I learned Sunday afternoon that our niece Natalie is back at it again after another go round with treatment and 90 days sober this time. It breaks my heart to hear this. I know alot about her story and how much her mom and dad have tried to help. Of course some of this help has been damaging to them all because for a long time, they enabled her. Now they've been sucked dry and burnt so many times, they've finally "cut the cord" on their little girl. She's 22. My wife and I pray for her, and we ask that you might also. Nat just doesn't seem to be ready to surrender. I pray that she becomes ready before it is too late and something awful happens.
For me, each day is a day where I must surrender my will to God and seek His ways. Thankfully, because I've done this often over the past 14 years, I don't have to fight the drink today. However, that doesn't mean I don't need to surrender. Still, I must seek God's will in everything I do if I am to be at peace and reasonably happy. That's just how it works.
Not only must I surrender my will to Him, I must find ways to serve Him and be helpful to those around me. I must look for people who need something I can give, and give it to them with no thought of anything in return (that's the hardest part, lol). One of the easiest and most powerful things I can share today is my gratitude for AA, sobriety and peace in my life. For me, a quality sobriety, day to day starts with gratitude. If I am not grateful, I am in big trouble. I start feeling like things aren't going my way, like my "rights" and "needs" aren't being met sufficiently. Then I start to think more negatively and focus in upon myself. Too much time spent in that frame of mind will ultimately lead me back to drugs and alcohol.
HEavely father, thank You for this day and everything that will come. Please be with Nat and her family with Your divine healing and Grace. Please show me how I can be of service today and help guide my thinking to remind me that "I owe." Thank You for my relatively good health, for my family and friends, for AA, springtime, baseball, our dog and my career. Thank You for this day!
2 comments:
Scott,
I will pray for your niece. So young....and yet I know for myself at 22 the thought of not drinking and staying sober would have seemed impossible. I just pray she doesn't have to wait until she's 41 like I did. I loved what you said about turning your will over every day. Thanks for reminding me, and also for talking about being grateful. At the dinner table my children and I try to name five things we are grateful for each day. Sometimes the lists are pretty funny with my youngest but precious none the less! They just increase my gratitude for this program and my higher power.
I hope that your niece decides on a different route than drugs and alcohol. I like your prescription for a good day. It works.
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