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Daily Reflections: Spiritual Kindergarten

This one isn't quite so troublesome to me.  It has been well over 10 years since I assumed I had all the answers.  Now, I haven't always relied on God's will, and I'm still struggling daily to rely on His will over mine, but I am quite comfortable knowing that developing my relationship with God and Christ is the way to a more joyful and manageable life.

I gave my life to Christ fully in August of 2013.  That was a pivotal point in my life.  I had just separated from my second wife and was watching as we hurtled toward divorce.  Drinking was the only escape I could find.  Slowly, Christ began restoring me to sanity and lessening my compulsion to drink. I found AA in Jun of 2014 and decided to quit for good, or so I thought.

Here I am almost 4 months since my last drink and I honestly don't feel like I'm starting over.  I feel like I'm starting for the first time.  I'm doing everything my sponsor says to do, and I'm being honest with everyone in my life.  I'm slowly reaching a point where I can set boundaries with people, but that is still a challenge.

Each morning, my prayer is that God would guide me through all my decisions, actions, conversations, etc.  I pray that I have the heart to yearn for His word, the stillness of mind to hear it, and the courage to act on it.

Though I am a prayerful man, I see that I stopped many of the practices that got me "sane" the first time around.  I need to spend more time in God's word, more time at church.  I need to continue attending meetings and working with my sponsor.  This may sound trite, but I'm a very social man, and working from home is a terrible thing for me.  I need to make more effort to be social in the evenings and spend time with friends.

I have many of the tools.  I know how to use them.  I just need to put it all into practice consistently, and continue learning the new tools offered through AA.

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