Walk in Dry Places - April 28 2026

Expect Miracle-working Coincidences
Spiritual direction

Somebody said that a wonderful coincidence is when God acts but does not

choose to leave a signature. Wonderful coincidences are appearing every moment of the day. People who live the spiritual life are especially positioned to recognize and understand coincidences.
The founding of AA abounds with coincidences that boggle the mind. Almost by chance, the Oxford Group ideas found their way to Bill Wilson. A business trip took him to Akron where, coincidentally. An earnest group of Oxford Group people were trying to help Dr. Bob Smith to sobriety. With his business venture in collapse, Bill made the telephone call that put him in touch with Dr. Bob, eventually resulting in the launch of AA.

Such miraculous coincidences work for the fellowship, and they’re also at work in our individual lives. If we look closely, we’ll discover that many such coincidences helped bring about our recovery or some other blessing.

God is the guiding power behind these coincidences. What appears to be chance is really a marvelous intelligence coordinating random events for the good of all.


I’ll have confidence today that God is always bringing positive results out of a number of random events.

Father Leo’s - April 23 2026

MAN
“Man is what he believes. ”

–Anton Chekhov

My miracle is that I now believe in me. Today I accept my disease of
addiction and I do not resist or deny it. I believe that I am an alcoholic. I
believe that I am an overeater. I am a co-dependent. I believe that I am
an adult child of an alcoholic. And this belief enables me to be free.

For too long I played the game of control; blaming and bargaining – and
I lost. Now I choose to surrender to the reality of who I am. I accept my
disease on a daily basis and I make choices with the awareness of my
disease. And it is getting better.

My belief about my addiction has also given me an insight into God and
His gift of freedom. He loves me enough to give me choice and with this
gift comes responsibility. I believe that I am responsible for how I live
with my addictions. Today I accept that responsibility.

What I believe reflects the God I believe in; I believe in Freedom.

AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX #essentialsofrecovery

A BASIC MIRACLE

Let us suppose, for the sake of example, that on a certain Monday, your affairs are in such a condition that, humanly speaking, certain consequences are sure to follow before the end of the week. These may be legal consequences, perhaps of a very unpleasant nature following upon some decision of the courts; or a physician may decide that a perilous operation will be necessary. Now, if someone can raise the consciousness of the harassed individual above the limitations of the physical plane then the conditions on the plane will change, and, in some unforeseen and normally impossible manner, the legal tragedy will melt away, and to the advantage, be it noted, of all parties to the case; or the patient will be healed instead of having to undergo the operation.

In other words, miracles, in the popular sense of the word, can and do happen as the result of a change of consciousness, and a change of consciousness is usually accomplished through prayer. Thus prayer does change things.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).

© 1931 by Emmet Fox 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrec #Fear #Recovery #Miracle

ONE A.A. MIRACLE

Save for a few brief moments of temptation the thought of drink has never returned; and at such times a great revulsion has risen up in him. Seemingly he could not drink even if he would. God had restored his sanity.

— ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 57


The word "God" was frightening to me when I first saw it associated with A.A.'s Twelve Steps. Having tried all the means I could to stop drinking, I found that it was not possible for me to sustain that desire over a period of time. Yet, how could I believe in a "God" that had allowed me to sink to the deep despair that engulfed me — whether drinking or dry?

The answer was in finally admitting that it might be possible for me to know the mercy of a Power greater than myself who could grant me sobriety contingent on my willingness to "come to believe." By finally admitting that I was one among many, and by following the example of my sponsor and other A.A. members in practicing faith I did not have, my life has been given meaning, direction and purpose.
From the book Daily Reflections


Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

Keep It Simple #essentialsofrec #Recovery #People #Hurt

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself.----Montaigne
We know we’ve hurt people. We’ve heard our family cry out from pain we’ve caused them. Because of alcohol and other drugs, we acted like monsters.
But we now live surrounded with love. We now work to make this world better. Recovery is a miracle. The rebirth of our spirit is our miracle.
It’s no wonder we love life the way we do! We’ve been given a second chance. Our joy is overflowing. Our Higher Power must love us very much.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me with the monster that lives within me. I pray it will never again be let out.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll see myself as a miracle. I’ll be grateful for my new life.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

Today’s Gift #essentialsofrecovery

Don’t quit five minutes before the miracle happens.

— Anonymous

When we came into the Program, most of us had very little to show for our lives. We believed in nothing. We had experienced great disappointments. The greedy creditor that was our addiction had stripped away everything of meaning to us. We were left with nothing but pain and misery.

Now we hear incredible stories of recovery. People tell how, by following certain simple instructions and honestly working a Program, they were freed from the grasp of their addiction.

