GOD ACRONYMS

So, what about our GOD dilemma?

The dictionary defines dilemma as: “a difficult situation or problem.”

Well yes, God is either a difficult situation to consider or a problem for most people. His invisible nature makes it extremely hard to prove and yet there are many tangibles in this world that tell of His existence, in my humble opinion. Fingerprints, as a friend of mine says.

God is everything or he is nothing. What is our choice? There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground on this one, no option for “just a little bit of God.” If you let him in, well, He’s in. If you turn away from Him, he’s not in your life.

I happen to believe He’s in our lives whether we acknowledge Him or not.
He doesn’t move. We do.

This is a very hard topic for a lot of people, but one worth considering carefully. Because when we alcoholics get sober, we need to find our higher power to turn our lives over to so that we can stay sober. We have decided that we are powerless and our lives had become unmanageable. WE aren’t our higher power because we know that our lives weren’t working under our own power.

Many of us struggle with this, so don’t feel frustrated. It’s natural.

Honestly, the place I go to hear God is in a meeting of other alcoholics. God is not sitting in the room, although He is always there. When people start to speak, it’s as if God is whispering truths directly to me. Sometimes it’s like a loud bell going off when someone says something I can relate to in a real way. My hair stands up, my gut clenches, then I relax into a feeling of bliss like God himself has just written me a love letter in this truth. Those moments are hard to describe and they feel like they are not of this world.

Here are some GOD acronyms to hold onto:

GROUP OF DRUNKS
I hear God through other alcoholics telling their stories

GIVER OF DESIRES
I see God in the transformation that happens in people’s lives

GIFT OF DESPERATION
I feel God in the desperation of others that eventually leads them through the door to freedom from addiction.

GAINING ONE’S DREAMS
I experience real peace as I see dreams being fulfilled, lives changing, relationships being restored, people staying sober—me too.

GOOD ORDERLY DIRECTION
When I listen to God and I am receptive to Him, I gain wisdom that I didn’t come up with on my own.

Maybe you don’t get it all yet. It’s really OK.

We’re not meant to understand everything. How small would our God be if we understood it all? In fact, it’s good to doubt…

You can be a believer and still have doubts.
Doubts lead to questions and seeking.
Questions lead to answers.
And, answers lead to a greater understanding.

Just keep seeking.

And, here’s your bonus acronym for today!

DOUBTS
Doing Our Uncertain Best To Seek

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Proberbs 3:5-6

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GOD TALKS

Yes. He does.

It may not always be words. A thought, an idea, an inspiration, from nature...

I find that God talks to me, when I regularly talk to Him! When you think about relationships you have in your life, the people you communicate with the most and spend the most time with are the closest to you, right?

The more time I spend with God, the better that relationship becomes. The way I do that is spending time on a walk in His creation or standing on the beach and observing this beautiful world, to name a few.

At one point, I thought God had stopped talking to me. After many days of resistance, stubbornness and NOT talking to God, I stood on the cliff and looked out over the ocean at sunset.

I saw a group of pelicans with huge wingspans banking out over the water. As they turned, the afternoon sunlight bounced magnificently off of their backs such that it made me catch my breath!

“Thank you, God,” to which He replied, “I will continue to send you beauty and you need to pay attention!” I was so surprised hearing from God I shouted, “Hey, You are talking to me again!”

And I heard the words, “I could say the same to you.” Whew, what a great realization.

I need to talk to God for Him to talk with me.

Relationship.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power
and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,
so that people are without excuse.”  

Romans 1:20

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SERVICE HEALS

When I was drinking, I was in full-on selfish mode only thinking about what I wanted and needed. When I got sober, I learned that the quickest way out of my own head was to be of service.

In serving myself, the satisfaction is temporary, unfulfilling, and fleeting. I find I always want more, and I am obsessively self-focused coming up empty every time. Bored, tired, and discontented.

