Meditations on "Encouragement"

To avoid confrontations that we are partly responsible for, fight or flight may seem like the only options. There is a better response.

We serve others as an expression of our love and gratitude to God. When our hearts are uplifted by God’s goodness, we seek to bless others as we have been blessed. The focus of our service is simply our loving response to God’s work in our lives.

A noteworthy part of living with God in recovery is the restoring of our understanding of our true value which has been firmly established by the God who created us.

We are instructed to work hard, to give our work the best effort we can, and to be contented with what we have.

In sobriety, we begin to be aware of how much spiritual poison we have allowed to build up in our hearts and minds. The most toxic spiritual poison we have fed ourselves is the belief that we know how to live life on our own without God.

Demonstrating to others that we care about them is encouragement to them whether the problem is resolved or not. If God had not come alongside us when we were struggling and encouraged us to try again, where would we be today?

Thinking right will have a major impact on our emotions and on our general well-being.

When we feel anxious, we need to stay close to the Shepherd and let Him gently gather us up in His arms.

God’s ways are different from our former ways and from the ways of society in general, but with patient endurance and the Power that is greater that ourselves to help us, we can learn to live in ways that please God.

It’s unrealistic to think we won’t feel vulnerable as we seek to maintain our sobriety and repair our relationships.

We are not shaped so much by our environment as we are by our perception of our environment. The way we think has a powerful impact on how we face life each day. If we are not thinking right, it will be reflected in our emotional state and in our actions.

God offers us comfort for our grief and healing for our hurts, but this requires complete honesty in what we are willing to reveal and deal with.