CRA Christians in Recovery (anonymous)

I'd like to start a new thread for people in recovery who have figured out that the best way to start building a home is on solid ground. The rock.

This is a christian site and I feel identifying Krishna, Mohamed, Buddha, ash trays or group conscience as the higher power is a LIE. The only real higher power is the one and only triune God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The only problem is how to filter out the haters, law mongers and deniers'.

In the words of William Booth paraphrased "It takes more than a clean pair of breeches, a bath and a job to save a mans soul."

This is a deadly disease. We have to become deadly serious in dealing with it. Our best thinking got us into the mess we got ourselves into. We need help! Jesus has the power, we surrender to him.

Please join me friends and family welcome too. It's not like Christians don't get ensnared or those of us that become ensnared don't come to Jesus. We need to share, testify and help each other.

My name is Bob. I'm a grateful recovering addict/gambler/sinner. Please help/join me in my and others who are anonymous effort to bring some recovery without condemnation to Christian Chat.

TTFN. calibob.

SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2023 - PATIENCE

Audio for PATIENCE

We come into recovery because we are tired and worn out from the physical and emotional
consequences of a lifestyle of addiction and the destruction it imposes. We want the pain and
discomfort to go away as quickly as possible. In our addiction, we chose to ease our pain with
whatever was readily available. Now we are committed to taking the time and effort necessary
to rebuild a new life. One of the character qualities we need to develop is patience.

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will.
Then you will receive all that he has promised. (Hebrews 10:36 NLT)

Patience is both a gift from God and something that we learn to develop through practice.
Patience has been described as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering
without getting angry or upset. A patient person is flexible, even-tempered, and willing to walk
a known path, trusting that good will come to them if they stay the course and complete the journey.

May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love
of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5 NLT)

To develop patience requires that we repeatedly choose to move out of our “comfort zone” because that’s
the place of the “quick-fix”, where we “cut corners,” and do whatever we want regardless of the cost. Even
though these are familiar ways for us to operate, they are damaging to our life and our relationships.

Only God is patient enough to love us and walk with us through all the twists and turns of the journey
we need to take to develop patience. We are reassured that “God could and would if He were sought.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I have lived too long as a self-centered, impatient person. Please forgive me.
I ask that You fill me with Your Holy Spirit so I have both the desire and the strength to do whatever
it takes to change my ways. Please help me! Amen

©2023 Partners in Hope; shared with permission

WEDNESDAY JULY 19, 2023 - REDUCING SELF-CENTEREDNESS

Audio for REDUCING SELF-CENTEREDNESS

The Big Book of AA describes the significance of our problem with self-centeredness in this way:
"There often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His [God's] aid. Many of us had
moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we
would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying
on our own power. We had to have God's help." (Big Book pages 62-63)

This confirms what the Bible says about needing God to help us deal with self-centeredness and other shortcomings.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life … because of His glory
and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you
to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT)

The authors of the Big Book mirror this important truth for us as follows: "This is the how and why of it.
First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life,
God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His
children. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work
well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs.
More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. (Big Book pages 62-63)

So you should try very hard to add goodness to your faith. To goodness, add knowledge.
To knowledge, add the ability to control yourselves. To the ability to control yourselves,
add the strength to keep going. To the strength to keep going, add godliness. To godliness,
add kindness for one another and to kindness for one another, add love. (2 Peter 1:5-7 NLT)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank you for your help in dealing with my self-centeredness. I surrender
all that I am to You. Be the director of my life. Work Your will in me and through me so that I might
share in Your divine nature and have sincere affection for everyone I meet. Amen

©2023 Partners in Hope; shared with permission

The big book ..you are referring to the Word of God. The bible . 😝😎😝😎

I'm very interested in the recovery movement. It emerged with the time during which the prohibition law was repealed, and this incident is the only time at which a constitutional amendment has ever been exactly reversed. I wonder why they did that? It can't have had anything to do with Christianity, that would be outside the pervue of the state. What was the problem, high church priests weren't getting in trouble for serving alter wine as a required sacrament at communion on Sunday, were they? I'd really be interested to know what was going on behind the closed government doors when that occurred. It seems like an unnecessary law to me. I'm sure that the 21+ maturity factor has a place, but is that so important that a national constitutional amendment is needed?

AA Big book page 25

artfully & spiritually delicious!!!!!

Thank you, Karlon! Could you give me feedback on the font? I am thinking maybe it could be more legible... .

actually, i thought the same idea! it's quite fancy & i had a bit of trouble reading it. a bit clearer on the lettering perhaps. robert plant, former singer of led zeppelin, when he went solo, had "over" stylish wording on his cd's. sometimes hard to read.