From our Scot P.

We have been given a great gift. A gift that enables us to look at ourselves with humility and acceptance. And in doing so, we are able to see that we are prone to failure, pain, sin, and self pity. It also gives us the ability to see that we are capable of successes, joy, love and dignity. With this ability we can choose to look upon our positive attributes;  enjoying each moment as it presents itself, knowing that with the turn of the next corner it may flee as fast as it arrived. Our lives are an ever ending process influenced by circumstances out of our control.  Let us rejoice in the good times. Let's never take ourselves too seriously for we all have good and bad within. Let us abate our feelings of a false sense of security for tomorrow, perhaps the next hour, may bring with it a calamity. Remain humble. Don't let your pride puff you up with your successes, for any number of events can reverse them.  However , revel in the good. Be amused with the smallest of miracles and they will bring a smile to our face, followed by a chuckle. With the momentum gaining from each chuckle, we can laugh.  Laugh at our lives for at that moment they are great gifts from God. We know that we will have challenges ahead, but it is our choice, once again, to see them as temporary and rejoice in the blessings we have now. Trust that you are where God wants you right now.  With that we are going to have fun, and we're going to laugh out loud while doing so!

God bless, Scot P.

Crisis

Out of every crisis comes the chance to be reborn... It is not our smooth passages that reveal new understandings, but the strenuous, uphill battles that benefit us with the knowledge we need to grow. Looking on our challenges as gifts whose resolution promises greater comfort makes them agreeable, perhaps even prized. Without them we stagnate, and life's joys are few. Life is a series of lessons. And our crises are our homework. The patience and the trust we developed while living through last week's crisis has prepared us for greater benefits from those that lie ahead. Knowing that a crisis guarantees us the growth we deserve makes its sting endurable. Every crisis is followed by a time of easy stepping. These restful periods let us adjust to our new stage of development, and they invite us to store up our strength, our energy for the tests that lie ahead. Every stage of an experience has its roots in the past and leans toward the future. I'll trust that whatever I encounter today I'm prepared for and will benefit from.
HugsBob

Be Patient

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in Ur heart/ And try to love the questions themselves. Patience with ourselves may be the first step toward patience with others. In getting to know ourselves, we don't find what we have expected. If we did, we would only be proving what we already knew. Sometimes growth comes in surprising ways. It may be in acceptance and learning to love what is unsettled or unclear within. Some of us want to rush through our learning and push our growth too fast. Others of us want to have a strong sense of confidence in our relationships with others but always feel vulnerable. Some wonder why their fears suddenly rise without warning. Another longs to know why certain things happened to him in his youth. Our growth is not our invention. When answers come, they are gifts, and we do not control them. In part, self-acceptance is to say, "Yes, I am a person with this question, this unsettled feeling. Being alive is to be actively engaged in knowing and loving my questions even when I find no answer." God, grant me the peace that comes with loving the unfinished part of me. HugsBob

She Testifies!

I would love to leave my past where it is, behind me; but there are others out there struggling with the same horrors I struggled with, and I feel a call to reach out to them. So I must be transparent every chance I get.

At the bottom of a rope, I admitted to an addiction to crystal meth fifteen years ago. Cross addicted, I later came to admit I was also an alcoholic. And today I can claim sobriety only one day at a time.

I am not a theologian, a psychologist, or scientist, but I know that in the past I have had a strong tendency to search for relief and escape in substance. In times of trouble I have ran to alcohol, drugs, and nicotine, but these are just the darkest of substances to which I have run. Many others are out there. What haunts you?

Many people had traumatic childhoods, but not all of these turned out to be drug addicts or drunks. Many human tragedies happen daily; just the unfair day to day events are enough to cripple us, why did I turn to drugs and alcohol? I have no idea. Was it because I was born with a predisposition? I don’t know. I do know that I thank the Lord for his deliverance before those substances drove me to an early grave or worse. I think hurting someone else in a drunken stupor would have been worse than death.

12 step programs were a catalyst for me. The 12 steps led me back to Jesus Christ. Those steps were a bridge back to the loving arms of the lover of my soul who had waited and longed for me to see Him through my broken world. Those steps were also an enlightening process that God used to show me a way back home – to Him.

And now I have a passion to share this story, to hold up road signs to others, road signs pointing to a bridge that leads to Jesus. Many suffer from addiction. Addiction in many forms, relationships, working too much, gambling, food, etc.

There is hope. Jesus is the answer, but sometimes it takes someone who’s been there to deliver the message. Sometimes it takes someone who shares your same character defects to realize you are not alone in yours.


Come visit us at FCC CR time/address is over here --->

Come hear Him say: Welcome Home.

With love ~ Kathleen

Scroll IX- I will act now‏

Remember this one:

1 John 3:18 “Dear children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” “ Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.” A few years ago when I got my pacemaker and my activities were curbed dramatically, I was struggling with just getting by! Then I started the Thursday night AA meeting at North Phoenix Baptist and called it “Living vs. Existing”. Practice what you preach!! Ha,ha Tools are of no use to us unless we put them to work in the prescribed manner in which they were created. Faith based action gives me permission to live my life; to interact with others with unbridled motivation, and to selflessly give of myself without personal aspirations. I will act as I believe God would have me act. Helping others , friends and foe, first and foremost. To love others precluding any forethoughts or judgments. I will forego my human selfishness knowing that giving in itself, is the only and just reward I seek. Without these actions, even for a brief moment, my life as I desire it to be, as God intends it to be, will cease. A failure to thrive due to a lack of nutrients essential to my being and the welfare of those whom I have surrounded myself with. So today, immediately, without hesitation or contemplation, but rather instinctively, intuitively,; action will be the quintessential character trait I will command of myself and live. My thoughts grow to become what I speak. My words will become actions and with repetitive habits. With time my habits will be my character and my character will be the destiny God has planned for me. I choose to act in accordance to God’s Plan. 

                                                                                                                              ~Hugs/Blessings, Bob

P.S. “Talk doesn’t cook rice.” Ancient Chinese Proverb

Happy Friday!

CR at FCC ~ The first day of 2011

~ Making the beginning is one third of the work. ~

   Irish Proverb

HAPPY NEW YEAR to my dear friends! Don't look back" Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. " Going into the new year remember God's got a plan for your life and He's given each one of us gifts! Don't hoard them,but spread the wealth! Life savings "If we take of the moments, the years will take care of themselves."  ~ Hugs Bob


The NEW YEAR is always a good time for reflection. I know everyday we should reflect, but the start of a new calendar year naturally sparks questions like, "What was I doing this time last year?" "What have I done this year?"
Personally, I missed some 'goals'. I wanted to accomplish a few things that didn't get done, But looking back I am also amazed at how much progress has been made with His grace and power. I am more active, working a new job with more money, I am one more year sober, and, as if overnight, the CR group at FCC blossomed into a family!
So, I've decided that when I look back at 2010 it will not be to see where I came up short, but it will be to count my blessings and to see where the Saviour transformed, blessed, and forgave me. How about you? Happy New Year to CR at FCC! ~ with love, Kathleen