I found this as I was cleaning out a box the other day. When I first came into recovery someone shared this with me now i want to share it with anyone who may need a little encouragement. It's my way of celebrating 6 years now of being sober!!!

It was once announced that the devil was going out of business and would offer his tools for sale to whomever would pay his price. One the night of the sale all his tools were attractively displayed, and  a nasty looking lot they were! Malice, Envy, Deceit, and all the other instruments of evil were spread out for all to see, each one marked with its price. Seperate from the rest was a very harmless looking wedge-shaped tool, very much worn and priced much higher than the rest.

Someone asked the devil exactly what that worn out and higher priced tool was used for. "That is discouragement", was the devils reply. "Well, why do you have it priced so much higher than the others?" "Because", replied the devil, "it's more powerful and useful to me than any of the others. I can pry open and get deep inside anyones life with that tool, when I couldn't even get near them with any of the others. And once I get inside, I can begin to use them in whatever way suits me best. That tool of discouragement is so very much worn because I use it with nearly everyone, yet few people know that it belongs to me and my work."

"You say you use this wedge of discouragement with nearly everybody  - with whom can you not use it?"

The devil hesitated a long time and finally said in a low, almost sad voice, "I can not use it to get into the life and spirit of anyone who is a grateful person."

Be grateful for where you are now.

"It doesn't take as much faith to believe that everything happens for a reason as it does to embrace the belief that I am who and where I am now, today, for a reason even if I don't know what that reason is and even if I don't particularly like who or where I am today," a friend said to me. When I can take that in, my dissatisfaction and negativity disappear, and I can proceed calmly and gratefully with my life. "To me," he said, "that's what spirituality is all about."

Faith and hope aren't just for the future. Try using them on today.

Could it be that you're who you are and where you are now for a reason? Thank God for your life, exactly as it is, right now.

God, give me enough faith to believe in today.

Forgiveness is such a hard thing sometimes. Especially when we have been hurt so bad. But us as Christians need to forgive. Look at Christ, he was being killed but what does he say while up on the cross? "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" We need to try to forgive no matter how hard it seems.

In my past I hurt alot of people and I sinned, alot! I considered myself  a Christian woman, I went to church, I took my kids to church. Was I a hipocrit (no clue how you spell that lol)? I probably was. I talked the talk but I wasnt able to walk the walk. Christians stray but I believe a true Christian will find their way back. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I just wasn't ready to stop or repent or anything. I didn't know how. My addiction had control of me and I wasn't ready to shake it off. Once I got sober I prayed alot, I repentd to God and I made the amends I was able to. I finally felt a peace I hadn't felt in a long time.

One thing I have learned in AA is this, When we are approached with something we really don't want to do or are afraid we can't do it pray for the willingness, keep praying for the willingness and finally the time will come that you are able to do this thing, whatever it is. Pray for the willingness to forgive and in time you will be ready because God will put it in your heart that you are and that you can do it.  (I hope this helps)

I Am Me
 
In all of the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone choose it. I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own all of my triumphs and successes, all of my failures and mistakes.

Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By doing so, I can love me and be friendly with me in all of my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know, but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me.

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. Later, if some parts of how I look, sound, think, and feel turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me, and therefore I can engineer me. I am me and I am okay.