Faith Archives

2 08, 2018

I Am Always Supported

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:39-08:00August 2nd, 2018|Early Sobriety, Faith|0 Comments

I’ve never been much of a team player, and I've never allowed myself to feel supported by others or by God. I never much-loved team sports or team activities. I generally leaned more toward solo activities like track and field or public speaking. I did play Little League softball, and I was the pitcher…of course. The pitcher had a little more notoriety than the other positions. Being in the spotlight was my goal, and I loved winning. No wonder that I quickly began a career in sales after graduating college. A sales job was perfect for me, as it met all of my requirements. It was individually driven. It was in the spotlight of the company, and I could win. And, so I did. I quickly rose the corporate sales ladder, winning awards and making big deals. When I was 30 years old, I was promoted to the [...]

5 06, 2018

Pray Believe Listen Powerful Prayer

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:40-08:00June 5th, 2018|Faith|2 Comments

I remember it clearly. “God, do for me that which I cannot do for myself.” I prayed this prayer daily and many times throughout the day for at least six months leading up to my initiation into sobriety. The prayer typically ran through my head as I was glugging vodka straight out of the bottle. I couldn’t consume it fast enough. And, I gulped it down all day long. Each and every day…glug, glug, glug. “God, do for me that which I cannot do for myself.” Glug, glug, glug. “God, help me.” Glug, glug, glug. “Please God, I am helpless. Please do for me that which I cannot do for myself.” The prayer became stronger and stronger. And my might became weaker and weaker. This tornado of hell was rendering me incapacitated to the point that there was nothing left to do besides surrender. This was the lowest point [...]

31 05, 2018

Intuition is my Guide

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:41-08:00May 31st, 2018|Early Sobriety, Faith|0 Comments

I am in the light. Intuition is my guide. Often it speaks softly. A gentle nudge within me. I m in the light. Intuition is my guide. Show me. Direct me. My heart is open wide. I am in the light. Listening with eyes open. It is divine sight. I am in the light. Trusting. Growing. Knowing. Trusting with no might. Trusting that inner voice. It is divine sight. The voice becomes louder as I step into the flow. Letting all guards down. This is where I am supposed to go. Expanding with the universe. Trust becomes my mantra. Embedded deep into my soul. I am in the light. Intuition is my guide. There is not place to hide. My heart is open wide.

22 05, 2018

Surrender in Sobriety

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:41-08:00May 22nd, 2018|Early Sobriety, Faith|4 Comments

When I was new to sobriety, I took a coffee commitment at a local 12-step meeting, where I was to make coffee for the thirsty crowd of misfits. It was a once-a-week, six-month stint which I truly adored. I had to arrive by 6 a.m. to prep for the gathering of hugging and loving that was about to take place at 6:45. I have never seen so many happy people in my life as I see at an early morning meeting. It makes me smile just thinking about it. Gratitude fills the air and hugs are the only way to greet someone. The room was quiet from about 6 to 6:30 a.m. There were a few people who would show up early to share a cup of coffee and enjoy the quiet of the morning. It was during this time that I met a very eccentric man who attended the [...]

5 04, 2018

Forget About Shoulds in Sobriety

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:42-08:00April 5th, 2018|Early Sobriety, Faith|0 Comments

There are no "shoulds" in sobriety. I had an interesting phenomenon take place over Easter weekend that hasn’t happened to me in quite a while. I was invited to church and lunch with one of my favorite friends’ family. They are newlyweds with a young daughter whom I adore, grandparents who are a riot and just an all-around great group of people to be around. They attend a large church in Orange County. When I say large…I mean massive. It’s a church with a campus. I guess these are probably normal in big cities, but I am a small-town girl used to a small Catholic church that sits on the edge of the local senior center. I went to a workshop at their church over the course of a few Sundays, and it feels like walking into the scene from a movie production. There are extras everywhere…kids swinging and running [...]