Every once in awhile we hear a story that sounds remarkably like our own. We are told that through work and the help of a Higher Power, we too can receive a miracle.

The most important miracle I can expect and count on each day is the freedom from my addiction. I can trust that if I stay close to the Program, the miracle will be repeated, one day at a time.

From the book:

Easy Does It by Anonymous

                                               Easy Does It © 1999 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

“YOU BET I AM A MIRACLE”


The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 25

This truly is a fact in my life today, and a real miracle. I always believed in God, but could never put that belief meaningfully into my life. Today, because of Alcoholics Anonymous, I now trust and rely on God, as I understand Him; I am sober today because of that! Learning to trust and rely on God was something I could never have done alone. I now believe in miracles because I am one!

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

Keep It Simple #essentialsofrecovery

The future is made of the same stuff as the present.

— Simone Weil

We found we didn’t need magic to recover—we needed a miracle! Now we are walking miracles.

Part of our miracle is that we see how important today is. We can’t change our future unless we change today. So we live One Day at a Time. By living today well, we make our future better. There is comfort in knowing that the program will be there. Hope we’ll be there.

Old-timers say sobriety is easy if we go by one simple rule: don’t drink and go to meeting.

Life can get simpler; they don’t change much. Staying sober will be easier for us over time.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me keep my sobriety simple. Help me accept the rules of life.

Action for the Day: I will list three things that will be there for me tomorrow and the next day, because I’m working on them today.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrecovery

Experimenters, p. 189

We agnostics liked A.A. all right, and were quick to say that it had done miracles. But we recoiled from meditation and prayer as obstinately as the scientist who refused to perform a certain experiment lest it prove his pet theory wrong.

When we finally did experiment, and unexpected results followed, we felt different; in fact, we knew different; and so we were sold on meditation and prayer. And that, we found, can happen to anybody who tries. It has been well said that “Almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried enough.”

12 & 12, p. 97 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

One Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

MIRACLES


Quote: “Miracles are instantaneous, they cannot be summoned but come of themselves, usually at unlikely moments and to those who least expect them.”

–Katherine Ann Porter

I never believed that we live in an age of miracles. As far as I was concerned, those happened only in the days of the Bible — with burning bushes and the red sea opening up. When I first came into the program and heard people talking about miracles, I was skeptical. As I became more open to the possibility, things began to happen which I can only consider to be miracles. They may not have seemed large to my old closed mind, but being able to give up certain trigger foods — or having a fellow member in the program call me when I most needed a call — have become miracles in my life today.

Being able to maintain my weight, rather than losing and gaining weight every few months, is a miracle. Most importantly, my transformed relationships with my children and other loved ones are miracles.

One day at a time…
I will open my mind to the possibility of miracles occurring in my life…and they will come.

~ Sharon 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

EASY DOES IT #essentialsofrecovery

MIRACLES

The age of miracles is forever here.

~ Thomas Carlyle ~

Regardless of whatever addiction it was that sent us for help to the Program, we all refer to the big and small miracles of recovery that we experience. The chains of our addiction were so strong that we considered ourselves helpless and hopeless. We know that only a miracle saved our lives. There seemed no way out for us until we began to share experiences, strengths, and hopes with others who were in recovery, who were once as sick and desperate as we were.

To live without our substance seemed impossible. Small wonder that we began to believe in personal miracles when we found abstinence. One of the miracles was being able to care and share with others. Another miracle made service easy and natural.

Every moment I don’t use is a miracle. That I believe in a Higher Power is a miracle. That I have forgiven myself and love others is a miracle. The age of miracles begins with recovery.

©1990 by Anonymous, Published by Hazelden 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

THE EYE OPENER #essentialsofrecovery

One day you were a weak, hopeless sot; then came a day when you were clear eyed and sober. You are certainly aware that you could not, of yourself, accomplish this miracle—for it was truly a miracle.
This did not happen because you were selected by wild chance. You were chosen because you possessed the qualities that made you suitable for the work the Higher Power needed done. To say that you lack the ability to “carry the message” is to question the wisdom of God.

There is work here that you were born to do.

Published by Hazelden 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

“I AM A MIRACLE”


The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 25

This truly is a fact in my life today, and a real miracle. I always believed in God, but could never put that belief meaningfully into my life. Today, because of Alcoholics Anonymous, I now trust and rely on God, as I understand Him; I am sober today because of that! Learning to trust and rely on God was something I could never have done alone. I now believe in miracles because I am one!

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

The more I wonder… the more I love.

