Persistent prayer is the message in today's Life Recovery Devotional. The scripture the author references is Luke 11: 5-10.

The step (11) talks of praying to improve a conscious contact with God, yet we're told the our prayers are to be for the knowledge of His will only and for the power to carry it out once we are certain of what it is! I believe God wants our best effort when that is only available with His help. Do we ask for it?

It seems to me that daily prayers asking for guidance should be the main focus along with gratitude for whatever that direction happens to be. Persistence in the "listening to God" department could be the major stumbling block for many of us. Recording, by writing our thoughts and prayer-time experiences proves to be be invaluable for several reasons. Here are but a few:

-so we don't forget what we heard in our time with God

-so we can discuss the guidance and separate the God-thoughts from our own

-so we can discuss the guidance with sharing partners

-so we can critique our activities to see if we are following God's instructions during the day

As we practice two way prayer (1-asking and 2-listening and recording) to resolve issues when in a group setting of two or more persons, we are finding the recording of thoughts and experiences (in writing by all present) to be a place where God demonstrates His power of using one person's prayer for someone's issue as a way to speak to many about a myriad of different things. When each shares her/his thoughts and experiences around the table, it feels to me like we are all being intimate with God simultaneously and our faith is growing stronger!

As we share our burdens and as new people join us to find help for the burdens of others (friends or family members, hurt or ill), we see the direction of our focus shifting more toward prayer and we see the tremendous power in GROUP participation prayer. This is where everyone listens quietly and records all thoughts/experiences as one person prays out loud specifically for the issue of one other. When we all share our recorded notes we experience God's power to speak to so many at once about so many different things!

Our step meetings are moving us to experience God's nature in a far grander more intimate way than before. This eleventh step month is teaching me so much about humility and how important it is for me to reach ever higher to attain to it. My only other thought today is our slogan "KEEP COMING BACK" because greater things have yet to come!

I have attached a flyer for a morning event this Saturday, where a few of us will be sharing on our journey of 12 step journeys. This OPEN concept means that all are welcome, just like our own meetings. This will be a great place to learn about recovery from several perspectives (the addict. the codependent, the God seeker)!

Hope some will join Julia and me!

Old Bud shared a few of my burdens in the old days!

POWERLESS or powerlessness?
As we put our new "glimpse the entire Sharing The Burden program" with 4 sessions to take all steps, our focus on this "NOT IN CONTROL" of much, sets the course for the entire program!

We ask questions like:
-Do I accept that I cannot control another person?
-Is my life really manageable?
-Do I trust my feelings and make decisions based on them? What's my success rate?
-When completely alone without activity (no reading TV exercise etc.) am I comfortable?
-What triggers my emotions?
-What shames me?
-Do I seek approval?
-Do I focus on others' behaviours
-Do I offer solutions when no one has asked for them?

This searching brings many to the place where they know to varying degrees , they are not in control!
Have you tried prayer when feeling powerless or hurt?
From where, do you think you get whatever power you have?

Try taking the questions into nature and ponder them!

I am writing-Sharing The Burden's steps to emotional sobriety in four one hour sessions POWERLESS, IDENTIFICATION, PRAYER, SHARING. A complete view of a proven support program for the hurting with exponential possibilities!

It is my hope that this effort will demonstrate the huge possibility for healing from any emotional pain by starting with this compressed view of our program and quickly taking the steps that have saved thousands physically, morally and spiritually since the 1930's. Our slogan "Keep Coming Back" sets the tone for a meaningful life with new purpose built-in!

The original process designed for alcoholism was able to achieve a documented success rate of 75% for a disease which was deemed incurable and hopeless up to that point. 

Our program follows these pioneers and proves that the original way of supporting the hurting, regardless the illness, is the way to achieve  the highest rate of success. In other words, the fundamentals were sound and can be used successfully today by anyone who will commit to a simple way of practical living combined with balanced spiritual relating.

Come to our existing meetings any time. You will always be welcome and never out of place! Check our website for meeting times and come back to the blog for updates on our progress with the 4 week intro-program mentioned above!

Founder and son Sean working it together!

The lesson and God's Will...

The following shared on Google + yesterday:

Reading where my bible opened this AM, Daniel 4 (Daniel interpreting the king's dream) cautions me again, to make sure I know Who is in control. Am I feeling a little too up or accomplished regarding my position or possessions. Is a little pride sneaking in or (I hope), I am simply joyful for the gifts of a glorious morning and a calm spirit. I love the story referenced here in Daniel though, because in it, God teaches the king in the only understandable way, the lesson that allows him to be restored to fullness and more once the lesson has been learned! So suffering for the believer is not in vain (my take on the scripture)

The following weekly reminder goes to our distribution list. If you are interested in being on the list just let me know by commenting. Also you can check on main page of our website for meeting times and places should you wish to join us. All are welcome!

Seeking God's will for a life is difficult in a world that challenges us to be busy non-stop. I feel that maybe this BUSY-ISM is a powerful disguise for evil. As long as I am busy or focused on my "to do" "did" or "will do" lists, I will not bring myself to that quiet place where I can experience the reality of the MOMENT and my unique sense of God's involvement in my life. How can I possibly experience or establish a conscious contact with a God I have no time for??

1

Well friends we are into the "Experiencing God" theme for November in keeping with our step 11, where we seek a conscious contact with God by praying and listening.

In both meetings this week members went over the piece entitled "How To Listen To God". This can be found at the bottom of the opening page on our website should you wish to read or print it out. We agreed that, in upcoming meetings this month, we would experiment as groups with the concept of praying (for a specific answer to an issue) and recording separately, in writing, all of our thoughts images and experiences that take place during the prayer process. We also have requests from some of you to do this privately at times to be arranged, outside the meetings.

For those of you who participate, expect to be amazed! I have never been involved in this, without someone in the group finding an answer to some mystery of one type or another! 

Our fundraising campaign is not meant to put pressure on you in any way! We are simply looking to expand and we need help! You folks especially know whether our support system is of value or not and if you can help, we will issue tax receipts for income tax purposes! Feel free to give my name and contact information to anyone who wants information about Sharing The Burden, its goals and dreams!

See you Tuesday at TOB in Markham or Wednesday at Wexford in Scarborough!

Scott Duncan

Sharing The Burden

Together WE can do it!

www.sharingtheburden.ca

Increasing the Spiritual experience!

Sharing our experiences of God, whatever that means to our readers, is the focus of the 11th month this year at STB. We will record in writing (small groups working together) to demonstrate the effectiveness of the written word in our prayer lives. All I can say from experience and having prayed this way many times with many different people, is that, the process truly demonstrates a valid way to listen to God.

Read the following "How To Listen to God" and let me know your thoughts as you experiment on your own with the philosophy!

https://docs.google.com/viewer?pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzaGFyaW5ndGhlYnVyZGVufGd4OjUzZjM1NTFlMTkwOTczZQ&docid=3b1aff2456ce2ff90951751c8178b31d%7C3adcaeaa8ddf9058c3bcb33902c2ce31&a=bi&pagenumber=1&w=800