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Old 01-05-18, 23:25   #465
Tarfoot
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Default re: Power of Prayer >No Matter Which Faith YouFollow=GOD is With You

SANITY
At first our coping mechanisms may affect our lives only in small ways. However, over time we can develop hurts, hang-ups and habits that have devastating consequences. In the beginning, for example, the need to control all of life’s circumstances may only cause arguments in a family. However, these control issues may eventually result in the separation of a husband and wife and the destruction of a family. A mother’s occasional loss of temper may escalate into daily beatings and the removal of the child from the home. Trying to lose weight quickly by skipping meals may result in anorexia and lengthy hospital confinements. A drink at the end of each day for relaxation could develop into alcoholism and lead to time spent in jail for drunk driving.
Our hurts, hang-ups and habits can impact our lives by pushing us into dangerous situations. After her third divorce, a busy career woman began using the Internet to connect with other people. She soon became fascinated with her exchanges with some of the men and began to fantasize about meeting them. She began by arranging meetings in public restaurants or coffee houses. However, without considering the consequences, she soon began meeting total strangers in their cars or apartments. After managing to escape from a car in a deserted area of the city, she finally realized that she could have been kidnapped or killed. The insanity of her choices had become a matter of life or death.
We often continue in our extreme behaviors because we don’t know how to change—or even where to start. However, in Principle One we finally faced our denial, and we admitted that we’re powerless to control our tendency to do the wrong thing and that our lives have become unmanageable.
How and where do we access the needed control? The answer is that we need to practice the second principle on our journey of recovery: “Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him and that he has the power to help me recover.” We can begin to change by allowing Jesus Christ to restore sanity, order and meaning to our lives. He’ll give us the strength to change and to set realistic expectations, as well as the ability to trust others as he continues to walk with us through the principles of recovery.
Step Two of the Christ-centered 12 steps states, “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Step Two doesn’t imply that we’re crazy or insane. It’s important for us to understand what the word sanity means in this step. Insanity in this context is “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result each time.” Sanity, on the other hand, may be defined as “wholeness of mind; making decisions based on the truth.”
Jesus is the only Higher Power who offers the truth, the way, the life and the power.
As a result of admitting our powerlessness in Principle One, we can move from chaos to hope in Principle Two. Hope enters the picture when we come to believe that a power greater than ourselves, our Higher Power, Jesus Christ, can and will restore us. Christ alone can provide the needed power over our addictions and compulsive behaviors. He alone can restore order and meaning to our lives. He alone can restore us to sanity.
In this context we finally begin to understand Philippians 2:13:
It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Take a Look:


• Identify some of the negative effects of your attempts to control someone or something in your life.
• How and when have you been disappointed after thinking that “this time” the individual or circumstance would change?
• How and when have you been disappointed after assuming that you would change? (Remember, “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result each time.)
• After you came to believe that a power greater than yourself—your Higher Power, Jesus Christ—could and would restore you to sanity, how did your life and decision-making change?
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I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4
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