Is it Odd ? Or is it God?

Motivation
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" God moves in a mysterious way"

A popular phrase from a 1773 Christian hymm titled " A Light Shining Out of Darkness" from poet Willam Cowper.

A phrase that has been expressed in some fashion or another throughout history to indicate how this “energy, power, or person” called God often intervenes in the lives of those who dare to believe.

So…

To those who have come to believe that a power greater than yourselves could restore you to sanity, I ask a question…

Do you have a story where you know that powerful hand of God was there???

A story that defies the odds???

A life saving moment of clarity??

A faint, whispering thought that when acted upon changed your life forever???

Tell us all,please.

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My life is a testament to the existence of God, tbh.

However, here is one story…

I was young and dumb and was dared to go swim out into the middle of this river in Ohio. There was a felled tree floating there in the middle. It didn’t look too far. Me, unathletic and a chain-smoker, fully clothed accepted the dare and began to swim for it.
I made it to the tree. It wouldn’t support my body weight. I am tired. Treading water was exhausting. I have a fear of drowning, at this point I knew I was going to die. The shore, either direction, is too far to swim. I bob to save my energy and to test to see if I can touch the bottom. Nothing. Too deep.
I begin to sink though. I claw for air in a panic and I desperately yell for “help”. I am swallowing too much water…
And just then a boat comes by…
Two men…
Yell at me…
I’m scaring the fish…
And drive off!

I am not ready to die.

Please God, help me!

I am tired.

I let go.

Where there was only water before, now was so much earth that I was able to crawl to shore.

I make it safely to the other side.

I cannot stand up. My legs are too weak and clothes too heavy.

I look back at the river.

Did that just happen?

Thank you God!

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Wow… that was amazing!!!

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Just went to meetings found my hp as i went through the steps it worked for me for the last 34 plus years ,

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They day I quit drinking, was the day I planned to end my life. With a gun in my mouth, I heard “try Sober”. I believe it was God 100%. When I was to chicken shit to walk into a meeting, I heard a voice, “start counting your days”. I downloaded this app, thinking it was just a day counter. 1065 days later, I am sober and believe in God more than ever

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Truly inspirational Thirdmonkey, you were at the gates of death and your Higher Power intervened !!! That’s awesome!!!

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Working the steps is one sure way to obtain God’s help

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Once upon a time, an acquaintance I hardly know posted a picture of a sobriety timer on Facebook. I’d tried and failed quietly on my own so much, I thought it was kind of cool he shared it.

A few weeks later I saw it again and decided, why not?

Found it in the app store and after a few days of more failure, I found there was a whole community hidden inside. I read their stories, decided to try what worked for them. I found hope. I found recovery that stuck for the first time ever.

All cuz a friend of a friend posted a picture on the internet at just the right moment.

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I shared this awhile back with Paul.

I was hoping to see more post on this thread. Not sure if this is what you are looking for us to share Paul but I wanted to share how God has worked in my life.

First a little background. Spring 2009. When I found out my child was doing heroin I learned the hard way, eventually, all I can do is go to Alan-on meetings and pray my ass off.
Anyway………
I was going on a mission trip to Guatemala to work for God. We didn’t build things we just loved on people that needed lovin. I asked, said child, if, said child, wanted to come with? Child said yes. OMG!!! what have I done? I cannot take this child on a mission trip.

We went. 8 best sober days of our lives together.
So, One day we were on a prayer walk in Peronia Guatemala. Peronia is a poor scary little place in the world where children and their families live in one room, corrugated metal, homes with dirt floors. Like the pic attached here.

Peronia (14)
Peronia (14)2240×1488 933 KB

Unlike any place I have ever been to. I had never been on a prayer walk before. The pastor who could translate for us didn’t not know “our story.” We were brought to this ladies house. Her name is Lespia. She wanted us to pray for her two sons Victor and Julio who are alcoholics. I remember my child and I looking at each other and then looking up at God in amazement. We knew why He brought us to Lespia’s house. My child and I could comfort this lady from both sides of addiction. We knew what she and her boys were going through. We were there to talk to her and pray with her and just hang out for a bit and cry together. Out of all the places on the prayer walk and all the different groups of people that went to different houses we ended up at a house with addiction problems. Something we knew about and could share and pray together. None of the other groups or couples ended up at a house with this situation. Many other miracles happened that day.
God is alive and well.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!!

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And since I love a topic like this because God is real and working in our lives. My life anyway. Here’s another one.

Ok. So I’ll share one of my big gun God answered our prayers story. Our child was in the psych ward in California. Every time wifey and I tried to visit it just made things agitated and worse for my child. They said if they didn’t get my child meds they would have to file or report a code 5125 thing. That’s where they physically force themselves on you hold you down and make you take the meds. We were devastated and they suggested we leave so things might calm down. We went to the laundromat or launderette to wash child’s clothes. They called and said things aren’t getting better and they were going to have to invoke the 5125. My wife and I just started crying uncontrollably and she prayed God. Please Please Do Something!! Ten minutes later my cell phone (Mobile) rings. And they tell us my child took the meds voluntarily and they don’t need the 5125.
Thank you God.
:pray:t2::pray:t2::pray:t2:
:heart::heart::heart:

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I’ve heard enough others tell this same story that I’m convinced mine is not unique. I’ve shared mine before, I’ll share it here now, and I’ll share it again. But the message is the same that so many others have received. Even the wording is much the same.

