Change in Blog Address

Dear Readers,

I want to thank each of you who have found interest in this blog, “LDS 12 Step Reflections.” This blog is dedicated to my personal sharing on the 12 powerful gospel principles or 12 steps of recovery and the gospel-centered tools of recovery that are blessing my life and the lives of so many people all over the world. Through the LDS Addiction Recovery Program countless individuals are finding recovery and healing through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They are finding power and direction to move forward in their lives.

I find great joy in keeping my eyes and my heart open to the lessons I can learn about the 12 Steps from everyday life and through the wonderful people in my life, recording these lessons and sharing them with you.

“LDS 12 Step Reflections” has found a new home. I am switching my blog to a new address. I have recently given my blog a new look with a few new features. There are now several drop-down menus for those searching for thoughts on a specific step or tool of recovery or for a thought connected with scripture, children, a specific holiday, or nature etc. I hope this will be helpful.

The new address is

http://lds12stepreflections.wordpress.com

If you want to receive e-mail notification when something new has been posted, go to the new address http://lds12stepreflections.wordpress.com

If you are interested in getting an e-mail each time I post you can go down to the bottom of any post and click the place where it says “Leave a Reply.” There is a box at the bottom of the reply space to check and then leave you email address if you want to get a notice when there is a new post.

Thanks you each for taking time to read and respond. I know with all my heart that our Heavenly Father and our Savior and the Holy Spirit are very aware of our most personal struggles and that they can and will help us each progress. It is their work and their glory. Please know that my prayers are with you.

If you have questions or comments or want to share your progress with me, please feel free to contact me at lds12stepreflections@gmail.com

Your sister in Christ,

Nannette

“Nannette, do you know any four-year-olds?” – Step 5 The Gift of Perspective

We turn to addictive substances and behaviors instead of turning to God, and one of the reasons we do is because we don’t think God likes us very much. Many of us start feeling bad about ourselves when we are very little, at least I did, and it doesn’t take much. I’ll never forget sitting across from my sponsor, opening up my notebook and beginning to read. “Age two,” I started, “I resented the little boys who pushed my tricycle into the gutter full of water on irrigation day and who rubbed grapes in my hair.” “Age four” I continued with trepidation “I regret going into a shed with some little boys who wanted to have a two second peek at my “backside” and then lying to my dad about it. There, I’d said it! So embarrassing!

My sponsor’s response – “Nannette, do you know any four year olds?” Four year olds? My thirty-eight year old mind scanned through all the little people I knew and loved. Tears came to my eyes. In an instant, I came to grips with the fact that this moment of immodesty, the moment that was the beginning of all future certainty that God was disappointed in me occurred when I was only four years into earth life. New perspective is one of God’s great gifts as we take Step 5, the confession step. Do you know any four-year-olds?

By Nannette W. Posted Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Copyright 2011 by Nannette W. All right reserved. Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit. This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.

Spinning Goals into Gifts, Heavens Great Transformation

Today I would like to share that much of what I desire in this life is surprisingly coming to me as a gift from God rather than a goal for God.

In the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” page 8 one of the founders, Bill W. shares, “I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness in a way that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes.”

Happiness, peace, and usefulness, in great abundance, are certainly what I have always wanted and thought I was working toward. The paradoxical thing about my life today is that happiness, peace, and usefulness are no longer the focus of my desires, but they have become the byproduct applying each of the gospel centered 12 Steps and using all the tools the Lord has given me to live in daily, hourly, moment by moment connection with Him. The other day, I simply had to pause in the middle of an activity and acknowledge the peace I was feeling. I hadn’t been “working” on peace. I hadn’t set a new goal to be more at peace, but there I was feeling it. It was given to me. It was a very tangible thing like being cold or hot or tired or rested or full or hungry. I was in peace, a fact I never could have manufactured. I do desire even greater happiness, peace, and usefulness. Who doesn’t! However today I know that this cannot be my focus. In fact when I make these things my aim I begin to feel crazy inside. My experience is this - First I must come unto Christ in all the ways I know how and seek to know what He wants me to do next, then I must seek His power to do what I think He wants me to do, and finally I must take action believing that He is helping me. I am nowhere near perfect or even proficient at living this way, but when I do the happiness, peace and usefulness I obsessed over for so many years come – as gifts received from God rather than goals achieved for God.

By Nannette W.

Posted Friday, August 12, 2011

Copyright 2011 by Nannette W. All right reserved. Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit. This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.