~ Alice Walker 
How often do we contemplate the miracles that surround us every moment of the day? Do we often stop to appreciate the evidence of these miracles? We have survived many harrowing experiences. But do we understand that our survival is one of God’s miracles?
God’s love for us is and has always been unconditional. No matter how bad we thought we were when we were drinking or using, God loved us. Realizing that God loves each of us equally gives us pause to wonder. Acknowledging this miracle enhances our willingness to love too.

Wonderment strengthens our humility. And from that grows love. We may have come into this recovery program believing it’s impossible to love ourselves and others, but the more we cultivate our appreciation for God’s intervention on behalf of us all, the easier our task.

Pausing to reflect on my good fortune today will make loving easier.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

Keep It Simple #essentialsofrecovery

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself.
—-Montaigne

We know we’ve hurt people. We’ve heard our family cry out from pain we’ve caused them. Because of alcohol and other drugs, we acted like monsters.

But we now live surrounded with love. We now work to make this world better. Recovery is a miracle. The rebirth of our spirit is our miracle.

It’s no wonder we love life the way we do! We’ve been given a second chance. Our joy is overflowing. Our Higher Power must love us very much.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me with the monster that lives within me. I pray it will never again be let out.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll see myself as a miracle. I’ll be grateful for my new life. 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

Keep It Simple #essentialsofrec

The future is made of the same stuff as the present.

— Simone Weil

We found we didn’t need magic to recover—we needed a miracle! Now we are walking miracles.

Part of our miracle is that we see how important today is. We can’t change our future unless we change today. So we live One Day at a Time. By living today well, we make our future better. There is comfort in knowing that the program will be there. Hope we’ll be there.

Old-timers say sobriety is easy if we go by one simple rule: don’t drink and go to meeting.

Life can get simpler; they don’t change much. Staying sober will be easier for us over time.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me keep my sobriety simple. Help me accept the rules of life.

Action for the Day: I will list three things that will be there for me tomorrow and the next day, because I’m working on them today. 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

Just For Today #essentialsofrec #NA #Program

A Full Life

“The program works a miracle in our lives….We become free to live.” 

Basic Text, p. 11

Most of us-if we’ve been in recovery for any length of time at all-have heard some member complaining in a meeting about being terribly overworked, too busy for meetings or sponsorship or other activities. In fact, we may have been the complaining member. The days seem so full: job, family and friends, meetings, activities, sponsorship, step work. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day;” the member complains, “to get everything done and meet everyone’s demands on my time!”

When this happens, usually there’s soft laughter from some of the other members-probably members who had planned to grumble about the same sort of thing. The laughter stems from our recognition that we are complaining about the miracle of the life that is ours today. Not so long ago, few of us were capable of having any of these “problems” in our life. We devoted all of our energy to maintaining our active addiction. Today we have full lives, complete with all the feelings and problems that go with living in reality.

Just for today: I will remember that my life is a miracle. Instead of resenting how busy I am, I will be thankful my life is so full.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

FR.LEO'S DAILY MEDITATION

MIRACLES

“I haven’t understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it.”

~ Igor Stravinsky 

A miracle is not meant to be understood but experienced. So much in life I will never understand. There is growth in confusion. I am not perfect. I will never be perfect. The mystery of life is exactly that it is a mystery.

As an alcoholic, I often sought to appear “as God.” I had to have an answer for everything, even if I made up the answer! Not to know was humiliating for me because it took away control, my need to be in charge, my hopeless and exhausting quest for perfection. With failure to be perfect came the guilt, shame, and anger. Today I am able to live with life’s daily confusions—and it’s okay!

Great Spirit, help me never to lose touch with the feelings that keep me human.

© 2008 Leo Booth

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Strength #God

Reflection for the Day

Today is the day for which I asked and for which I have been given strength. That in itself is a miracle. In my old life, I constantly endangered myself as well as countless others. So the very fact that I am alive is the great miracle from which all other miracles will flow, providing I continue to do the things that have brought me this far in my new life. Am I grateful that I have been given this day?

Today I Pray

May God’s goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life. May I never cease to wonder at the greatest miracle in my life—that I am alive, here, on this green earth, and growing healthier with the life-preserving tools I have been given. Since God has chosen to give me life and to preserve my life, even through the dangers of addiction, may I always continue to listen for His plan for me. May I always believe in miracles.

Today I Will Remember

My life is a miracle.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

THE EYE OPENER #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Miracle

One day you were a weak, hopeless sot; then came a day when you were clear eyed and sober. You are certainly aware that you could not, of yourself, accomplish this miracle—for it was truly a miracle.

This did not happen because you were selected by wild chance. You were chosen because you possessed the qualities that made you suitable for the work the Higher Power needed done. To say that you lack the ability to “carry the message” is to question the wisdom of God.

There is work here that you were born to do.

Published by Hazelden

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec