"
"Thank you for sharing sound words of a life experience, as I firmly stand by the importance
of sharing our life experiences, as some of us do so in the hope that others are encouraged,
and there is help available for those with an honest desire to confront their 'demon'. And, from
this side of the glass, ever so grateful of God's inspiration in my personal life. And, I believe a
'Higher Power' touches lives that have risen up out of the darkness of an addiction."
"Thank you for being you!"
'Praise God'

We hear about such things as "the gift of desperation" at meetings... which is in effect a state of mind people reach when they become willing to listen to others, and follow their suggestions, despite any preconceived ideas to the contrary. Some will call it hitting bottom, also, and is widely recognized as a place of surrender, where we acknowledge our powerlessness and the unmanageability of our lives.

Even so, the process of recovery can be slow, and there are those who will wish you a slow recovery, because then it would seem to be more firmly rooted and organically grown, no longer out of desperation, but by sure steady effort: the effort of attending meetings, working the steps, and being of service to others.

I consider my losing the desire to use a gift also... in fact, a miracle, for which I thank God.

No matter all my failings and defetcs of character, I have much to be grateful for

The people who are most successful at living and loving are those who can learn to wait successfully. Not many people enjoy waiting or learning patience. Yet waiting can be a powerful tool that will help us accomplish much good.

We cannot always have what we want when we want it. For different reasons, what we need to do, have, be, or accomplish is not available to us now. But there are things we could not do or have today, no matter what, that we can and have in the future. Today, we would make ourselves crazy trying to accomplish what will come naturally and with ease later.

We can trust it all is on schedule. Waiting time is not wasting time. Better is being worked out -- in us, in someone else, in the universe.

We don't have to put our life on hold while we wait. We can direct our attention elsewhere; we can practice acceptance and gratitude in the interim; We can trust that we do have a life to live while we're waiting -- then we go about living it.

Deal with your frustration and impatience, but learn how to wait. The old saying, “you can't always get what you want” isn't entirely true. Often in life we can get what we want -- especially the desires of our heart -- if we can learn to wait.

December 14, 2019 . . . Addiction, drugs, and recovery . . Page 364

"Addiction is a physical, mental, and spiritual disease that affects every area of our lives."
Basic Text, p. 20

Before we started using, most of us had a stereotype, a mental image of what addicts were supposed to look like. Some of us pictured a junkie robbing convenience markets for drug money. Others imagined a paranoid recluse peering at life from behind perpetually drawn drapes and locked doors. As long as we didn't fit any of the stereotypes, we thought, we couldn't be addicts.

As our using progressed, we discarded those misconceptions about addiction, only to come up with another: the idea that addiction was about drugs. We may have thought addiction meant a physical habit, believing any drug that didn't produce physical habituation was not "addictive." Or we thought the drugs we took were causing all our problems. We thought that merely getting rid of the drugs would restore sanity to our lives.

One of the most important lessons we learn in Narcotics Anonymous is that addiction is much more than the drugs we used. Addiction is a part of us; it's an illness that involves every area of our lives, with or without drugs. We can see its effects on our thoughts, our feelings, and our behavior, even after we stop using. Because of this, we need a solution that works to repair every area of our lives: the Twelve Steps.

Just for Today: Addiction is not a simple disease, but it has a simple
solution. Today, I will live in that solution: the Twelve Steps of recovery.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2019 - GET EVEN OR GET AHEAD
Audio for GET EVEN OR GET AHEAD
Time wasted in getting even can never be used in getting ahead.



We feel hurt and violated when another’s unkind words or actions take away our dignity and leave us scarred and in need of healing. We want an admission of guilt for the harm done to us. We want them to make amends. If they don’t, we often find that something arises within us and makes us want to “get even.”

While we may think we will feel better if we shout back at a person who has shouted at us, or retaliated by bringing shame or harm to someone for what they have done, research tells us we’re not better off even as soon as five or fifteen minutes later. We violate our own soul and our own standards of right and wrong when we speak and behave badly in pursuing revenge. God has a better plan.

