“Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.” – Louisa May Alcott
When I first got sober the term “Happy, Joyous and Free” would totally rub me the wrong way. Here I was struggling to get by day by day, I thought God left me, my family was skeptical again, my friends thought I needed to ease back a bit and I was confused. But, something inside me knew that I was better, I had high hopes for life and I deserved to live better!
It was not until I began to experience recovery, that my spiritual awakening occurred. I was sitting in a beginners recovery meeting and a person shared about their “Joy of Living” that it hit me. I could not remember the last time I laid my head on the pillow and Prayed to God, Lord please do not allow me to awaken tomorrow! It was at that moment that I knew that God did not quit on me, that my family wanted me sober, and that my friends, well, I hadn’t heard from them in awhile!
Joy, the inner peace that comes from my direct relationship with God. Happiness was a feeling that I would experience but Joy, it was and is now a part of me. I thank God on a daily basis for my life, through good and the not so good!
Peace,
Dan 🙂