Two new beings are brought forth during child-birth: a newborn and a mother.
~ Anne Marie Nelson ~
Whether or not we have given birth to a child, we can certainly appreciate the miracle. The opportunity that we now have to give birth to a new self through recovery is comparable.
It is empowering to realize that we can create, or rather re-create, ourselves through the help of this detailed, yet simple program. Who could have imagined that we, while in the midst of a chaotic, drug-infested world, were capable of taking on a new persona, becoming a new woman?
But here we are, charting a new course for our lives. Just as women need and deserve assistance in childbirth, we can rely on the help and guidance of other women who, like us, seek to sustain their rebirth. Together we will bring new women into this world, women who are eager to make a healthy difference in the lives of others.
I have the tools to create whoever I want to be. I am an artist at work.
© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation
The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that! ~ Pg. 153 – A Vision For You
EXPECT MIRACLES
Belief
Some have claimed that there have been no miracles since the fourteenth century. This is a smug way of saying that miracles do not happen.
Emmet Fox conceded that miracles don’t happen in the sense of violating the perfect, universal system of law and order. But there is such a thing as appealing to a higher law, and this too is part of the constitution of the universe. Prayer is a means of doing this, and enough prayer will get you out of any difficulty, Fox insisted.
People who have found sobriety in AA are actu-ally modern miracles. They expect more miracles to continue happening; otherwise, there would be no point in continuing to work with newcomers. And while we’re expecting miracles, let’s remember that countless other human problems will yield to a spiritual approach. Life itself is miraculous when we study it; why shouldn’t there be more miracles ahead?
I’ll keep an open mind on the subject of miracles. Since we still can glimpse only a fragment of the universe, it should follow that there’s also much more to learn about the spiritual processes that rescued us from alcoholism.
© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
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MIRACLES
Jesus taught through miracles.
If the miracles did not happen, the rest of the Gospel story loses all real significance. If Jesus did not believe them to be possible, and undertake to perform them, then the Gospel message is chaotic, contradictory, and devoid of significance.
But the deeds related to Jesus in the Four Gospels did happen, and many others too, “the which, if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” Jesus himself justified what people thought to be a strange teaching by the works he was able to do; and he went further and said,
… the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works… (John 14:12).
Now what, after all, is a miracle? Those who deny the possibility of miracles on the ground that the universe is a perfect system of law and order, to the operation of which there can be no exception, are perfectly right. But the explanation is that the world of which we are normally aware, and with whose laws alone most people are acquainted, is only a fragment of the whole universe as it really is; and that there is such a thing as appealing from a lower to a higher law—from a lesser to a greater expression. In the sense of a real breach of law, miracles are impossible. Yet, in the sense all ordinary rules and limitation of the physical plane can be set aside or overridden by an understanding that has risen about them, miracles can and do happen.
© 1931 by Emmet Fox
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SELF WORTHYour worth is not established by teaching or learning.
Your worth is established by God.
Nothing you do or think or wish or make
is necessary to establish your worth.~ Helen Schucman, scribe of “A Course in Miracles” I have spent the last 30 years of my life wanting more, thinking that in proving myself I would be worthy of the love and affection I deserved and this would determine my value. I was always seeking the best path to take to show everyone what I could do and that I was worthy of more of their love and praises.Turning my life and my will over to God has allowed me to see that, no matter what I may think, in God’s eyes I am worth plenty, and this has given me so much peace. I now know that what others say or think about me is not going to make me worthy or worthless. Allowing God to run the show and doing the next right thing is all I need to do. I don’t have to concern myself if I am of value to anyone; I am of value to God, and that is all that counts.One Day at a Time . . .I will continue to turn to God for my strength, knowing that I need not carry the burden of proof of what I’m worth.~ Maureen
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Absolute miracles happen when I can trust enough and be vulnerable enough to get honest feelings out of my mouth to another person.
~ Kathy Kendall Seldom do we know in detail what we or others need at any moment. All of us harbor desires and dreams, but they are frequently fanciful and motivated by our not-so-healthy egos.Nevertheless, we want to grow and that’s good. We want to feel more secure in our journey. We will have made real progress when we have learned to trust that what we need is contained in every experience, every conversation.We are miracle makers, each of us. Though much that happens between us seems unimportant, none of it is accidental. We can’t be sure what information is needed by our sister travelers. We can know only that God has brought us together. If we share with honesty and genuine compassion, we participate in God’s plan.I can trigger a miracle in someone else’s life today by being honest and compassionate in every shared experience.
© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation
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To each particular person the world speaks a different, particular word and calls for a different, particular response.
~ Mary McDermott Shideler ~It’s reassuring to hear that we are special. Most of us felt like failures for much of our lives. We lacked both confidence and enthusiasm. Occasionally we still tremble, fearing that we can’t handle what’s happening to us. However, we have been told that our experiences are unique and that no other woman could handle them in our specific way. We are coming to believe that this is true.So many miracles are happening in our midst. The fact that we survived numerous dangerous moments should indicate that our work isn’t yet complete. But what will we be called upon to do today? Can we fulfill this request adequately? Never fear. That we are here means we can. It also means that whatever is about to happen needs each of us, specifically. This is wonderfully reassuring.I am invited to experience particular situations today. My presence is needed if I am called.© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation
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EXPECT MIRACLES
BeliefSome have claimed that there have been no miracles since the fourteenth century. This is a smug way of saying that miracles do not happen.Emmet Fox conceded that miracles don’t happen in the sense of violating the perfect, universal system of law and order. But there is such a thing as appealing to a higher law, and this too is part of the constitution of the universe. Prayer is a means of doing this, and enough prayer will get you out of any difficulty, Fox insisted.People who have found sobriety in AA are actually modern miracles. They expect more miracles to continue happening; otherwise, there would be no point in continuing to work with newcomers. And while we’re expecting miracles, let’s remember that countless other human problems will yield to a spiritual approach. Life itself is miraculous when we study it; why shouldn't there be more miracles ahead?I’ll keep an open mind on the subject of miracles. Since we still can glimpse only a fragment of the universe, it should follow that there’s also much more to learn about the spiritual processes that rescued us from alcoholism.
© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
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MIRACLES
Jesus taught through miracles.If the miracles did not happen, the rest of the Gospel story loses all real significance. If Jesus did not believe them to be possible, and undertake to perform them, then the Gospel message is chaotic, contradictory, and devoid of significance.But the deeds related to Jesus in the Four Gospels did happen, and many others too, “the which, if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” Jesus himself justified what people thought to be a strange teaching by the works he was able to do; and he went further and said,… the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works… (John 14:12).Now what, after all, is a miracle? Those who deny the possibility of miracles on the ground that the universe is a perfect system of law and order, to the operation of which there can be no exception, are perfectly right. But the explanation is that the world of which we are normally aware, and with whose laws alone most people are acquainted, is only a fragment of the whole universe as it really is; and that there is such a thing as appealing from a lower to a higher law—from a lesser to a greater expression. In the sense of a real breach of law, miracles are impossible. Yet, in the sense all ordinary rules and limitation of the physical plane can be set aside or overridden by an understanding that has risen about them, miracles can and do happen.
© 1931 by Emmet Fox
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TURN WITHINDon’t wait about for God to act dramatically—because He probably won’t. When people expect a dramatic miracle from the outside, they are really hoping to change conditions without changing themselves; to get something for nothing, in fact, and that would be a violation of cosmic law.Don’t wait for God to tell you what to do from the outside—He won’tAnd the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:5).© 1931 by Emmet Fox
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Reflection for the DayToday I will take the time to list the positive aspects of my new life and the blessings that accompany the miracles of my recovery. I will be grateful for the seemingly simple ability to eat normally, to fall asleep with a feeling of contentment, to awaken with a gladness to be alive. I will be grateful for the ability to face life on life’s terms—with peace of mind, self-respect, and full possession of all my faculties. On a daily basis, do I count my blessings? Do I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand Him?
Today I Pray
On this day of love-giving, may I count all the good things in my life and give thanks for them. May I take no blessing for granted, including the beating of my own heart and the fresh feel of new air as I breathe.
Today I Will RememberTo count—and consider—my blessings.© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
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Reflection for the DayToday I will take the time to list the positive aspects of my new life and the blessings that accompany the miracles of my recovery. I will be grateful for the seemingly simple ability to eat normally, to fall asleep with a feeling of contentment, to awaken with a gladness to be alive. I will be grateful for the ability to face life on life’s terms—with peace of mind, self-respect, and full possession of all my faculties. On a daily basis, do I count my blessings? Do I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand Him?Today I Pray
On this day of love-giving, may I count all the good things in my life and give thanks for them. May I take no blessing for granted, including the beating of my own heart and the fresh feel of new air as I breathe.
