At the present time I have a very good friend and sponsee from the north visiting. \u00a0She is dear to my heart and has been for all 25 years of her recovery. \u00a0I met her at her first AA meeting, in fact, so have been able to observe her throughout her long sobriety. \u00a0The past four or five years of her recovery have been tough ones, unfortunately. \u00a0The thought of drinking hasn’t been the problem, but obsessive anxiety has her by the tail. \u00a0It has taken the joyful person I had known for twenty of these 25 years away. \u00a0And I know she isn’t the only person who suffers like this.<\/p>\n
I, too, at about fifteen years into my recovery, fell into a hole that I feared I’d never emerge from. \u00a0I was so anxious that I couldn’t comfortably leave my house. \u00a0I longed to feel like those around me. \u00a0I read every thing I could about how to find joy or meaning and none of it even registered. \u00a0Frankly, I couldn’t focus long enough for any of the thoughts to get through. \u00a0I have suggested a few books to my friend also and I see her reading a bit of one and then another, seeking the same answers I sought. \u00a0Why is it so hard sometimes. \u00a0She has been diligent about attendance at meetings. \u00a0But the dark cloud descended, regardless.<\/p>\n
I shared with her this morning a story I heard about Mother Teresa a few years ago. \u00a0She too fell into a deep depression. \u00a0It lasted over a span of years and she felt forsaken by God. \u00a0Her focus, she said, was simply to keep feeding and caring for the poor and let her depression die its own death. \u00a0At what point it left, I don’t know, but she did the work she felt God had sent her to do. \u00a0There is a message here for all of us, I think. \u00a0Just do the next right thing that stands before us, trusting that we ARE AND ALWAYS WILL BE IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME!!! \u00a0God is never more than a thought away. \u00a0Never.<\/p>\n
If you have an extra moment in your day today, look closely at each person you see and offer up a silent prayer for them. \u00a0He or she just may be suffering like my friend. \u00a0And even if they aren’t, your prayer will wend its way back to my friend in time because that’s exactly how life works in a spiritual universe. \u00a0Thank you for being part of my life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the present time I have a very good friend and sponsee from the north visiting. \u00a0She is dear to my heart and has been for all 25 years of her recovery. \u00a0I met her at her first AA meeting, in fact, so have been able to observe her throughout her long sobriety. \u00a0The past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-circle-of-family-and-friends-you-and-your-personal-community","category-karens-musings"],"yoast_head":"\n