No, I am not an alcoholic. But I did go to an AA meeting tonight. I went as a support to someone who needed to go and I went not really knowing what to expect from the experience. I did pray for us before we went in...nothing too extreme...just that the Lord would help us through it and bless us in the midst of it. And did He ever. I love how God never ceases to amaze.
Several things stood out to me tonight that I am still processing but here are the pre-processed thoughts: 1) How much God loves us. How even when we "relapse" and go right back to the thing that we know is not good for us, He still welcomes us back, and loves us just the same. 2) How much we are our own worst critic. I seriously wonder how much less we would all be screwed up if we learned to just give ourselves grace and the same room to learn lessons that we so much more easily give other people. 3) How much pain there is in this world...to the extent that so many need to numb it or ignore it by abusing a substance. My heart ached for the women who shared their stories tonight...even in just the short 3-minutes they were given. 4) Hope. Where would any of us be without hope. Hope for something better, hope for change, hope for peace...without it, none of those women would have been sitting in that room sharing about the change in their lives and how they are changing. I am so thankful for the One who is changing them. 5) Lastly, I am so excited to be going into the field that I am. It is such an honor and a privilege to come alongside people who desire to see change happen in their lives and to be a help to them. I continue to see the pieces of my life fall into place and it overwhelms me with gratitude.
God is good.
2 comments:
i thought you might have said something about the grandness of hope when you encounterd the life changing ministry that is AA. I've never been, but I've only heard life altering and spirit reviving stories about the program.
:) sweet stuff
Grace for ourselves and hope.... both we get when we let God love us. Said it before--I think that is the predicament of the human condition... not KNOWING God's LOVE for us.
Grace for ourselves and hope... they can come from other things I suppose... but I bet it's the best when they come from knowing God loves you. :)
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