Don’t do wrong to anyone to pay them back for doing wrong to you. Or don’t insult anyone to pay them back for insulting you. But ask God to bless them. Do this because you yourselves were chosen to receive a blessing. A gentle answer makes anger disappear, but a rough answer makes it grow. (1 Peter 3:9, Proverbs 15:1 ERV)

The bottom line is that each of us has done many wrong things over the course of our lives, and often even in the past few days. We come to God and seek His forgiveness for what we have done, and we should. But God ties our forgiveness of what we have done to our willingness to forgive others for the wrongs they have done. Let's not waste time trying to get even and instead co-operate with God, receive His peace and move on..

When you are praying and you remember that you are angry with another person about something, forgive that person. Forgive them so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. (Mark 11:25 ERV)


Prayer: Heavenly Father, it’s so hard to not seek revenge when I have been wronged. I lay this desire to “get even” aside and ask You to fill my heart with the higher good of blessing others so blessing and honour can grow in my own heart. Amen

©2019 Partners in Hope

December 14, 2019
“Dr. Silkworth taught us how to till the black soil of hopelessness, out of which every single spiritual awakening in our fellowship has since flowered. In December 1934 this man of science had sat humbly by my bed following my own sudden and overwhelming spiritual experience, reassuring me: ‘No, Bill,’ he had said, ‘you are not hallucinating. Whatever you have got, you had better hang on to; it is so much better than what you had only an hour ago.’”
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., August 1957, “The Physicians,”, The Language of the Heart
'Amen'

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2019 - TRUSTING GOD
Audio for TRUSTING GOD
Trust in God is foundational for trust in our relationship with others. Even when a relationship may be challenged, trust can always be maintained if we choose to live with integrity and we keep God at the center of it all.


In the Christmas story, Mary and Joseph are examples of those who trusted what God said during challenging times. Months before their planned wedding, Mary became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph knew he had not been sexually active with Mary, he assumed that she had been unfaithful to him, even though that was untrue. Joseph was troubled by Mary’s pregnancy and could have harmed her, but he graciously decided to break off the engagement as quietly and mercifully as he could.



God sent an angel to explain to Joseph what had taken place in Mary. Because Joseph believed God, he was willing to change his plans and put his own reputation on the line to follow God’s will and continue his relationship with Mary.


This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. " (Matthew 1:18-20 NIV)



Are we behaving as trustworthy people of integrity in our relationships? Are we asking God for His guidance in the decisions we are making and seeking His direction in how we relate to the other person in our relationship? Are we willing to offer forgiveness and live at peace with the other person as God walks each of us through challenges to the relationship?



Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to be a person who trusts Your input as I seek to build relationships with others. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear as I follow wise counsel from Your word and from others who faithfully follow You. Amen

©2019 Partners in Hope

We respond to God's homeward call with a mixture of hope and fear. The journey homeward involves withdrawal from addictive behavior that have become normal for us. In withdrawal, attachments are lessened, and their energy is freed for simpler, purer desire and care. In other words, human desire is freed for love. As Constance FitzGerald puts it, “Desire is not suppressed or destroyed, but gradually transferred, purified, transformed, set on fire.”

This process is easily misunderstood. To appreciate it with accuracy we need to acknowledge both its beauty and its fierceness. It is beautiful because it is a liberation from slavery, and because it enables love. But it is fierce because it entails letting go, risking, and enduring losses that are very real and very painful.

What we lose in homecoming is not the objects of our attachment, nor even our care for them. What we lose is the attachment itself, the strength of our addictive behavior with these objects, the way we make gods of them. But we feel no real consolation when we experience the withdrawal symptoms that accompany letting go of our attachments. There was real pain here. What we cling to most is our use, our idolization of that person or thing.

The loss of attachment is the loss of something very real; it is physical. We will resist this loss as long as we possibly can. When withdrawal does happen, it will hurt. And, after it is over, we will mourn. Only then, when we have completed the grieving over our lost attachment, we will breathe the fresh air of freedom with appreciation and gratitude.

December 15, 2019 . . . The joy of sharing . . Page 365

"There is a spiritual principle of giving away what we have been given in Narcotics Anonymous in order to keep it. By helping others to stay clean, we enjoy the benefit of the spiritual wealth that we have found." . . Basic Text, p. 49

Time and again in our recovery, others have freely shared with us what was freely shared with them. Perhaps we were the recipients of a Twelfth Step call. Maybe someone picked us up and took us to our first meeting. It could be that someone bought us dinner when we were new. All of us have been given time, attention, and love by our fellow members. We may have asked someone, "What can I do to repay you?" And the answer we received was probably a suggestion that we do the same for a newer member when we were able.