Today I Will RememberTo count—and consider—my blessings.© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
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Absolute miracles happen when I can trust enough and be vulnerable enough to get honest feelings out of my mouth to another person.
~ Kathy Kendall
Seldom do we know in detail what we or others need at any moment. All of us harbor desires and dreams, but they are frequently fanciful and motivated by our not-so-healthy egos.
Nevertheless, we want to grow and that’s good. We want to feel more secure in our journey. We will have made real progress when we have learned to trust that what we need is contained in every experience, every conversation.
We are miracle makers, each of us. Though much that happens between us seems unimportant, none of it is accidental. We can’t be sure what information is needed by our sister travelers. We can know only that God has brought us together. If we share with honesty and genuine compassion, we participate in God’s plan.
I can trigger a miracle in someone else’s life today by being honest and compassionate in every shared experience.
© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation
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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.
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SEIZE THE DAY
Possibilities and miracles are one and the same.
~ Anonymous ~
Many of us have seen happiness as a goal we couldn’t find. When we were children, we were taught that “life is a hard row to hoe.” We carried that over into our adult lives.
Seize the day! We let too many of our days just slide by. None of those hours can be replaced. Why worry over past failures if there is a victory to win? Why keep thinking about our faults when we could be practicing virtues instead?
Seize the day! Hold each moment tight and look at each one with wide-open eyes and mind. They are our lives, special to each of us. The moments pass swiftly into memory. Let those memories be good ones, filled with joys large and small.
Yesterday’s unhappiness can’t be changed, but today’s happiness is my own responsibility.
©1990 by Anonymous. All rights reserved. Published by Hazelden.
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Miraculous Power, p. 152
Deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that Power in human lives are facts as old as man himself.
<< << << >> >> >>
“Faith may often be given through inspired teaching or a convincing personal example of its fruits. It may sometimes be had through reason. For instance, many clergymen believe that St. Thomas Aquinas actually proved God’s existence by sheer logic. But what can one do when all these channels fail? This was my own grievous dilemma.
“It was only when I came fully to believe I was powerless over alcohol, only when I appealed to God who just might exist, that I experienced a spiritual awakening. This freedom-giving experience came first, and then faith followed afterward–a gift indeed!”
1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 55
2. Letter, 1966
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Miraculous Power, p. 152
Deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that Power in human lives are facts as old as man himself.
“Faith may often be given through inspired teaching or a convincing personal example of its fruits. It may sometimes be had through reason. For instance, many clergymen believe that St. Thomas Aquinas actually proved God’s existence by sheer logic. But what can one do when all these channels fail? This was my own grievous dilemma.
“It was only when I came fully to believe I was powerless over alcohol, only when I appealed to God who just might exist, that I experienced a spiritual awakening. This freedom-giving experience came first, and then faith followed afterward–a gift indeed!”
1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 55
2. Letter, 1966
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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
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Each of my days are miracles. I won’t waste my day; I won’t throw away a miracle.
~ Kelley Vickstrom ~
It’s so easy to forget to be grateful for our many blessings. We may take our freedom from the compulsion to drink or use for granted. Having learned to monitor our behavior and change it when necessary, we seldom treasure this skill as an asset.
The rut of complacency claims all of us at one time or another. And our complacency can lead us to the stinking thinking that’s only a step away from drinking or using or some other compulsive behavior. Having sponsors point out our complacency may irritate us, but it may also save our lives.
Practicing gratitude will keep us aware of the small and large miracles that we have experienced on this recovery journey: We remember where we were last night (thanks to the clear vision of abstinence). We have reconciled with family members.
In fact, we are walking miracles, and God has a plan for the rest of our lives. Let’s be ready for it.
I will try to be attentive to every moment of today, knowing that each experience is part of the miracle of my life.
© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation
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MIRACLES
The age of miracles is forever here.
~ Thomas Carlyle ~
So many wonderful, unexpected things happen to us in recovery. We are convinced early in the Program that miracles can happen to all who work toward spiritual progress. The fact that we found our way to the Program is itself a miracle. That we have learned how to stay abstinent is another. That we are living a new and better life is still another.
With the help of our friends, our Program, and our Higher Power, we experience miracles of discovery and growth all the time. As long as we face each day with honesty and gratitude, those miracles will continue to be ours.
It is said that the greatest miracle would be to return from the dead. Before recovery began, we were among the living dead. Today we are all miracles.
Today and every day, I will remember to thank my Higher Power for the miracles I’ve found in recovery.
©1990 by Anonymous, Published by Hazelden
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