Self-Knowledge is Overrated

Today I would like to share on the words from the book Alcoholics Anonymous, “Self-knowledge availed us nothing.”

There has been much scientific advancement in the study of addiction. I must admit that it does bring a certain relief to know that those of us who struggle with addictive substances and behaviors have developed scientifically measurable signs of illness of both mind and body, that our ability to make good choices has actually become physiologically weak. However, knowing about me does not fix me. Self-knowledge is not the cure. The best self-knowledge can do is motivate me to seek the cure. It’s no different than any other illness in that naming it, describing it scientifically, and even finding its root cause will never have the power to heal it. I find it very important to remember that I can never replace understanding my disease, though interesting and perhaps motivating, with the real work of overcoming my disease.

By Nannette W.

Posted Thursday, August 11, 2011

Copyright 2011 by Nannette W. All right reserved. Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit. This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.

Fellowship with a Capital "F"

Today I would like to share about Fellowship, "Association between individuals especially on pleasant or intimate terms. Synonyms: company, companionship, society" (see Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Fellowship in recovery is critical. Giving individual support, receiving personal support, attending meetings, reaching out on the telephone, giving service, and seeking ecclesiastical and family support; these are all effective ways of building a foundation of fellowship as we strive to abstain from the harmful substances and behaviors that threaten us. Every one of these avenues for fellowship is part of my everyday life in recovery. However, I have found another source of fellowship that is unlike any of the things I just listed. This fellowship is different because I can enjoy it any time, night or day. I can experience it in a crowd or in the quiet of my own solitary company, in my pajamas, my jeans, or my Sunday best, in my car or lying on my pillow. It is fellowship with the Lord through His Holy Spirit. In every recovery meeting I have ever attended one or more participants mention that they come to the meeting to feel the Spirit. I hope they understand that the Spirit they feel is not limited to the meeting they are sitting in, that the same Spirit they are feeling in the rooms of recovery can leave with them, strengthen them against temptation, and give them the comfort they seek all day and all night long. This is Fellowship with a capital “F.”

By Nannette W.

Posted Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Copyright 2011 by Nannette W. All right reserved. Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit. This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.

“Fly Little Bird!” –Step 12 Service

“There’s a bird somewhere in my house,” my mother’s voice trembled. I hung up the phone and my daughter and I went to see what could be done. My mother was terribly frightened at having a wild creature captive in her territory, and I believe the bird was just as scared as Mom. I admit I was a bit frightened myself. We entered the house tentatively and quickly located a young robin on top of a tall book case. The bird was very reluctant to accept our assistance. We talked to the frightened thing as though it were a lost puppy or a child. “Come on little bird. It’s OK.” We opened the sliding glass door so he could escape and then coaxed him to fly toward it, but he flew into the window, bumped his little noggin, and retreated immediately to his library perch. We convinced him to try again. This time he flew out the sliding glass door and onto the covered deck. For several minutes he wandered about, not flying, but walking, hiding under chairs and exercise equipment. Finally he took flight. As he spread his baby wings and headed enthusiastically into the blue sky and toward the lovely park across the street we were thrilled.

Being a support to someone struggling with addiction is much like being called into such a situation. Like the bird, the addict is terrified of the circumstance they have created, so terrified that their behavior becomes very threatening to those with whom they share their lives.

As we open the door to freedom and show them the way to it, those in dangerous captivity and full of fear do not fly free immediately. They often leave their deadly perch and dart about the room. Out of terror and misunderstanding and the desire to find their own way, they fly into painful barriers. Then, covered with bumps and bruises they retreat back. It takes lots of patience to help a frightened bird to freedom, and it takes a great deal of patience to help a person escape the confines of addiction. We cannot make them and we cannot take the flight for them.

The fear and frustration associated with this work is absolutely real, but so too is the joy of assisting in the cause of freedom. As we help the Lord “bring liberty to the captive” (Isaiah 61:1) our experience can harmonize with that of the Book of Mormon missionary Ammon who said:

And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. (Alma 26:30)

It was beautiful to see the little bird take flight. Watching him rise on the fresh morning air against the backdrop of snow tipped June mountains, surrounded by blue forever sky took my breath away. But there is nothing more breathtaking than seeing a child of God grow weary of flying about in deadly captivity and finally head for the blue sky of recovery and the lush green safety of the Kingdom of God, where life and freedom and nourishment and fellowship are in endless supply.

By Nannette W. Posted Monday, July 11, 2011

Copyright 2008 by Nannette W. All right reserved. Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit. This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.