The day I took my last drink (8 and a half beers, truth be told), I was arrested for DUI and littering (dropping my empties in the road). This took place on a dirt road not far from my home. I’d had the 8 1/2 beers, and this was going to be DUI #5, so I knew the jig was up. I lowered my window and watched in my mirror as the officer walked up to the car. He wore highly shined black boots. The muddy road was ruining the shine of those boots. As he reached the rear of my car, time stopped. He was frozen in mid stride.

I began to rise up and was looking down through the roof of the car at myself sitting at the wheel. I heard a voice from all around me saying “Everything is going to be alright. I’ll be able to stop drinking now.”. I returned into my body. Time started again. The officer finished walking to the driver’s window. I felt peaceful. I was still defiant, refusing to answer the officer’s questions but I was at peace in my head.

That was the end of a 35 year drinking career. It is true, for me and for everyone facing a crisis, that everything is gonna be alright. That doesn’t mean that circumstances will always favor us. It means that I can be at peace in any circumstance.

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All of these stories are so amazing and inspiring, mine has bit of darkness to it…

It took place on the 18th of July 1984 in the small border town San Ysidro California.

I was 15 years old and had a part time summer job working with my mom and dad and we had just arrived home.

There was a McDonald’s right across the street from our home in San Ysidro, and for the last two summers I would religiously go there to eat after coming from work. everyone working at that McDonald’s already knew me as a regular customer.

But on that fateful day, my mom all of a sudden told me to stay home this time because she was going to make dinner, it didn’t make sense , she was just as tired as everyone else in the home because she also worked were me and my dad worked.

I decided to stay, , and around 10 minutes later, a man armed with an semi automatic Uzi, a pistol , and a 12 gauge shotgun killed 21 people inside that restaurant, which was around half of the people who were in there,

Me , my older brother, and my parents saw the whole thing happen from start to finish from our kitchen and living room windows

He was our neighbor, an avid gun collector , and apparently according to his wife started hearing voices a few days before the shooting happened.

Coincidence?? Maybe, all I know is that it took me a long time to get over this, two 4th steps, and several relapses, all because because I refused to acknowledge how God, even in that day of carnage, was beginning to work in my life…

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Wow. I don’t know what to say Robert. That is so horrific. That’s really got to be a hard thing to share. Glad you did. I am glad God is working for you in your life.
:pray:t2::heart:

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Ty Dazer, step work has really helped me in dealing with my fears , and anxieties. Trauma is prevalent among people with SUD ( substance use disorder) , but sometimes additional professional therapy is required.

That’s why , before taking on Step 4 with my sponsees I always ask them if they have experienced any for of serious trauma , abuse, or have already been diagnosed with any type mental disorder ( manic depression, schizophrenia, ect ) . Because that’s when I start suggesting them to seek additional professional help.

The 12 steps are not a cure-all for all ailments of the mind.

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I found TS on accident too :purple_heart:

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Likewise I got the counter found the forum

The rest is history

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I am a pile of coincidences, but everyone I told this too said I have a Golden Horseshoe nailed to my ass. And that there has to had been some sort of Devine intervention on my behalf,

When I tried to take my life, the gun misfired, I attempted again no dice, i then decided to go by strangulation, an old friend kept calling until i answered and insisted I get help, she had no idea what I was about to do she called it a hunch

While I was in detox I collapsed, and nearly died. Well I did die, but survived it, another thing that died that day was my desire to ever drink again

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January 2005. I was 19 yrs and at my wit’s end with everything. When some Christian friends of mine were praying for me, I pleaded Jesus to help me. “I will give you hope and a future”, He said. And He did.

July 2011. Crisis. Most disrupting event in my life up until that point. I was sitting on a park bench, shocked, utterly gutted, confused, sick to my core, betrayed, disappointed, undone. The previous 5 years of my life had collapsed and I was torn in half. In that moment of confusion, God said to me: “There is a time for everything under the sun. Now it’s time to tear down but sit still. There will also come a time to build up again.” It took me 3 years to recover but God kept his word.

February 2018. I was at my wit’s end again, this time with serious suicidal ideation. I had a plan. A friend from out of town was visiting and we had dinner. I never said a word about my struggle to her. Later she told me she had seen my death wish clearly in my eyes and prayed for me the whole night. Her compassion left me speechless. I lived to tell the tail.

To me the greatest miracle is the transformation process of a human heart from wanting death to pursuing life, from bitterness to forgiveness and from paralyzing fear to loving passionately.

It is God :pray:t3::heart:

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