Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

One thing I have learned for certain in serving in addiction recovery is that people will heal, some will fail, and there will also be catastrophic losses. But yet, there will be those who not only get sober, they will also thrive and become leaders in their communities and families. For sure, God never gives up on them, and we don't either. That's why being consistent in love, acceptance, forgiveness and in presence is huge.

Like the story of The Prodigal Son, which demonstrates clearly how far God will go to love us, we too need to be God's open arms even when people turn their back on doing the right thing, going the right way. After all, we were like that in this recovery community, we came home to the open arms of a God who never gave up on us. That's why Doing Good Is Doing God.

Never stop believing in your child, or your friend, never stop doing the right thing even though everything around is falling apart, and if you understand, like us at ATB, that we may be the only "home" to come back to you keep doing good no matter what. Because doing good never relies on only feeling good, it relies on feeling God. His presence promotes patience, understanding and an attitude of those wide open arms for someone hurting so bad that they are at the very end of their rope.

We are not perfect but we reap a harvest because HE is. Pretty simple, just follow his directions!

For some of us there are times we have let our ego get us in trouble. That false sense of self importance has led to some major deflation of our pride and self confidence. Others of us have chosen to take on a false identity because we just were not happy with who we were. 

We can also feed our ego with how "spiritually exceptional" we are much like the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14 who was happy he wasn't like robbers, evildoers and adulterers, and exalted his goodness. The tax collector by contrast, (considered to be a chief sinner - much like those of us that have dealt with addiction), was so humble that he couldn't even lift up his head while praying. Big difference!.

We could choose to rely on our own ego and resources to do everything or take on the DNA of Jehovah God who already has everything and can provide what we need. Jehovah Rapha the healer, Jehovah Nissi the one who carries our banner in battle, Jehovah Jireh the provider, El-Roi the one who sees everything, Jehovah Shalom our peace, and Jehovah Elohim our eternal father. There's more but you get the point.

Instead of Easing God Out let's Experience God's Omnipotence! There is a part for us to play in life but how much easier would it be to play the part he has for us?  Our Ego Is Not Our Amigo because it's always telling us to pull away from God and be independent. It promotes pride rather than humility.

A local preacher said this, "Humility is taking yourself out of the way so God can get in the way". Maybe that's why Jesus himself said I am the way, the truth and the light. In the AA 12 Steps an 12 Traditions it leaves us with a glimpse of that light:

The problem is to help them discover a chink in the walls their ego has built, through which the light of reason can shine.

Problem solved!