When I serve you, we both receive the gift—it blesses me AND you and sustains us both in the process. In a way, I think of serving as rather selfish on my part because in the end I am the person who benefits the most!

Service heals both the giver and the receiver.

Sometimes you might think, “Well, this small thing I am doing really doesn’t matter.”

It does.

Service matters. It matters to you and to me. It gives us both purpose. God wants us to be in relationship with others and with Him. The best way to practice this is to be of service.

I often thought that what I was doing in life wasn’t making a difference. I just worked, earned a living, had a family and lived. So what? When I started giving of myself through the talents I had been given, I finally felt like I was becoming the person God intended for me to be. I was capable of giving back that same love that was so freely given to me.

The result of this discovery was a new power and drive to serve you and others more!

“Those who put their faith and trust in the Lord shall have a renewed strength.  
They will rise up as if on the wings of eagles. They will run and not be tired.  
They will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

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THE FRISBEE SHOW

My whack-a-doodle, labradoodle, Dash, loves to play frisbee. It's part of the morning routine. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s exercising me when we do this.

Nothing like the bright-eyed, anticipating, and intense look he gives me as I prepare to launch the frisbee across the yard. Him lunging forward toward me like a cat pouncing on prey, trying to get me to hurry-up and throw it and me crouching in the ready position. Off it goes across the yard—and sometimes where I throw it. My flinging skills give new meaning to the phrase, “throws like a girl”

Dash doesn’t seem to mind. Neither does the giggling man in the hot tub, for whom the show is being put on. Back he comes after digging it out of the bushes and wagging his tail as he runs toward me, frisbee jammed in his mouth. He stops just out of my reach, which is part of the game, shaking it madly like he is trying to shake the life out of it. He is definitely in control of how long this is played, at what speed, and the level of intensity we engage.

7-year-olds are like that.

All the while, my 15.5-year-old, Diamond, who lives up to her shiney name, wanders around the yard looking at us like we are a couple of loonies let out of the bin. My little old lady will sidle up to me for a hug between throws. Turning her head sideways to look off into the distance showing her regal profile—queen that she is.

What does this have to do with sobriety?

Everything.

I would have missed ALL of this—and did in the past while drinking.

All of this is pure joy and the closest thing I can think of to being the happiest I can be—my husband in the hot tub enjoying the scene, dogs playing in the sunshine and me, feeling grateful and enjoying another new sober day beginning.

Thank you, God.

John 10:10b "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

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OHANA RECOVERY

I experienced Ohana in a very real way one morning in Kauai.

Part of Hawaiian culture, ohana means family (in an extended sense of the term, including blood-related, adoptive or intentional family). The concept emphasizes that families are bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another. (Wikipedia)

Right after I got sober, we went on vacation. It would be my first vacation without alcohol. Ahead of time, I had looked up meetings online and found one at a local park on the beach not far from our condo.

It was a 7am meeting, still dark when I bravely headed out alone. Not knowing where I was going, I trusted it would be there. It was. As I walked up, the sun was starting to come up. In the haze of predawn, I could see several very large, tattooed, Hawaiian men sitting around a picnic table. Afraid and intimidated at first, I continued to walk out toward the beach. I could see another table with what I recognized as familiar literature, coffee and donuts. Okay, I think I am in the right place.

Then, with much excitement, they all jumped up from the picnic table and shuffled over to me with outstretched hands. “Welcome, miss, please join us.” (in their inimitable Hawaiian accent) They shook my hand and wrapped their solid arms around me and I dove into safety.

They guided me to the coffee and donuts table and said to take a seat. One of them handed me a reading sheet and said, “You gunna read for us now.” I took it and after saying the serenity prayer together, I started to read the familiar How It Works.

Right there in a lawn chair with roosters cock-a-doodle-doo-ing and the brilliance of the sun rising over the ocean, I read out loud in a soft, choked-up voice with tears in my eyes. I felt safe and at home and part of the family. They smiled and giggled at me. We shared stories with each other, some of the men fresh out of prison on the island and early in recovery. Some had many years. I shared my story too, and at the end of the meeting they proudly announced, “You Ohana now. You jus’ gotta come back.”

