“But for the grace of God, there would have been thousands more convincing demonstrations.” Alcoholics Anonymous, page 25:0
For what it’s worth: All alone, pitiful, ugly death was about to be my end. Instead, fellowship, dignity and a beautiful life are my reality. This miracle was not by the grace of Joe, but by the Grace of God. And the only way the blessing of sobriety is still mine today is the Grace of God. There is no human way that I did not take that first drink on all of those occasions when I so desperately wanted to drink. Only my Heavenly Father helped me do whatever I had to do to not take that first drink on that day no-matter-what. And many of the no-matter-whats were devastating losses or circumstances, but His grace carried me through. I can not even take credit for taking the actions I took to stay sober. Not only did He have to carry me at those times, He had to do the things I was humanly and alcoholically incapable of doing.
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, “You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?” The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”
Written by Mary Stevenson
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"LOVE" devoid of self-gratification, is in essence, the will, to the greatest good...of another.
Thank you for a beautiful post and for reminding me of what lay ahead for me if I hadn't stopped drinking.
On a daily basis I thank God for all that he is helping me to achieve. Through AA I now have God in my life again. I had turned my back on Him – He hadn't turned His back on me.
Have a great day,
Carol
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
