Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Step 3-Patience+2-way prayer unbeatable


3-Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power
A key to success with Step 3 is "PATIENCE" We can say "here I am Lord, my will and all the other stuff I don't like is all Yours and I hereby turn it over to You." Now if we expect (I don't think expectations safe at best of times) that our sense of unburdening should be instant and that we should feel completely free of our problems immediately, we will be in trouble. Why, because the step tells us to make the decision to let the stuff go, it does not say God's plan agrees that we are to be free of all problems right away. I believe that the freedom from this or that has to do with our readiness and that is likely different for various situations or problems. However, for me, that sense of Sharing The Burden with God dramatically lifts the weight and makes it bearable. I can handle all things when they are shared with God and His strength ensures the outcome. Nothing is too much for God no matter what it feels like to me! The decision therefore to turn things over to God (the greater Power in our life) is the deciding factor in the outcome of every scenario.. We cannot lose the battle when yoked to God!
Try two-way prayer-pray,listen, write. Work with another 12 stepper and derive even more prayer power! Contact us to learn more about it!
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How do we know 12 sreps work? Because millions have gone before us and testify to it!!
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Friday, March 26, 2010

Step 3-How do I understand God?

Turning it all over, life and will, is quite a stretch.
How well do I know this God and how do I approach Him?

I had to see God as alive, the architect of all, knower of all and all powerful. This God had to be flawless for me to accept that He could take over my everything and leave me without worry. I made a decision that my God could be this awesome person and over time I have come to feel really good about turning things over as they come to me. The unburdening grows as my relationship grows and diminishes when I do not do my part to keep it current, active and alive. I MUST PRAY, listen, write, pray, listen and share my hurts as soon as they happen. Praying and sharing with program people (12 step followers) as stuff happens, allows me to stay in the NOW and let go of the latest problem(s).

"Here I am Lord, relieve me of this problem so I can be of value to Your kingdom! Show me Your will today and encourage me to follow-Amen!"
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Step 3-yoking to God


I like the scripture referred to in the 12 step Recovery Bible (NLT) regarding step 3 i.e. Matthew 11:27-30 especially verses 29+30 where Jesus says "Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."

When I imagine this relationship being so strong as to be yoked neck and neck with the Lord as I go through life, my sense of fear or depression is almost instantly eliminated. Of course, I am not able to stay permanently in this place, however, while I am here, growth and healing are able to take steps in the right direction.
When the God of biblical scripture says "I am humble and gentle..." I want to be so much more humble and gentle in my own life. Humility and gentleness become priorities in my thinking process, therefore, I will be better for anyone who comes in contact with me!
"Thank You Lord that Your nearness and indwelling spirit are able to give us all the necessary strength to meet the needs of the day! Help us to remember and accept that we can be forever yoked to Your leading-Amen!"
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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Step 3-Redemption of the past

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
SEE TWELVE STEPS AND PROMISES BELOW COMMENTARY
Each one of us comes to God with a past. In turning our life over to him, we give him our entire self, including our past losses and shame. We hand over to him every moment of digrace, every tear we have ever cried, every word we wish we could take back, all the broken promises, the loneliness, all the dreams that died , the dashed hopes, the broken relationships, our successes and failures-all of our yesterdays and the scars we have left in our life. Isaiah 54:4-6 says "...for the Lord God has called you back from your grief" This commentary comes from the Life Recovery Bible (NLT) isbn 1-4143-0138-3
"Oh God help us to truly turn over every little piece of our life, to withhold nothing and to know exactly what we are letting go of. Take it all Lord and may we be refreshed as we move ahead so much lighter-Amen!"
Prayer made the 12 steps work! Pray in hunger for help and guidance and we believe you will be rewarded both here and hereafter! No concern of results but merely in the hope that so many have succeeded this way in the past (millions have gone before us). Be child like and open; there is nothing to lose and everything to gain!!
12 Steps to Spiritual Recovery!
1- We admitted we were powerless over others and our dependencies-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.
4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5- Admitted to this Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6- Were entirely ready to have this Power remove all these defects of character.
7- Humbly asked the Power to remove our shortcomings.
8- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.
12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(Many 12 step programs use the word God where we have written Power)


Various Claims of Promise from 12 Steppers

1-We will find ourselves worthy of love and able to love others. We will not lose ourselves.

2-Courage and fellowship will replace fear.

3-Our lives will yield hope to share with others.

4-We will come to know the vastness of our emotions without being in slavery to them.

5-Learning to forgive, we will no longer be bound by our secrets to live in shame.

6-Serenity and peace will have meaning for us.

7-We will allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with spiritual ease, balance and grace.

8-Attitude and outlook will be renewed.

9-Intuition will guide us to handle situations that were impossible in the past.

10-We will not regret the past recognizing its value for other sufferers.

11-Selfish interests will fall away as we gain interest in others.

