God

Sunday’s post was about a miracle I experienced.

What has been bugging me lately is how I freely write about miracles but I don’t write posts about God. I needed help. So I put a survey up for a week and asked that people email me with what their conception of God is. I appreciate all who participated.

I realized in the process why God is a tricky subject for me. I have my convictions. But before I experienced God, I was deaf to the people who promoted their beliefs. It seemed the more they pushed their agendas, the deeper I sank in agnosticism.

I don’t want to construct an argument on the subject. Arguing does not have a place in my spiritual practice. It was my favorite Pantheist Walt Whitman who wrote this in the introduction to Leaves of Grass:  

Argue not concerning God.”

I do want to show people that belief in and of itself can become a powerful tool in your life.

Here are the results of the survey. The 5 options summarized the conceptions of God I have heard most frequently in recovery. The sample size was 22 responses.

I wanted my first post about God not to be just what I thought about God. So here are 8 people across 4 countries who have found faith. I placed my thoughts at the bottom. I hope you find it useful in your journey.

The survey was limited, as Colin was quick to point out!

Colin Chatburn

the short answer does not explain all. i think taoist (the way) some think you can’t define. basically a mix.

Abbie Wirick

(Abbie blogs: click here / Abbie’s FB page: click here)

I believe in God, as in Jesus Christ, the Holy One.

It took me many years before I was able to enter a church building for any reason other than a meeting.

The people in AA told me that I only had to change one thing: everything. I took that to mean I needed to reexamine my concept of God, too.

I had been taught about the angry and terrifying God that hated me for my humanness.

I eventually came to believe that my continued interest in having a relationship with Him was a result of His drawing me to Himself. I researched for myself, rather than listening to other people telling me Who and What God was.

I’m still looking and praying. I had an experience when I was a teenager that has never left me, even after my determination to be as “evil” as I could be (because I was clearly not capable of being “good”) for many years.

I was involved in an event that lasted for years where the Spirit of God moved and changed people’s lives forever.

I cannot deny what I know to be true.

At the same time, I don’t talk about my convictions/experience much, because I know I would never have stayed in the rooms if they talked about Jesus, cos I’d been severely abused in His name.  

I cannot think of AA and Jesus without being reminded of my Dad.

Once he went into treatment, he traded the spirit of RELIGION for the Spirit of Christ.

He became the man he’d never thought he COULD be, after working the steps. Dad was a step-Nazi, but more importantly, he found his ministry. In keeping with the traditions, he did not talk about Jesus in the meetings, but before and after… 🙂

His Sponsees were introduced to that One who has all power…

Dad was such a fun-loving, charismatic guy, that he had many men asking him to Sponsor them.

A Higher Power Poem

by the man who wrote the fictional step series: Destiny Awaits

join the author’s Obsession Challenge here

Omnipresent & undetectable

The underlying current that gently pulls us, the force which attracts and repels.

Like vapour trails in the sky, propelling yet dissipating, it makes us go here and work there.

It works without credit, unbeknown, selflessly steering, never wrong.

Juanita Johnson

From reading the Bible to singing hymns, I just believe God is. He is the Great I Am. He is the Creator of all things. He is my heavenly Father. He is love. He is every good and perfect gift. I tear up to think that He loves all of us so much that He provided a Savior that we might be made whole again. Find and read the lyrics to “Who Am I?” I have always believed the Bible is truth and that is reassuring in every way.

This would be lovely to add to my comments!! Thank you!

HD

Read HD’s story here via the Recovery Revolution

I believe in God. And I call this being, force, power, or whatever it/he/she is, “God.” Something out there is much bigger than I am and created all the wonder of this world. FAITH is, by definition, a mystery. I don’t need the answers, but I believe it.

Girl in Therapy (A Recovering Codependent)

Her website is here

My hope and sometime mantra is that “The Universe Will Provide”.

I think of my Higher Power in the larger sense of the Universe. I’m agnostic, so my view of “God” doesn’t lie in religion.

Mark Goodson

A personal relationship with God is the single difference between how I lived my life before, and how I live my life now. I can also write with confidence that not having that relationship was miserable, and having that relationship is joy. So I know that God is good and God wants me to be happy.

I call my God Jesus Christ. I go to a Baptist worship every Sunday when we are in town. Although, I don’t consider myself Baptist. I’m a believer who needs some good orderly direction every day. Church helps me with that.

I stopped doubting that my higher power is Jesus Christ when I had a vivid dream. I was in a cave and looking for Christ’s body to prove it never resurrected. No luck. Then I felt a warm sensation and realized there was a light behind me, the way you do when someone uses flash photography behind you. When I turned around I was awake, bolt-upright in bed.

I know that no one could convince me of God. I had to be physically persuaded by a moving spirit. So I do not claim to have the answer. As HD wrote, God is by definition a mystery. And mysteries are no longer mysteries once they are solved.

When I hear someone believes in Krishna or Buddha or Yahweh or Muhammad or Fellowship or Nature, I believe them. To me, people don’t need to say “Jesus Christ” to act for or believe in the name of God.