As we maintain our clean time and recovery, we find ourselves wanting to do for others the things that someone did for us, and happy that we can. If we heard the message while in a hospital or institution, we can join our local H&I subcommittee. Perhaps we can volunteer on the NA help line. Or we can give of our time, attention, and love to a newcomer we are trying to help.

We've been given much in our recovery. One of the greatest of these gifts is the privilege of sharing with others what's been shared with us, with no expectation of reward. It's a joy to find we have something that can be of use to others, and that joy is multiplied when we share it. Today we can do so, freely and gratefully.

Just for Today: I have been given much in my recovery, and I am deeply grateful for it. I will take joy in being able to share it with others as freely as it was shared with me.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019 - ONGOING PERSONAL INVENTORY
Audio for ONGOING PERSONAL INVENTORY
Our old ways of thinking and behaving are being transformed as we journey with God in our new life in recovery. New circumstances bring new challenges as they push against our old ways. Taking regular personal inventory enables us to assess if the challenges are just the temporary pain of new muscles being built or if vulnerable areas that need to be dealt with are being exposed. It’s important that our ongoing daily inventory starts with what is being revealed.

Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.
(Hosea 6:3 NLT)

What are we doing from day to day to train ourselves to hear and respond to the voice of God? Are we challenging ourselves to pray and read and reflect on God’s Word in the Bible? As we choose to follow this discipline, we will discover that the life that God describes is different from what we have practiced or what we experience around us in everyday society. Comparing God’s ways with our known ways helps form the basis of our ongoing daily inventory. It helps identify how we are growing in putting God’s Word into practice in our everyday lives and where we still need to change.

Trust in the Lord and do good; live in the land and be safe. Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desire. Give yourself to the Lord; trust in him, and he will help you. (Psalm 37:3-5 GNT)

God has a plan for our life that gives satisfaction, meaning, and joy. As we continue to take personal inventory, and promptly adjust any shortcomings, we will achieve the desired ease of living at peace with God, with ourselves, and with our neighbor.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am grateful that You enrich me by Your goodness and love through each step of my journey. Thank You for the assurance that, as my thoughts and actions are transformed by following Your principles, I will experience more and more satisfaction and joy in my daily living. Amen

©2019 Partners in Hope

The key to the golden rule is to love others as we love ourselves. Nothing more, nothing less. If we are honest and true to ourselves then we can be so with others. Everybody wins.

December 16, 2019 . . . Where there's smoke . . Page 366

"Complacency is the enemy of members with substantial clean time.
If we remain complacent for long, the recovery process ceases." . . Basic Text, p. 84

Recognizing complacency in our recovery is like seeing smoke in a room. The "smoke" thickens when our meeting attendance drops, contact with newcomers decreases, or relations with our sponsor aren't maintained. With continued complacency; we won't be able to see through the smoke to find our way out. Only our immediate response will prevent an inferno.

We must learn to recognize the smoke of complacency. In NA, we have all the help we need to do that. We need to spend time with other recovering addicts because they may detect our complacency before we do. Newcomers will remind us of how painful active addiction can be. Our sponsor will help us remain focused, and recovery literature kept in easy reach can be used to extinguish the small flare-ups that happen from time to time. Regular participation in our recovery will surely enable us to see that wisp of smoke long before it becomes a major inferno.

Just for Today: I will participate in the full range of my recovery; my commitment to NA is just as strong today as it was in the beginning of my recovery.

Dear, Sweet, Magenta,
you have already become your own sponsor, time to move on and just count on Yeshua and yourself!!!

The point is to move foreword from sponsee to sponsor and keep the chain of recovery going. It dosn't work if we keep it to ourselves, there is no finish line, graduation nor retirement before we go to be with the Lord... After this life is over. "Our own 'best thinking' got us addicted to begin with."

Step 3; Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God...

Proverbs 3:5-6 5Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Matthew 7:7-8 7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

All 3 are from the NIV