12-Faith and gratitude will replace fear as we realize that a Greater Power is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
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Monday, March 15, 2010

step 3-accepting Ps 23 for me

If I can accept that the 23rd Psalm http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+23&version=NIVcould be mine just as David did, there would be much added to my existence. The psalmist says that, as one of the Lord's sheep, I will have peace and be uplifted, that I need not fear, that I will be fed and have a home forever with Him:

-green pastures
-still waters
-fear no evil
-prepare a table
-goodness and mercy
-dwell in the house of the Lord forever

"Oh Lord, help us to turn ourselves over to You that we may partake in such as David did in the 23rd Psalm, Amen!"

How would I be needy?
So to make such a decision was not difficult for me!
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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Step 3-Saved by grace...

STEP THREE-Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power (God).
"But for the grace of God...."

So many of us believe that our recovery has everything to do with our decision to begin recovery.

Do you ever wonder whether God gave us the power to make the right decision as well as the power to do our part to make it happen? If dependency and co-dependency are diseases without cure (most 12 steppers believe this), how then do we come up with the strength and courage to go on without these crutches? No, if addiction is an incurable disease (AMA claims this to be so), then Power greater than man must be behind it. I like to think that God in His wisdom has chosen the exact times and circumstances for our coming for help, finding the 12 steps and building a Spiritual relationship to keep us in sobriety whether that be emotional or physical sobriety.


Scripture as related to in the Serenity 12 step Program regarding Step 3, says "we surrender this false god of human perfection and we embrace the merciful grace of God.....we accept the creation he has made us to be..." It would seem that to boast or take credit for our recovery may be false! On the other hand, we can work very hard at our recovery programs and feel very good about doing our part. In my case, as long as I give all the credit to God for results, I have a reasonably happy life and do not feel a need TO DO anything specifically to achieve godliness or spirituality. Obedience to the teachings of scripture (Scott's personal thoughts), does keep me deciding for the better life by generally choosing the cleaner more honest way about things. However, being imperfect has me falling often and needing the support of God and my fellow program workers to keep me Godly rather than worldly focused!


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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Step 3 Confidence from seeing results in others...

"WE can confidently ask Him for help because He has proven Himself to be a deliverer of those who love Him who are under enemy attack." This was a comment presented in The Life Recovery Bible (NLT) on Step 3. We have seen so many success stories in our 12 step rooms and we can accept this as TRUTH! This person goes on to say "...who blesses us and gives our life meaning as we fulfill our vows to live for Him daily."


In my life, as much as I am constantly connecting to God, to that degree am I confident in His looking after the desires of my heart. Somehow it seems that the greater and more consistent my effort to walk, talk and follow God, the greater and more successful are the results of my prayers. Maybe staying closely tuned creates the sensible more realistic prayer. Either way I am far more satisfied with my Spiritual life and relationship to God when I am praying and listening consistently for the answers (using http://www.backtobasics.org/ two-way prayer with another believer has proven to be the best way for me).

In this Step 3, turning it over is tremendously powerful in that, in the past, we would have taken our sick feelings and allowed them to trigger dependencies or co-dependencies which would temporarily relieve us, as we gave control over to substance, habit or another human who we were trying to control. NOW we turn the feelings over to God Who has the power to lessen or remove them as He sees fit. This turning over of our life daily can be so UNBURDENING!! Share that burden with your God and be free of its power to control you!
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Step 3 WE made a decision...

SCOTT@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca

Step 3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.





I like to think of 12 steps as something I do without ever being alone. The decision in step 3, to turn everything over to God is huge and the fact that I can do it as part of "WE" makes a difference. It reminds me that so many have gone before me and I can believe the Spiritual answers will come if I d0 my part.





There is also something attractive and undurdening about turning things over to something greater than man who dissappoints us so often.





We can choose to set our heart in the direction of life by choosing to love God and begin to follow His program (our gift of the 12 steps)
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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Step 3-Decided to believe


Step 3: We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His well for us and the power to carry that out.




Well, we realized in step one that we had a problem and that it was not getting us anywhere to blame our problem on some relationship. In the second step we accepted that something greater than ourselves could help us and now we are DECIDING in the form of a prayer to turn everything over to this Power. What does that feel like? I would suggest that it feels uniquely different for each and everyone of us and that no matter how it feels, the important thing is to do it, as best we can and as soon as we can. The load has been killing us, so unloading, to any degree, in any manner, is positive!

"Teach us oh Lord to simply talk to You and tell You that we are turning it all over to You. Teach us to understand that our burdens are so much lighter when we share them with You."

This is the 3rd step prayer that AA members use daily: Third Step Prayer
"God, I offer myself to Thee — to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!"

Prayer has come to be the only thing in my life that consistently offers satisfactory outcome to any situation. If I am in the moment and in prayer it is OK and it is OK with my world! If I go it alone, I am never sure what could have been with God's help! Uncertainties I need no more!
Tw0 way prayer with a partner is the absolute best way for me to get immediate direction. Praying and writing with two people receiving and discussing results seems almost unshakable for those who will try it!
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