I
am truly a blessed woman. God has
performed many miracles in my life. Our
paths did cross again, and we are still together
today. Things between us are
wonderful. I wish I could say it was all a
garden of roses, but the truth is, life is not
like that. We do the best we can each and
every day, and that is all we can do. What
we do have today, is mutual respect. We
take the time to listen to each other, we put
value on each other's opinions, and try to find
a "common ground" that works.
God has given us the ability to give love to
each other, sometimes in very small ways, and
those are the ones we feel most blessed
for. We can never take each other for
granted, as we have experienced what happens
when we lose sight of the gifts we have received
together. Each and every day I thank God
for bringing us together twice in one lifetime,
for the gift of a clean and pure love, for
helping me to be free of anger and fear, so that
I may give love and accept love ... what a gift,
what a miracle.
I have also come to understand what serenity and
contentment mean ... at least what they mean to
me. First, I have come to a place where I
am content within myself. Don't get me
wrong, things still happen in life that
challenge that peace and contentment. I'm
not perfect ... in fact I am no longer trying to
be perfect. I heard a woman say once
"self-esteem comes from doing esteemable
acts". For me, that is very
true. I have come to accept myself,
exactly as I am. Who I have become through
God, is a woman who truly cares about others,
who offers a shoulder to cry on, or a pair of
ears that will listen. I constantly reach
out to help others, as I believe that is what
God intended us to do. Not to judge each
other -- but to help each other. Helping
others has helped me to understand that we all
have problems, that we all struggle and that we
all have had our "hard times".
I'm no different from anyone else, no better,
also no worse. I'm a woman with a heart
full of love ... ready and able to share that
love with others. THAT is a miracle, it is
a blessing, one I am most grateful for and one I
do not take lightly. I sometimes do things
or say things I wish I could take back!
I'm a human being, we ALL make mistakes.
What I've learned from my journey through the
steps is that I can turn that around. I
can admit when I'm wrong and do whatever needs
to be done to set matters straight. As
long as I keep my eyes on God and my feet firmly
planted on the ground, I am in a place of peace
and contentment. The angels watch over me,
they guide and protect me. I am at peace
with myself, at peace with others, and at peace
with God.
Learning to be at peace with the world, has come
through acceptance. Allowing others to be
exactly the way they are, exactly the way they
are supposed to be at this very moment. In
trusting God, I have learned to trust that he is
at work in the lives of others and although I
sometimes may not understand or even like the
situation, God knows MUCH better than I, what is
good for someone else. I'll share with you
one more quote before I close.
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Acceptance
An
acceptance is the answer to all my
problems today.
When I am disturbed, it is because I
find some
person, place thing or situation - some
fact of my life -
unacceptable to me, and I can find no
serenity until
I accept that person, place, thing, or
situation as being
exactly the way it is supposed to be at
this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in
God's world
by mistake ... unless I accept life
completely on
life's terms, I cannot be happy. I
need to concentrate
not so much on what needs to be changed
in the world
as on what needs to be changed in me and
in my attitudes ...
Acceptance has taught me that there is a
bit of good
in the worst of us; that we are all
children of God
and we each have a right to be
here. When I complain
about me or about you, I am complaining
about God's handiwork.
I am saying that I know better than God.
@ Alcoholics Anonymous p. 449
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Peace, love, forgiveness, kindness,
understanding, compassion -- they are the
driving forces behind my spirit today.
They are the gifts God has given me to share
with all of you. I hope these pages have
inspired you in some small way -- if no one has
told you today, left me be the first to say, I
love you and I wish for you:
Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Gentle hugs when spirits sag
Friendships to brighten your being,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Confidence for when you doubt,
Faith so that you can believe,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
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