Unlikely bunch loving one another like family.

Ohana. Intentionally chosen. An experience like no other.

A moment in time I will not soon forget.

 
Colossians 3:13-14
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

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STEAL HOME

While listening to one of my sober pals speak at a meeting, I had a very strong vision at the end of her talk.

My friend shared her incredible life story. I had heard it before. I remember hearing her when I first got sober when she had a year of sobriety, which seemed like forever to me then. She talked about wanting to isolate, wanting to drink and check out. I mean she wanted to check out now at 12 years sober! She wasn’t talking about the past.

The thinking part of her disease of alcoholism was getting ready to pounce. All of her defenses were down and she was telling the truth about her not wanting to come to the meeting today and not wanting to be with us. She didn’t fit it, didn’t feel a part of—and she didn’t even care.

Then, she talked about what she had learned to do when she felt this way. To come to meetings and talk even if she didn’t want to. Her words were like a prayer to me. A reminder that there is a solution to our problems and that our thoughts don’t need to overwhelm. God was right there. I felt her relaxing into us as she neared the end of her chair and the obsession and fear falling away from her as she talked.

Then I had this vision:

We were all at a baseball game and my friend was running around the bases. She rounded third base, headed for home plate and slid in on her belly. Dirt flying. Tagging home base with her fingertips. We were all there cheering her on as the umpire called her “SAFE!” That image of the umpire squatting with wide stance and arms stretched out to his sides, palms down, all of us screaming loudly and with all the drama we could muster was such a powerful picture of our sobriety community. We are safe together.

The safe zone. Come and stay.

Steal home if you have to.

Hebrews 12:1
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

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JUST BE HELD

At the moment of surrender, we begin to hold the truth. What does that mean?
I think it means that the lie that we “need alcohol” no longer holds us. We start our journey away from dependence on the drug or alcohol to our independence.

In that surrendering to God of all of our addictions, we switch our dependence on alcohol or drugs to our dependence on God to carry us through and fill that hole inside. Believe it or not, when we depend on God, we are moving into independence—freedom from the bondage of addiction.

We don't have to hold it all together. We can let God do the holding us.

I love this song by, Casting Crowns, “Just Be Held”

Take a moment to read the lyrics and let them wash over you.

Just Be Held
Casting Crowns
Hold it all together
Everybody needs you strong
But life hits you out of nowhere
And barely leaves you holding on
And when you’re tired of fighting
Chained by your control
There’s freedom in surrender
Lay it down and let it go
So when you’re on your knees and answers seem so far away
You’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held
Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place
I’m on the throne, stop holding on and just be held
Just be held, just be held
If your eyes are on the storm
You’ll wonder if I love you still
But if your eyes are on the cross
You’ll know I always have and I always will
And not a tear is wasted
In time, you’ll understand
I’m painting beauty with the ashes
Your life is in My hands

My favorite line is “And when you’re tired of fighting, chained by your control—
there’s freedom in surrender...”

Surrender. So powerful.
 
John 8:32
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

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SLIP OR RELAPSE?

I hear people say when they drink again, "I had a little SLIP."

You mean a relapse? A slip implies that drinking again was somehow an accident—that I had nothing to do with it.

NO.

Sobriety Losing It’s Priority.

That’s what a SLIP is right there. Sobriety losing its priority. The relapse begins long before I take that drink again. If I am not vigilant about my sobriety and make that my number one priority, I will start thinking old thoughts, repeating old behaviors, and I am right back where I was while drinking. Alcohol becomes my solution again. Relapse becomes a possibility. I start making excuses for my behavior.

The reason I know I have more recovery to do is because I am still alive.

Drinking is not an option for me anymore. Period.

Now I ask myself, “What am I doing for my sobriety today?”

