"We have found a loving, personal God to whom we can turn."
Basic Text p. 27
Some of us come into recovery with the impression that life's hardships are a series of cosmic tests designed to teach us something. This belief is readily apparent when something traumatic happens and we wail, "My Higher Power is testing me!" We're convinced that it's a test of our recovery when someone offers us drugs, or a test of our character when faced with a situation where we could do something unprincipled without getting caught. We may even think it's a test of our faith when we're in great pain over a tragedy in our lives.
But a loving Higher Power doesn't test our recovery, our character, or our faith. Life just happens, and sometimes it hurts. Many of us have lost love through no fault of our own. Some of us have lost all of our material wealth. A few of us have even grieved the loss of our own children. Life can be terribly painful at times, but the pain is not inflicted on us by our Higher Power. Rather, that Power is constantly by our sides, ready to carry us if we can't walk by ourselves. There is no harm that life can do us that the God of our understanding can't heal.
Just for today: I will have faith that my Higher Power's will for me is good, and that I am loved. I will seek my Higher Power's help in times of need.
rosie___________AMEN AMEN AMEN....i dont' think our HP "visits" pain on us either---------it is just LIFE.......HP does NOT interfer in material/ natural law issues.....shit just happens.........HP does not "test" us......life happens......i totally agree with this-----
WHY would god/ source/ higher power/ christ/ creator/ ----what EVER we call him/her/it, potentially drive a wedge between it and us with PAIN??? i used to tell my hp back B4 recovery (when i didn't understand as i do now) that MORE "tests--trials" are NOT going to push me to you, but drive me AWAY---- too many trials/ pain/ "tests" will beat someone DOWN---away from their higher power---create mistrust/ antipathy for their higher power....so WHY would a loving/ caring God want to damage our relationship??? i mean would i want to stay with a partner who constantly "tested" my love for him/ my trust for him/ my patience with him by putting me "through" stuff that was painful????? NO, i would get fed up with it and leave him!!!!!
hp aka "the SOURCE" did not give me a child rapist father---- i used to blame my hp for that happening........i am sure there were legions of angels SCREAMING at him "do not write yourself out of the book of life---do not murder this child's mind/soul/emotions".......however i see now that my hp created help for me through this program and others who suffered like me, to help me....i don't think hp wanted me to suffer this horrible evil...... i am glad that there is finally a "daily" that supports the FACT----hp does NOT test me.....it does, however, help me get through life and the more i cooperate with / align myself with my hp, the better i will be..... the SOURCE is all powerfull, meaning that he/she/it CAN override all the evil that was done to me...........i think that we are here under choice and freewill and that "natural law" stuff, hp does not always interfer on--- like stuff is going to happen--- the sun shines on the just and UNjust---- blessings happen to the good and evil ---- kind of an "equal opportunity" higher power--- no prejudicial it looks like....i think he/she/it DOES interfer in matters of "spirit law"....i always kinda thought this.....so it was very self defeating AND uninformed of me to "blame" the HP for the incest--- what kind of god is going to do THAT to a child??? only the god of darkness!!! and ONLY the God of LIGHT is going to heal me-- i see this now, in recovery....i didn't see it B4----
yes, TODAY i ask my HP....." universal Creator, KEEP my mind on U and keep my mind on the fact that YOUR will for me is for good/abundence/love/joy/health.....and that i CAN trust U in times of need".......
I agree. God does not test us. We test our own limits, we dally and destroy our own souls. If there is a loophole that God left open, a drunk will try to find it. There are no limits to the cons a drunk can pull on him/herself and expect them to work.
There are no limits to the cons a drunk can pull on him/herself and expect them to work.
oh wow!! this is SO true!!! with my multi compulsive behaviours, i did the biggest "con jobs" on me -- i can't even add them up--- steps 4 through 10 keep me honest-- with me/ my hp, and i really love it--- i guess i always craved honesty, but was too sick and too into self will to appreciate it....thanks for gr8 reply------rosie
Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. You are always being tested. God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment and even the weather!!
"God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart."
~The Big Big Book
Love and hugs.
-- Edited by Doll at 19:18, 2006-02-07
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* We eventually realize that just as the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, emotional turmoil comes before serenity. *
Rosie, that is wonderful!! It is also one of the big changes that happened to me,,, and why I always share about Step 2 that not only can one person's view differ from another's, but that my own view changes. I had come to think that God was a little bit sadistic in 'putting' people in bad situations and then watching them, kind of expecting us to slip up sooner or later, upon which he would then smirk as he pronounced punishment and cast us into hell. I have also come to see that that is not God. I now believe that there is what is called 'God's perfect will', which is love and peace and all good, and 'God's permissive will', which is what God allows to happen that He can use to work for greater good. It makes soooo much of a difference. I believe now (subject to future change as I grow) that God allows some testing, and coaches us and helps us to pass the test. In the book of Job it is satan who wants to test him. Hmmm,,, that reminds me of how my child used to test me, and some coworkers get pretty testy,,, and how sometimes I test people to see how they will react to this or that. The Lord's Prayer says, "lead us not into temptation" and in some versions this line says, "do not put us to the test".
Thank you all for the shares and various points of view.
amanda
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do your best and God does the rest, a step at a time
I really liked this reading...I don't think God tests me...He has given me free will to react as I will to what each new day brings. I'm accountable for how I react, my God is not accountable for what happened or didn't happen. I think that I just read here that it rains on the just and the unjust...living life on lifes terms again...and knowing that there is always someone more powerful than me to turn to, in the good times and the bad.I can choose light or I can choose the darkness.
In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and "heartache" in life - longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity. We're not completely happy here because we're not supposed to be. Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better.
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" ~ BIG BB.
Just MY opinion.
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* We eventually realize that just as the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, emotional turmoil comes before serenity. *
