Return To Joy From Negative Emotions

Perfect Example of how we learn to return to Joy from a negative emotion.  This is how our brains become wired to return to joy, through relationship!

Thanks to The Coursey Family at Thrive.

Encountering God Through Our Imaginations

For the first and greatest commandment of the new covenant Jesus said “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your DIANOIA“  Please click below to find out the context Jesus was using when he said ‘mind’…

Imagination

Imaginative Prayer and Meditation

 

Encountering God Through Our Imaginations….this is an excerpt from the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12×12) of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Much more to follow on this idea!!!

God With Us

How we grow into our true identity in God is a process.  A process every believer goes through when partnering with Jesus.  He is the God of relationship.  He is the God of hope.  He wants nothing but the best for us and a partnership that is rooted and grounded in the agape love of The Father. 

Who am I?  What is my purpose?  Why is this happening to me right now?  These are just a few questions we ask ourselves as believers and followers of Christ in the journey of our lives here on earth.  Sometimes I feel lost, sometimes I feel like I’m stuck, and other times I feel overwhelmed in the moment.  These are moments that If I linger too long in the negative emotion of anger, sadness, disgust, hopeless despair, fear, or shame I will ultimately attach to something to make me feel better.  The quicker I see God in the moment with me, the sooner I will attach to Him instead of something other than Him.

Softening Of The Heart

Over time our hearts become hardened to people, ideas, concepts, and things like religion or politics.  For someone who makes it a point to be authentic and genuine there is nothing worse than hypocrisy.  After some time on earth we learn a few things that becomes wisdom.  Knowledge turned into wisdom through experience.  Then we know that we know how to proceed in certain areas with a wise perspective on almost certain outcomes.

For instance, we each at one time or another have car trouble.  But we know, based on what we are told and experience, that mechanics try to “rip you off” or make something out of nothing.  Whether they try to sell us an air filter when we go in for an oil change or they tell us the entire brake system needs repair when all we needed were new pads or a $10 pin in the brake calipers.  So we begin to ask around some friends about who they use for a mechanic.  Is he reliable? Can I believe him? Will he do a good job?  These are some of the typical questions we ask.  As soon as our research is done we go in for a diagnostic check, get a quote, and decide to buy the services or not.  Depending on how it goes we begin to establish a level of trust in our new mechanic.  And the only reason we took it to him was because we believed what our friend said about him.  How often, as time goes by, do we still look for something or ask ourselves ‘what a blessing that was for me’ or ‘i’m so happy that worked out’ or ’well let’s hope or see if he’s like that next time…?’ 

Quite often this is exactly how we proceed with God, especially in the really tough areas of our life that we know need fixing but as time goes by we begin to just say ‘that’s the way I am’ or ’thats the hand I was dealt’ or ‘that’s exactly how my parents were too’ or ‘I’m going to counseling about it’.  Just in these areas of our heart as Christians our hearts are hardened to God and either don’t believe He can fix it, or he’s going to charge us too much to fix it, or if we bring it to Him he’s going to ‘rip us off’ and not fix it at all.  So we struggle with these things daily, weekly, monthly, usually until New Year’s where we make the resolution, or until we get tired of that counselor and look for a new one.

The softening of the heart process takes relationship, work, and it takes time.  Just like any relationship there is going to be some vulnerability and transparency in order to grow.  When we are authentic and genuine with God then we begin to open up our hearts to Him and allow Him to come in and do what He wants.  As we begin to trust we begin to go to Him more and more for all kinds of different things.  Eventually our knowledge turns into wisdom and our belief becomes faith through our own personal experience.

Fellowship and Program of AA

Lack of power, that was our dilemma when we first came into Alcoholics Anonymous.  We don’t initially know that of course.  Will power, moral character, better judgement thats what we need!!  As soon as we get some of that we’ll be ok, we will be good to go!  Thank The Lord for the Fellowship to get us on track to understand some new truths about ourselves.  

Members of the fellowship are present to give us their experience, or wisdom on what was really going on with them thinking back to their days as a newcomer. People who have gone on before us in something can be called forerunners.  People who blazed the brand new trail can be called trailblazers, or Pioneers.  The forerunners do their best to keep the same path clear that the pioneers worked so hard to carve out for the newcomers.  This is why the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous had to be written.  So the message would stay in tact.  And for the most part….it has!  With a few exceptions, inside the book, the message has not changed, but inside the fellowship we certainly hear some unique and different messages about so many different subjects. 

There is power in both of these.  The fellowship, or meetings, give the newcomer evidence or proof, that the program works.  Meetings give him/her the tools they need to change.  Meetings give him/her support, or sustainability, to stay sober.  Meetings sustain us.  But that is not the trail the pioneers carved out for us to change us.  Getting to a meeting is where the transformation only begins.  If we do not continue to walk down the trail we short change ourselves of so much more Power available to us, if only we would go. 

How often do we hear people with 3, 5, 10, 20 years sober still thinking about a drink or desiring a drink?  In an article A Prescription For Sobriety, posted on this site, the good Doctor William Duncan Silkworth addresses this very issue.  He states:

“First,” he explains, “let’s remember the cause. The A.A. who ‘slips’ has not accepted the A.A. program in its entirety. He has a reservation, or reservations. He’s tried to make a compromise. Frequently, of course, he will say he doesn’t know why he reverted to a drink. He means that sincerely and, as a matter of fact, he may not be aware of any reason. But if his thoughts can be probed deeply enough a reason can usually be found in the form of a reservation.”

Dr. Silkworth is talking about reservations about the program, the steps/principles.  Which ultimately means reservations about God.  Which is understandable.  This applies even to Christians who are in recovery.  Here we will examine the reasons why so many Christians ‘slip up’ in recovery, and ways to address this very issue in the Church today!!  Be Blessed!!

Self Examination

When we as Christians walk out a lifestyle of communion and community we are responsible for a lot that goes on.  We are responsible for our actions and our reactions.  We are responsible for how we conduct ourselves and our character plays a very important part in our relationship with God and others.

So often we brush aside the little things and sweep other things under the rug because Jesus died for us on The Cross and we don’t necessarily understand what God was trying to show us right then and there.  Teaching moments presented to us by The Holy Spirit are so precious if only we could take the time to dial down and seek out His Truths in the moments of our day.  If ever we become angry, fearful, shamed, disgusted, sad, or hopelessly despaired we no longer want to feel that way.  Our immediate desire tends to be to run and hide or cover it up with something like work, a person, a substance etc.  But if we just take a moment and understand this may be a teaching moment from God we could take a look at the situation with a different pair of eyes. 

Self-examination or Inventory when done effectively in these moments helps lead us out of these emotions very quickly and connect with God, particularly early on in our walk with God.  Armed with wisdom and revelation about ourselves we can then begin to know Him better and pray with pinpoint accuracy where we need Him the most in our own heart.  Wooden Planks Ministry 101 we like to call it!

Examining our actions and reactions in any particular situation is a good thing.  Where was I wrong here??  What did I expect to happen here?? How was I expecting him or her to treat me here?? What do I believe to be true, or what lies do I believe that set me up to feel such fear here??  If we can be as honest as possible with ourselves, our elders, and with God, and truly confess then we can begin to experience the presence of God come in and shine the light on some things we need to learn here.  But if we continue to blame the other person(s) and eliminate them from our life God will bring it before us again.  Only this time things may seem a little more intense than the last time, just so the lesson can be a little more clearer and simpler than last time!