28 01, 2018

Finding Inspiration and Purpose in Sobriety

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:43-08:00January 28th, 2018|Faith, Purpose|0 Comments

Guest post by Stormie J. I have been in contact with several people who are struggling lately. The severity seems to range anywhere from “there must be more to life” to “I am done with life.” I have genuine compassion for this state of mind, body and spirit as one who wrestled with self-worth to the tune of purposefully endangering myself in my teens and also battling addiction into my early thirties. What is my purpose? My way up and out of it, although incremental, was quite miraculous and yet it does not fit nor necessarily work for others. One dear friend of mine has tried nearly “everything” and still her relief has been minimal and fleeting. Whether the cause is addiction, chemical imbalance, unrequited love, co-dependency, aging or something else, there seems to be no way around these common threads--loss of inspiration and purpose, lack of self-worth and [...]

22 01, 2018

Tapping Into Spirituality

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:43-08:00January 22nd, 2018|Faith|0 Comments

I don't come here often enough. I live so close, yet I rarely take advantage of the majesty offered to me just a stone's throw away. Within a one-minute drive or a ten minute walk, I am literally on the beach. Every time I endure the trek, I vow to do it more often or even daily. And, yet, the days roll by once again without me going back. I see it every day. My business is located across the street from the beach, but I don't manage to get there. It doesn't take long, you know. I could walk over during lunch or in between appointments. But it sometimes feels like a chore. And, today my dog, Stitch, was staring at me longingly...a look I know too well. His eyes are so expressive. Please mom, let's just take an hour and run in the sun, interact with other, [...]

15 01, 2018

The Day I Got Sober

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:43-08:00January 15th, 2018|Early Sobriety, Faith, Finding Me, Recovery Stories|0 Comments

I didn’t know it at the time. I didn’t know it at the time that my life had forever changed on this day, January 14, 2014. It wasn’t until five or six days later that I even realized that January 14 should be earmarked as a momentous day. I remember sitting in my back yard smoking a Capri menthol and realizing that I hadn’t had a drink in five or six days. (Yes, I used to smoke, and I smoked those sissy cigs…Capris. They felt a little more elegant than Marlboro Reds.) It was amazing that I hadn’t had a drink, but what was even more remarkable was that I wasn’t trying to “not” drink. I simply hadn’t had one and it hadn’t crossed my mind. It felt a bit different. I wasn’t “willing” myself to not have a drink. I wasn’t white knuckling it or struggling to stay [...]

27 12, 2017

Faith Is For The Courageous

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:44-08:00December 27th, 2017|Faith, Fear|0 Comments

Get ready for it. Here it comes. Hold your seats! The "F" bomb You know the word. You know what word I'm talking about. The sneaky little bastard that creeps into our mind at all hours of the day only to disrupt and cause anxiety. FEAR If you want to know the truth, I believe fear may be worse than f*ck. I mean seriously, fear is some effed up stuff. Fear can paralyze people. Fear stops us dead in our tracks from following our hearts desire. Fear traps us in darkness. Fear accelerates like wildfire if we give it an ounce of oxygen. Fear debilitates. Fear isolates. Fear suffocates. Even though fear is completely senseless, it lives in the mind. It protects the ego. The ego that tells us to worry about what others think. Fear is resistance to being the best and most beautiful being we can [...]

15 12, 2017

Finding Freedom Through Faith

Love and Recovery2020-11-11T15:25:44-08:00December 15th, 2017|Faith|0 Comments

I have traveled more in the month of December than I can remember traveling in the last five years. It's been invigorating and fun to let loose and see the world a bit. In my final spiral of alcoholism, I was traveling nonstop with a toxic boyfriend. I literally lived out of a suitcase and always had my dog carrier on wheels to bring my pup, Blossom, with me. She sure put up with a lot from me during that dark and desolate downward demise of my physical and spiritual being. I am thrilled that my boyfriend at the time finally dumped me. It was a blessing. I wasn't going to leave him. I just couldn't. I was as addicted to the false love we had as I was to the drink. And so he dumped me. And I had a chance to get sober. It took a while, [...]

Title