Then, I pray and ask God to relieve me of the bondage of self—get out of my own head and stop thinking "I got this." Next I go help somebody in need or serve in some way. Sometimes that is just going to a meeting and sitting in the seat and being there for somebody else.

Retrain your brain. Be transformed by doing different behavior.

Try it. It works.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Psalm 139:23-24

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UNLOCK THE MYSTERY

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

That line, originally, may as well have been a direct quote from God.

We don’t get to know what happens after this life, or if He is really there for us in this one for sure. Do we?

If we really knew how wonderful it was to be in heaven or with God, we may not want to be on this troubled Earth anymore, right? Everyone would be rushing to get to the good part.

OK, that’s the faith part, and—the hard part.

So I think we are supposed to sit with the mystery of it and just trust God. Lean not on our own understanding. That is where the real work in us happens. He did give us an option to communicate with him on a personal basis right now, today—

Prayer.

Our brains weren’t designed to hold all that God’s mind holds. He wants us to call on him, talk with him, and depend on Him.

That’s the whole point. Okay, I get it—

“Hi, God. It’s me.”

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

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VICTIM OR VICTOR

Stuff happens. That doesn’t make me a victim.

I have failed but that doesn’t make me a failure.

I have suffered loss, but that doesn’t make me a loser.

We all have trials but they don’t have to define us. If we claim our trials, our story gives us an excuse to stay stuck. “this is why I am the way I am...” it becomes our excuse to stay that way. It's locked in place because we choose to believe that. If we name our enemy and tell the truth about it, we have half a chance at defeating it and triumphing over it into a new way of thinking. When we tell the truth about what happened in our past and get it out of our heads, we take all the power of its hold over us and we can begin to let it go.

Even though I don’t drink anymore, I say I am an alcoholic in recovery because it gives power to the recovery over it. I can help others by telling others what happened to me and identifying where I have come from, but it doesn’t continue to define me or keep me there.

I can claim my sobriety date as a defining moment when I step from victim (this happening to me) into victor—claiming victory over the obsession to drink and the thinking that controls that. It is up to me because God did give us the choice.

The victory lies in how we frame the circumstances. Old patterns you have in place get rearranged. If the circumstances don’t get rearranged, your thinking about them does. You will begin to look at everything with new eyeglasses. It's ok to ask for help. From somebody close to you, or from God.

Step into the light just by how you view yourself.

YOU are a victor.

See it. Believe it. Live it.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

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GO FORTH ON THE FIFTH

Recently I heard this from another fellow traveler on the recovery road:

Take a fifth with you on the 4th and you won’t go forth on the 5th.

Ha ha, I can actually physically hear the laughter from recovery people in response to this
tongue-twister. To those who don’t know anything about the twelve steps of recovery, I will give you some needed background on why this is funny.

STEP FOUR: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

In step FOUR, we get down to business and make friends with the truth.
We look deeply into our past including resentments, fears and shortcomings. It is about “owning” our transgressions. It’s about not holding back and finally seeing our part in any interaction we had or will have with others.We need to be thorough in this step in
writing everything down. Everything. Stuff we thought we would carry to our grave.

STEP FIVE: Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being
the exact nature of our wrongs.

In step FIVE, we release it all and it becomes the first tangible evidence of our recovery.

Honestly writing our 4th step and sharing with another human being (5th step), helps us let go of any guilt or upset we are carrying into the future with us. We learn that we are bigger than our mistakes. We now move forward, trusting ourselves once again.

Many have relapsed over these two steps because of the weight we put on it. We make it bigger than it is. We make it bigger than we need to. That's why that tongue-twister is funny.

When we train ourselves that this process of writing the truth, owning it and telling it to another human—lessens the bigness of it. We get to incorporate this behavior into our daily lives. We don’t have to relapse over this.

So—I suggest you go forth on your 5th(step) without the fifth. If I can do it, you can too.
I am forever changed because of it.

Get writing (4th Step)

Tell the truth (5th Step)

It works.

John 8:32
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

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