[Leed]

Days of Healing, Days of Joy..............................Oct. 6th

For many people, God is just Dad with a mask on...............Anonymous

Establishing a loving relationship with God, as we understand God, is the core of the spiritual journey of recovery. In searching for a God we can understand, many of us adult children hit a brick wall. Our image of God as Father filters through our image of our human father.

When we think about God's will, what God wants for us, the answers we receive look surprisingly like the answers we'd get if we substituted Dad for God. And since many of us didn't have a very healthy relationship with Dad, we may feel very angry at God. But is it really God we're having trouble with or is it deeply buried, convoluted feelings toward a male authority figure?

Once we're able to tell the difference, once we take the Dad-mask off God, we can start over, ask new questions, and test new possibilities with the God of our understanding.
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Today, I will clearly discern which of my attitudes about God are rooted in my past relationship with my father and which are truly free to relate to God.

I don't think I had trouble with the Dad/God thing. I didn't idolize my father at that time. That came later. And I didn't have a Higher Power as i was agnostic when I came into AA so there was nothing to mix up. I just had trouble FINDING a higher power at all. They told me it could be a tree, a rock, the sky -- anything bigger than myself. I found it hard to worship a tree. But I had HAD s spiritual experience when I had CALLED AA -- but I didn't know what it was! Once I told my sponsor about it and she explained what it was, I had NO DOUBT there was a God after that!!! And I had 2 more spiritual experiences after that one and it shook me to the bone so there is no denying it to this woman! God exists, and He comes to those who need Him. God bless.

[gma45]

Thanks Leed, I always like your posts and I needed this today!