Many times, we said “God, help me.” But, how many times have we then said “Thank you, God?” Have you ever wondered how God speaks to us? If I “heard voices” in my head, I would seriously doubt that they were coming from God. This was one of my questions when I began studying spirituality over 45 years ago. I have learned that God does speaks to us. He just uses methods of communication other than verbal.
My Higher Power, who I now choose to call God, communicates with me by using methods other than verbal. He uses other people, hunches, sudden ideas “out of the blue,” and, so called, circumstantial situations. We have heard many times that there are no circumstantial situations. This is true, “in a way.”
These methods are not circumstantial at all. They are God’s ways of communicating with us. Did you ever get a “gut feeling” that something was right, wrong, or about to happen? Ever have a near miss with a vehicle and instinctively turn or just do the right thing without even thinking about it?
Reverend Stephanie Sorensen, of the Life Enrichment Center in Flint, recently gave her talk, titled “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.” This is a distress call that is recognized in many parts of the world. It is a plea for help, right now! She said that Mayday his repeated three times to signify trouble. She went on to say that maybe the answer given by the recipient of the aid should be “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”
This triggered thoughts from a few months ago. I knew that with 45+years of continuous, happy, grateful sobriety, that I had a message that I wished to share with others. Sobriety, like love, can’t be kept unless it is given away or shared. I am too blessed to be stressed and wish that I could share with others what I have done and am doing now. So, I wanted to share so that they could add my experiences, strengths, and hopes to their own lives, if they chose to do so.
I ran this by a priest friend of mine. And he agreed. He asked what my message was? I related the above to him. He also suggested that I pare my message to three words. Then to work from these 3 words in the future.
One of the blessings of sobriety has been my new-found gratitude. Gratitude for everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I have seen them all and, of course, reacted to them differently. I believe that I must share my gratitude with all, too, so I show my appreciation for what life has for me now. A good experience, Thank you, God for the good experience! A bad experience, Thank you, God for the bad experience. Think I’ll use it as another learning tool! A so-so experience, Thank you, God for the so-so experience. Let’s see how we can use it constructively!
Ever have a problem and not know quite what to do about it? Then just the right people come along and you just happen to hear someone say something that is the perfect answer to your problem. Even passing a billboard that you have passed many times before but this time you get the message you need from it that was there all the time.
This happened to me recently. My spiritual advisor Reverend Stephanie Sorensen’s talk was “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.” This is the distress signal for many that is recognized worldwide. She went on to say that, after aid was received, we many times say “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” There it was!
I now had my message in three words. One that I have used regularly for a very long time. It is “Thank you, God.” Almost everything that I write about or do is a variation of “Thank you, God.” I can just keep on doing what I am doing but I do not have to struggle to explain my message any more. It will be simply “Thank you, God!” Either directly or a spin-off.
As long as I remember to use this message in ALL of my affairs, I will continue to be Too blessed to be stressed. Thank you, God!
